diff --git a/eng/common/pipelines/templates/jobs/npm-publish.yml b/eng/common/pipelines/templates/jobs/npm-publish.yml
index 4821ea9b3..9909ace96 100644
--- a/eng/common/pipelines/templates/jobs/npm-publish.yml
+++ b/eng/common/pipelines/templates/jobs/npm-publish.yml
@@ -1,18 +1,27 @@
 parameters:
-  Tag: 'latest'
+  Tag: 'auto'
   ArtifactName: 'packages'
+  ArtifactSubPath: ''
+  DeploymentName: 'PublishPackage'
   DependsOn: []
   Environment: 'package-publish'
   Registry: 'https://registry.npmjs.org/'
+  Pool: # hardcoding the pool and image name because deployment jobs do not support variable expansion in pool names
+    name: azsdk-pool
+    image: ubuntu-24.04
+    os: linux
+  CustomCondition: succeeded()
+  FailOnMissingPackages: true
 
 jobs:
-- deployment: PublishPackage_${{ parameters.ArtifactName }}
-  displayName: 'Publish ${{ parameters.ArtifactName }} to ${{ parameters.Registry }}'  
+- deployment: ${{ parameters.DeploymentName }}
+  displayName: 'Publish ${{ parameters.ArtifactName }} to ${{ parameters.Registry }}' 
+  condition: ${{ parameters.CustomCondition }}
   environment: ${{ parameters.Environment }}
   dependsOn: ${{ parameters.DependsOn }}
   variables:
     - name: ArtifactPath
-      value: $(Pipeline.Workspace)/${{ parameters.ArtifactName }}
+      value: $(Pipeline.Workspace)/${{ parameters.ArtifactName }}/${{ parameters.ArtifactSubPath }}
 
   templateContext:
     type: releaseJob
@@ -21,26 +30,48 @@ jobs:
     - input: pipelineArtifact
       artifactName: ${{ parameters.ArtifactName }}
       itemPattern: '**/*.tgz'
-      targetPath: $(ArtifactPath)
+      targetPath: $(Pipeline.Workspace)/${{ parameters.ArtifactName }}/
 
-  pool:
-    name: azsdk-pool
-    image: ubuntu-24.04
-    os: linux
+  pool: ${{ parameters.Pool }}
   
   strategy:
     runOnce:
       deploy:
         steps:
         - pwsh: |
+            $containsBeta = $false
+            $containsPackages = $false
             foreach ($package in (dir $(ArtifactPath) *.tgz -Recurse)) {
-              Write-Host "Publishing $package to ${{ parameters.Registry }} with tag ${{ parameters.Tag }}"
+              if ($package.Name -match "[\d\.]+-[a-zA-Z]+") { $containsBeta = $true }
+              Write-Host "Publishing $package to ${{ parameters.Registry }}"
+              $containsPackages = $true
             }
-          displayName: 'Display packages to be published'
+            if (!$containsPackages) {
+              Write-Host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=SkipPublishing]true"
+              if ("${{ parameters.FailOnMissingPackages }}" -eq 'true') {
+                Write-Error "No packages found to publish, but FailOnMissingPackages is set to true. Failing the job."
+                exit 1
+              }
+              else {
+                Write-Host "No packages found to publish in $(ArtifactPath), so skipping publishing."
+                exit 0
+              }
+            }
+
+            $tag = '${{ parameters.Tag }}'
+            if ($tag -eq '' -or $tag -eq 'auto') {
+              $tag = 'latest'
+              # If the package is prerelease publish it under 'beta' tag
+              if ($containsBeta) { $tag = 'beta'}
+            }
+            Write-Host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=TagName]$tag"
+            Write-Host "Publishing packages with tag: $tag"
+          displayName: 'Packages to be published'
 
         - ${{ if eq(parameters.Registry, 'https://registry.npmjs.org/') }}:
           - task: EsrpRelease@9
             displayName: 'Publish ${{ parameters.ArtifactName }} via ESRP'
+            condition: and(succeeded(), ne(variables['SkipPublishing'], 'true'))
             inputs:
               ConnectedServiceName: 'Azure SDK PME Managed Identity'
               ClientId: '5f81938c-2544-4f1f-9251-dd9de5b8a81b'
@@ -55,23 +86,47 @@ jobs:
               Approvers: ${{ coalesce(variables['Build.RequestedForEmail'], 'azuresdk@microsoft.com') }}
               ServiceEndpointUrl: 'https://api.esrp.microsoft.com'
               MainPublisher: 'ESRPRELPACMANTEST'
-              productstate: ${{ parameters.Tag }}
+              productstate: $(TagName)
+
+          - pwsh: |
+              foreach ($package in (dir $(ArtifactPath) *.tgz -Recurse)) {
+                $packageJson = tar -xOf $package "package/package.json" | ConvertFrom-Json
+                if (!$packageJson) {
+                  Write-Warning "Could not read package.json from $package"
+                  continue;
+                }
+                Write-Host "Verifying tag '$(TagName)' is set for '$($packageJson.name)' version '$($packageJson.version)'"
+                $packageTags = npm view $packageJson.name "dist-tags" -json -silent | ConvertFrom-Json
+                if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0 -or !$packageTags) {
+                  Write-Warning "Failed to retrieve dist-tags for $packageJson.name. It is possible the package hasn't been indexed yet so ignoring."
+                  continue
+                }
+
+                if ($packageTags."$(TagName)" -ne $packageJson.version) {
+                  Write-Error "The dist-tag '$(TagName)' for package '$($packageJson.name)' is not correctly set something must have gone wrong during the ESRP release process."
+                  exit 1
+                }
+              }
+            displayName: 'Verify tag after ESRP release'
+            condition: and(succeeded(), ne(variables['SkipPublishing'], 'true'))
 
         - ${{ else }}:
           - template: /eng/common/pipelines/templates/steps/create-authenticated-npmrc.yml
             parameters:
               npmrcPath: $(ArtifactPath)/.npmrc
               registryUrl: ${{ parameters.Registry }}
+              CustomCondition: and(succeeded(), ne(variables['SkipPublishing'], 'true'))
 
           - pwsh: |
               foreach ($package in (dir $(ArtifactPath) *.tgz -Recurse)) {
-                Write-Host "npm publish $package --verbose --access public --tag ${{ parameters.Tag }} --registry ${{ parameters.Registry }}"
-                npm publish $package --verbose --access public --tag ${{ parameters.Tag }} --registry ${{ parameters.Registry }}
+                Write-Host "npm publish $package --verbose --access public --tag $(TagName) --registry ${{ parameters.Registry }}"
+                npm publish $package --verbose --access public --tag $(TagName) --registry ${{ parameters.Registry }}
                 if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
                   Write-Error "Failed to publish $package to ${{ parameters.Registry }}"
                   exit $LASTEXITCODE
                 }
               }
             displayName: 'Publish ${{ parameters.ArtifactName }}'
+            condition: and(succeeded(), ne(variables['SkipPublishing'], 'true'))
             workingDirectory: $(ArtifactPath)
             
diff --git a/eng/common/pipelines/templates/steps/create-authenticated-npmrc.yml b/eng/common/pipelines/templates/steps/create-authenticated-npmrc.yml
index 4b6f08359..52379684c 100644
--- a/eng/common/pipelines/templates/steps/create-authenticated-npmrc.yml
+++ b/eng/common/pipelines/templates/steps/create-authenticated-npmrc.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@ parameters:
     type: string
   - name: registryUrl
     type: string
+  - name: CustomCondition
+    type: string
+    default: succeeded()
 
 steps:
 - pwsh: |
@@ -17,7 +20,9 @@ steps:
     $content = "registry=${{ parameters.registryUrl }}`n`nalways-auth=true"
     $content | Out-File '${{ parameters.npmrcPath }}'
   displayName: 'Create .npmrc'
+  condition: ${{ parameters.CustomCondition }}
 - task: npmAuthenticate@0
   displayName: Authenticate .npmrc
+  condition: ${{ parameters.CustomCondition }}
   inputs:
     workingFile: ${{ parameters.npmrcPath }}
diff --git a/eng/common/scripts/copy-docs-to-blobstorage.ps1 b/eng/common/scripts/copy-docs-to-blobstorage.ps1
index bfcae988b..852945338 100644
--- a/eng/common/scripts/copy-docs-to-blobstorage.ps1
+++ b/eng/common/scripts/copy-docs-to-blobstorage.ps1
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ function ToSemVer($version){
 
 function SortSemVersions($versions)
 {
-    return $versions | Sort -Property Major, Minor, Patch, PrereleaseLabel, PrereleaseNumber -Descending
+    return $versions | Sort-Object -Property Major, Minor, Patch, PrereleaseLabel, PrereleaseNumber -Descending
 }
 
 function Sort-Versions