diff --git a/deploy/release.ts b/deploy/release.ts
index 945cc9de96..3aed116e0d 100644
--- a/deploy/release.ts
+++ b/deploy/release.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ program
 
 		const published: string[] = [];
 		try {
+			if (!('NPM_TOKEN' in process.env))
+				throw new Error(
+					"Missing NPM_TOKEN. We won't be able to publish any npm packages."
+				);
 			for (const [name, target] of to_publish) {
 				child_process.execFileSync(target, {
 					stdio: 'pipe',
@@ -49,7 +53,8 @@ program
 			tag_name: syntheticVersion,
 
 			body:
-				body +
+				(await fs.readFile(body)).toString() +
+				'\n' +
 				`This release also includes the following published NPM packages:\n${published
 					.map(name => `   - ${name}`)
 					.join('\n')}`,
diff --git a/js/npm/package_json/rules.bzl b/js/npm/package_json/rules.bzl
index 85c845c92e..1d96a0b9d5 100644
--- a/js/npm/package_json/rules.bzl
+++ b/js/npm/package_json/rules.bzl
@@ -51,4 +51,4 @@ def package_json(name, targets, template, version):
               ),
         outs = ["package.json"],
         tools = [genrule_name],
-    )
\ No newline at end of file
+    )
diff --git a/ts/cmd/svgshot/BUILD b/ts/cmd/svgshot/BUILD
index 4502f6947c..014a8bc015 100644
--- a/ts/cmd/svgshot/BUILD
+++ b/ts/cmd/svgshot/BUILD
@@ -54,9 +54,9 @@ npm_pkg(
     major_version = "version/MAJOR",
     minor_version = "version/MINOR",
     patch_version = "version/PATCH",
-    version_lock = ".version.lock",
     pkg_json_base = "package.template.json",
     tgz = "svgshot.tgz",
+    version_lock = ".version.lock",
     visibility = ["//deploy:__subpackages__"],
     deps = [":project_ts"],
 )