diff --git a/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-publish/Program.cs b/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-publish/Program.cs
index cfaef0043..404090036 100644
--- a/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-publish/Program.cs
+++ b/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-publish/Program.cs
@@ -1,15 +1,17 @@
 // Copyright (c) .NET Foundation and contributors. All rights reserved.
 // Licensed under the MIT license. See LICENSE file in the project root for full license information.
 
+using Microsoft.DotNet.Cli;
 using Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.CommandLine;
 using Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.Utils;
 using Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.MSBuild;
+using System.Diagnostics;
 
 namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Publish
 {
     public partial class PublishCommand
     {
-        public static int Run(string[] args)
+        public static PublishCommand FromArgs(string[] args, string msbuildPath = null)
         {
             DebugHelper.HandleDebugSwitch(ref args);
 
@@ -50,10 +52,11 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Publish
 
             CommandOption verbosityOption = MSBuildForwardingApp.AddVerbosityOption(app);
 
+            var publish = new PublishCommand(msbuildPath);
+            bool commandExecuted = false;
             app.OnExecute(() =>
             {
-                var publish = new PublishCommand();
-
+                commandExecuted = true;
                 publish.ProjectPath = projectArgument.Value;
                 publish.Framework = frameworkOption.Value();
                 publish.Runtime = runtimeOption.Value();
@@ -64,10 +67,43 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Publish
                 publish.Verbosity = verbosityOption.Value();
                 publish.ExtraMSBuildArguments = app.RemainingArguments;
 
-                return publish.Execute();
+                return 0;
             });
 
-            return app.Execute(args);
+            int exitCode = app.Execute(args);
+            if (!commandExecuted)
+            {
+                throw new CommandCreationException(exitCode);
+            }
+
+            return publish;
+        }
+
+        public static int Run(string[] args)
+        {
+            DebugHelper.HandleDebugSwitch(ref args);
+
+            PublishCommand cmd;
+            try
+            {
+                cmd = FromArgs(args);
+            }
+            catch (CommandCreationException e)
+            {
+                return e.ExitCode;
+            }
+
+            return cmd.Execute();
+        }
+
+        public ProcessStartInfo GetProcessStartInfo()
+        {
+            return CreateForwardingApp(_msbuildPath).GetProcessStartInfo();
+        }
+
+        public int Execute()
+        {
+            return GetProcessStartInfo().Execute();
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-publish/PublishCommand.cs b/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-publish/PublishCommand.cs
index 767092bde..162927902 100644
--- a/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-publish/PublishCommand.cs
+++ b/src/dotnet/commands/dotnet-publish/PublishCommand.cs
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Publish
 {
     public partial class PublishCommand
     {
+        private string _msbuildPath;
+
         public string ProjectPath { get; set; }
         public string Framework { get; set; }
         public string Runtime { get; set; }
@@ -22,21 +24,22 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Publish
 
         public List<string> ExtraMSBuildArguments { get; set; }
 
-        private PublishCommand()
+        private PublishCommand(string msbuildPath = null)
         {
+            _msbuildPath = msbuildPath;
         }
 
-        public int Execute()
+        private MSBuildForwardingApp CreateForwardingApp(string msbuildPath)
         {
             List<string> msbuildArgs = new List<string>();
 
+            msbuildArgs.Add("/t:Publish");
+
             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(ProjectPath))
             {
                 msbuildArgs.Add(ProjectPath);
             }
 
-            msbuildArgs.Add("/t:Publish");
-
             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Framework))
             {
                 msbuildArgs.Add($"/p:TargetFramework={Framework}");
@@ -74,7 +77,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Publish
 
             msbuildArgs.AddRange(ExtraMSBuildArguments);
 
-            return new MSBuildForwardingApp(msbuildArgs).Execute();
+            return new MSBuildForwardingApp(msbuildArgs, msbuildPath);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/test/dotnet-msbuild.Tests/GivenDotnetPublishInvocation.cs b/test/dotnet-msbuild.Tests/GivenDotnetPublishInvocation.cs
index 3c1799593..d1ed249bb 100644
--- a/test/dotnet-msbuild.Tests/GivenDotnetPublishInvocation.cs
+++ b/test/dotnet-msbuild.Tests/GivenDotnetPublishInvocation.cs
@@ -1,35 +1,38 @@
-using Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Build;
+using Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.Publish;
 using FluentAssertions;
 using Xunit;
 using System;
+using System.Linq;
 
 namespace Microsoft.DotNet.Cli.MSBuild.Tests
 {
     public class GivenDotnetPublishInvocation
     {
-        [Theory(Skip = "finish me")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "-o", "foo" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /p:OutputPath=foo /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "--output", "foo" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /p:OutputPath=foo /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "-o", "foo1 foo2" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build ""/p:OutputPath=foo1 foo2"" /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "--no-incremental" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Rebuild /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "-f", "framework" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /p:TargetFramework=framework /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "--framework", "framework" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /p:TargetFramework=framework /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "-r", "runtime" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /p:RuntimeIdentifier=runtime /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "--runtime", "runtime" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /p:RuntimeIdentifier=runtime /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "-c", "configuration" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /p:Configuration=configuration /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "--configuration", "configuration" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /p:Configuration=configuration /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "--version-suffix", "mysuffix" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /p:VersionSuffix=mysuffix /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "--no-dependencies" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /p:BuildProjectReferences=false /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "-v", "verbosity" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /verbosity:verbosity /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "--verbosity", "verbosity" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Build /verbosity:verbosity /clp:Summary")]
-        [InlineData(new string[] { "--no-incremental", "-o", "myoutput", "-r", "myruntime", "-v", "diag" }, @"exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Rebuild /p:OutputPath=myoutput /p:RuntimeIdentifier=myruntime /verbosity:diag /clp:Summary")]
-        public void MsbuildInvocationIsCorrect(string[] args, string expectedCommand)
+        const string ExpectedPrefix = "exec <msbuildpath> /m /v:m /t:Publish";
+
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { }, "")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "-f", "<framework>" }, "/p:TargetFramework=<framework>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "--framework", "<framework>" }, "/p:TargetFramework=<framework>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "-r", "<runtime>" }, "/p:RuntimeIdentifier=<runtime>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "--runtime", "<runtime>" }, "/p:RuntimeIdentifier=<runtime>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "-o", "<output>" }, "/p:PublishDir=<output>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "--output", "<output>" }, "/p:PublishDir=<output>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "-c", "<configuration>" }, "/p:Configuration=<configuration>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "--configuration", "<configuration>" }, "/p:Configuration=<configuration>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "--version-suffix", "<version-suffix>" }, "/p:VersionSuffix=<version-suffix>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "--filter", "<filter>" }, "/p:FilterProjFile=<filter>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "-v", "<verbosity>" }, "/verbosity:<verbosity>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "--verbosity", "<verbosity>" }, "/verbosity:<verbosity>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "<project>" }, "<project>")]
+        [InlineData(new string[] { "<project>", "<extra-args>" }, "<project> <extra-args>")]
+        public void MsbuildInvocationIsCorrect(string[] args, string expectedAdditionalArgs)
         {
+            expectedAdditionalArgs = (string.IsNullOrEmpty(expectedAdditionalArgs) ? "" : $" {expectedAdditionalArgs}");
+
             var msbuildPath = "<msbuildpath>";
-            BuildCommand.FromArgs(args, msbuildPath)
-                .GetProcessStartInfo().Arguments.Should().Be(expectedCommand);
-            throw new NotImplementedException();
+            PublishCommand.FromArgs(args, msbuildPath)
+                .GetProcessStartInfo().Arguments.Should().Be($"{ExpectedPrefix}{expectedAdditionalArgs}");
         }
     }
 }