diff --git a/ng-dev/cli.ts b/ng-dev/cli.ts
index 66a68e20e..83fa293e4 100644
--- a/ng-dev/cli.ts
+++ b/ng-dev/cli.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import {buildPullapproveParser} from './pullapprove/cli.js';
 import {buildReleaseParser} from './release/cli.js';
 import {tsCircularDependenciesBuilder} from './ts-circular-dependencies/index.js';
 import {captureLogOutputForCommand} from './utils/logging.js';
-import {ngDevVersionMiddleware} from './utils/version-check.js';
+import {localVersion, ngDevVersionMiddleware} from './utils/version-check.js';
 import {buildAuthParser} from './auth/cli.js';
 import {buildPerfParser} from './perf/cli.js';
 import {buildConfigParser} from './config/cli.js';
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ runParserWithCompletedFunctions((yargs: Argv) => {
     .command('perf <command>', '', buildPerfParser)
     .command('ai <command>', '', buildAiParser)
     .command('config <command>', false, buildConfigParser)
+    .version(localVersion)
     .wrap(120)
     .strict();
 });
diff --git a/ng-dev/release/publish/external-commands.ts b/ng-dev/release/publish/external-commands.ts
index 580093a14..8bfe2ae4b 100644
--- a/ng-dev/release/publish/external-commands.ts
+++ b/ng-dev/release/publish/external-commands.ts
@@ -256,20 +256,20 @@ export abstract class ExternalCommands {
     spawnOptions: SpawnOptions = {},
   ): Promise<SpawnResult> {
     if (PnpmVersioning.isUsingPnpm(projectDir)) {
-      return ChildProcess.spawn('npx', ['--yes', 'pnpm', '-s', 'run', ...args], {
-        ...spawnOptions,
-        cwd: projectDir,
-      });
-    } else {
-      // Note: We cannot use `yarn` directly as command because we might operate in
-      // a different publish branch and the current `PATH` will point to the Yarn version
-      // that invoked the release tool. More details in the function description.
-      const yarnCommand = await resolveYarnScriptForProject(projectDir);
-      return ChildProcess.spawn(yarnCommand.binary, [...yarnCommand.args, ...args], {
+      return ChildProcess.spawn('npx', ['--yes', 'pnpm', '-s', ...args], {
         ...spawnOptions,
         cwd: projectDir,
       });
     }
+
+    // Note: We cannot use `yarn` directly as command because we might operate in
+    // a different publish branch and the current `PATH` will point to the Yarn version
+    // that invoked the release tool. More details in the function description.
+    const yarnCommand = await resolveYarnScriptForProject(projectDir);
+    return ChildProcess.spawn(yarnCommand.binary, [...yarnCommand.args, ...args], {
+      ...spawnOptions,
+      cwd: projectDir,
+    });
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/ng-dev/utils/version-check.ts b/ng-dev/utils/version-check.ts
index 17b048ad9..664fd7f4a 100644
--- a/ng-dev/utils/version-check.ts
+++ b/ng-dev/utils/version-check.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import {GitClient} from './git/git-client.js';
  * The currently executing version of ng-dev
  * Note: The placeholder will be replaced by the `pkg_npm` substitutions.
  */
-const localVersion = `0.0.0-{SCM_HEAD_SHA}`;
+export const localVersion = `0.0.0-{SCM_HEAD_SHA}`;
 
 /** Whether ngDevVersionMiddleware verification has already occured. */
 let verified = false;