diff --git a/commands/publish/command.js b/commands/publish/command.js
index 27634a54b7c..510312867ab 100644
--- a/commands/publish/command.js
+++ b/commands/publish/command.js
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ exports.handler = function handler(argv) {
 };
 
 function composeVersionOptions(yargs) {
-  versionCommand.addBumpPositional(yargs, ["from-git"]);
+  versionCommand.addBumpPositional(yargs, ["from-git", "from-package"]);
   versionCommand.builder(yargs, "publish");
 
   return yargs;
diff --git a/commands/publish/index.js b/commands/publish/index.js
index bde992529b3..848e7031e16 100644
--- a/commands/publish/index.js
+++ b/commands/publish/index.js
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ const versionCommand = require("@lerna/version");
 const createTempLicenses = require("./lib/create-temp-licenses");
 const getCurrentSHA = require("./lib/get-current-sha");
 const getCurrentTags = require("./lib/get-current-tags");
+const getUnpublishedPackages = require("./lib/get-unpublished-packages");
 const getNpmUsername = require("./lib/get-npm-username");
 const getTaggedPackages = require("./lib/get-tagged-packages");
 const getPackagesWithoutLicense = require("./lib/get-packages-without-license");
@@ -113,8 +114,9 @@ class PublishCommand extends Command {
         : [this.packagesToPublish];
 
       if (result.needsConfirmation) {
-        // only confirm for --canary or bump === "from-git",
-        // as VersionCommand has its own confirmation prompt
+        // only confirm for --canary, bump === "from-git",
+        // or bump === "from-package", as VersionCommand
+        // has its own confirmation prompt
         return this.confirmPublish();
       }
 
@@ -135,6 +137,11 @@ class PublishCommand extends Command {
       chain = chain.then(() => this.updateCanaryVersions());
     }
 
+    // TODO need to create git tags
+    // if (this.options.bump === "from-package") {
+
+    // }
+
     chain = chain.then(() => this.resolveLocalDependencyLinks());
     chain = chain.then(() => this.annotateGitHead());
     chain = chain.then(() => this.packUpdated());
@@ -161,6 +168,8 @@ class PublishCommand extends Command {
 
     if (this.options.bump === "from-git") {
       chain = chain.then(() => this.detectFromGit());
+    } else if (this.options.bump === "from-package") {
+      chain = chain.then(() => this.detectFromPackage());
     } else if (this.options.canary) {
       chain = chain.then(() => this.detectCanaryVersions());
     } else {
@@ -206,6 +215,32 @@ class PublishCommand extends Command {
     });
   }
 
+  detectFromPackage() {
+    let chain = Promise.resolve();
+
+    // attempting to publish a release with local changes is not allowed
+    chain = chain.then(() => this.verifyWorkingTreeClean());
+
+    chain = chain.then(() => getUnpublishedPackages(this.project, this.conf));
+    chain = chain.then(unpublishedPackages => {
+      if (!unpublishedPackages.length) {
+        this.logger.notice("from-package", "No unpublished release found");
+      }
+
+      return unpublishedPackages;
+    });
+
+    return chain.then(updates => {
+      const updatesVersions = updates.map(({ pkg }) => [pkg.name, pkg.version]);
+
+      return {
+        updates,
+        updatesVersions,
+        needsConfirmation: true,
+      };
+    });
+  }
+
   detectCanaryVersions() {
     const {
       bump = "prepatch",
diff --git a/commands/publish/lib/get-unpublished-packages.js b/commands/publish/lib/get-unpublished-packages.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5898a3b34af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/commands/publish/lib/get-unpublished-packages.js
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+"use strict";
+
+const fetch = require("npm-registry-fetch");
+const log = require("npmlog");
+const pReduce = require("p-reduce");
+
+module.exports = getUnpublishedPackages;
+
+// Only the abbreviated package metadata is needed to
+// determine which versions have been published. This
+// saves transfer time for packages with a lot of
+// history.
+const registryOptions = {
+  Accept: "application/vnd.npm.install-v1+json",
+};
+
+function getUnpublishedPackages(project, opts) {
+  log.silly("getPackageVersions");
+
+  let chain = Promise.resolve();
+
+  const mapper = (unpublished, pkg) =>
+    fetch(`-/${pkg.name}`, Object.assign({}, opts, registryOptions)).then(
+      packument => {
+        if (packument.versions[pkg.version] === undefined) {
+          unpublished.push(pkg);
+        }
+
+        return unpublished;
+      },
+      () => {
+        log.warn("", "Unable to determine published versions, assuming unpublished.");
+        return unpublished.concat([pkg]);
+      }
+    );
+
+  chain = chain.then(() => project.getPackages());
+  chain = chain.then(packages => pReduce(packages, mapper, []));
+
+  return chain;
+}