diff --git a/docs/generated/packages/js/executors/release-publish.json b/docs/generated/packages/js/executors/release-publish.json
index 49ec6e4cc38f6..2a46e54504778 100644
--- a/docs/generated/packages/js/executors/release-publish.json
+++ b/docs/generated/packages/js/executors/release-publish.json
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@
       "tag": {
         "type": "string",
         "description": "The distribution tag to apply to the published package."
+      },
+      "dryRun": {
+        "type": "boolean",
+        "description": "Whether to run the command without actually publishing the package to the registry."
       }
     },
     "required": [],
diff --git a/e2e/release/src/release.test.ts b/e2e/release/src/release.test.ts
index a170481b466a7..7b6e8c167cc0e 100644
--- a/e2e/release/src/release.test.ts
+++ b/e2e/release/src/release.test.ts
@@ -276,10 +276,9 @@ describe('nx release', () => {
       ).length
     ).toEqual(1);
 
-    // publish to custom registry (not e2e registry), and a custom dist tag of "next"
-    const publishOutput2 = runCLI(
-      `release publish --registry=${customRegistryUrl} --tag=next`
-    );
+    // Perform an initial dry-run of the publish to the custom registry (not e2e registry), and a custom dist tag of "next"
+    const publishToNext = `release publish --registry=${customRegistryUrl} --tag=next`;
+    const publishOutput2 = runCLI(`${publishToNext} --dry-run`);
     expect(publishOutput2).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
 
       >  NX   Running target nx-release-publish for 3 projects:
@@ -291,6 +290,111 @@ describe('nx release', () => {
       With additional flags:
       --registry=${customRegistryUrl}
       --tag=next
+      --dryRun=true
+
+
+
+      > nx run {project-name}:nx-release-publish
+
+
+      📦  @proj/{project-name}@1000.0.0-next.0
+      === Tarball Contents ===
+
+      XXB  index.js
+      XXXB package.json
+      XXB  project.json
+      === Tarball Details ===
+      name:          @proj/{project-name}
+      version:       1000.0.0-next.0
+      filename:      proj-{project-name}-1000.0.0-next.0.tgz
+      package size: XXXB
+      unpacked size: XXXB
+      shasum:        {SHASUM}
+      integrity: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
+      total files:   3
+
+      Would publish to ${customRegistryUrl} with tag "next", but [dry-run] was set
+
+      > nx run {project-name}:nx-release-publish
+
+
+      📦  @proj/{project-name}@1000.0.0-next.0
+      === Tarball Contents ===
+
+      XXB  index.js
+      XXXB package.json
+      XXB  project.json
+      === Tarball Details ===
+      name:          @proj/{project-name}
+      version:       1000.0.0-next.0
+      filename:      proj-{project-name}-1000.0.0-next.0.tgz
+      package size: XXXB
+      unpacked size: XXXB
+      shasum:        {SHASUM}
+      integrity: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
+      total files:   3
+
+      Would publish to ${customRegistryUrl} with tag "next", but [dry-run] was set
+
+      > nx run {project-name}:nx-release-publish
+
+
+      📦  @proj/{project-name}@1000.0.0-next.0
+      === Tarball Contents ===
+
+      XXB  index.js
+      XXXB package.json
+      XXB  project.json
+      === Tarball Details ===
+      name:          @proj/{project-name}
+      version:       1000.0.0-next.0
+      filename:      proj-{project-name}-1000.0.0-next.0.tgz
+      package size: XXXB
+      unpacked size: XXXB
+      shasum:        {SHASUM}
+      integrity: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
+      total files:   3
+
+      Would publish to ${customRegistryUrl} with tag "next", but [dry-run] was set
+
+
+
+      >  NX   Successfully ran target nx-release-publish for 3 projects
+
+
+
+  `);
+
+    // Versions are still unpublished on the next tag in the custom registry, because it was only a dry-run
+    expect(() =>
+      execSync(
+        `npm view @proj/${pkg1}@next version --registry=${customRegistryUrl}`
+      )
+    ).toThrowError(/npm ERR! code E404/);
+    expect(() =>
+      execSync(
+        `npm view @proj/${pkg2}@next version --registry=${customRegistryUrl}`
+      )
+    ).toThrowError(/npm ERR! code E404/);
+    expect(() =>
+      execSync(
+        `npm view @proj/${pkg3}@next version --registry=${customRegistryUrl}`
+      )
+    ).toThrowError(/npm ERR! code E404/);
+
+    // Actually publish to the custom registry (not e2e registry), and a custom dist tag of "next"
+    const publishOutput3 = runCLI(publishToNext);
+    expect(publishOutput3).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+
+      >  NX   Running target nx-release-publish for 3 projects:
+
+      - {project-name}
+      - {project-name}
+      - {project-name}
+
+      With additional flags:
+      --registry=${customRegistryUrl}
+      --tag=next
 
 
 
@@ -365,6 +469,7 @@ describe('nx release', () => {
 
     `);
 
+    // The versions now exist on the next tag in the custom registry
     expect(
       execSync(
         `npm view @proj/${pkg1}@next version --registry=${customRegistryUrl}`
diff --git a/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/release-publish.impl.ts b/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/release-publish.impl.ts
index 2e0eb2c57a94c..8f18b957eeeb6 100644
--- a/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/release-publish.impl.ts
+++ b/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/release-publish.impl.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { execSync } from 'child_process';
 import { env as appendLocalEnv } from 'npm-run-path';
 import { logTar } from './log-tar';
 import { PublishExecutorSchema } from './schema';
+import chalk = require('chalk');
 
 const LARGE_BUFFER = 1024 * 1000000;
 
@@ -40,6 +41,10 @@ export default async function runExecutor(
     npmPublishCommandSegments.push(`--tag=${options.tag}`);
   }
 
+  if (options.dryRun) {
+    npmPublishCommandSegments.push(`--dry-run`);
+  }
+
   // Resolve values using the `npm config` command so that things like environment variables and `publishConfig`s are accounted for
   const registry =
     options.registry ?? execSync(`npm config get registry`).toString().trim();
@@ -59,7 +64,15 @@ export default async function runExecutor(
     const normalizedStdoutData = stdoutData[context.projectName!] ?? stdoutData;
     logTar(normalizedStdoutData);
 
-    console.log(`Published to ${registry} with tag "${tag}"`);
+    if (options.dryRun) {
+      console.log(
+        `Would publish to ${registry} with tag "${tag}", but ${chalk.keyword(
+          'orange'
+        )('[dry-run]')} was set`
+      );
+    } else {
+      console.log(`Published to ${registry} with tag "${tag}"`);
+    }
 
     return {
       success: true,
diff --git a/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/schema.d.ts b/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/schema.d.ts
index 19de5b5518035..2980dc7910280 100644
--- a/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/schema.d.ts
+++ b/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/schema.d.ts
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@ export interface PublishExecutorSchema {
   packageRoot?: string;
   registry?: string;
   tag?: string;
+  dryRun?: boolean;
 }
diff --git a/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/schema.json b/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/schema.json
index 149d7b0b6d38c..92bb52f7ad2b9 100644
--- a/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/schema.json
+++ b/packages/js/src/executors/release-publish/schema.json
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@
     "tag": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "The distribution tag to apply to the published package."
+    },
+    "dryRun": {
+      "type": "boolean",
+      "description": "Whether to run the command without actually publishing the package to the registry."
     }
   },
   "required": []
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/publish.ts b/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/publish.ts
index 0646c38e888b2..aa7431debdf73 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/publish.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/command-line/release/publish.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
-import { readNxJson } from '../../config/nx-json';
+import { NxJsonConfiguration, readNxJson } from '../../config/nx-json';
 import {
   ProjectGraph,
   ProjectGraphProjectNode,
 } from '../../config/project-graph';
-import { NxJsonConfiguration, output } from '../../devkit-exports';
 import { createProjectGraphAsync } from '../../project-graph/project-graph';
 import { runCommand } from '../../tasks-runner/run-command';
 import {
@@ -11,6 +10,9 @@ import {
   readGraphFileFromGraphArg,
 } from '../../utils/command-line-utils';
 import { findMatchingProjects } from '../../utils/find-matching-projects';
+import { logger } from '../../utils/logger';
+import { output } from '../../utils/output';
+import { generateGraph } from '../graph/graph';
 import { PublishOptions } from './command-object';
 import { createNxReleaseConfig } from './config/config';
 import {
@@ -19,7 +21,6 @@ import {
   createReleaseGroups,
   handleCreateReleaseGroupsError,
 } from './config/create-release-groups';
-import { generateGraph } from '../graph/graph';
 
 export async function publishHandler(
   args: PublishOptions & { __overrides_unparsed__: string[] }
@@ -151,6 +152,12 @@ export async function publishHandler(
     );
   }
 
+  if (args.dryRun) {
+    logger.warn(
+      `\nNOTE: The "dryRun" flag means no projects were actually published.`
+    );
+  }
+
   process.exit(0);
 }
 
@@ -172,6 +179,9 @@ async function runPublishOnProjects(
   if (args.tag) {
     overrides.tag = args.tag;
   }
+  if (args.dryRun) {
+    overrides.dryRun = args.dryRun;
+  }
 
   if (args.verbose) {
     process.env.NX_VERBOSE_LOGGING = 'true';