diff --git a/template/build/core/phing/tasks/deploy.xml b/template/build/core/phing/tasks/deploy.xml
index 09b70f476..7672a879a 100644
--- a/template/build/core/phing/tasks/deploy.xml
+++ b/template/build/core/phing/tasks/deploy.xml
@@ -27,8 +27,13 @@
     <phingcall target="deploy:artifact:build"/>
     <phingcall target="deploy:artifact:commit"/>
 
-    <!-- Push up changes to remotes. -->
-    <phingcall target="deploy:artifact:push-all"/>
+    <!-- Push up changes to remotes if this is not a dry run.-->
+    <if>
+      <not><isset property="deploy.dryRun"/></not>
+      <then>
+        <phingcall target="deploy:artifact:push-all"/>
+      </then>
+    </if>
   </target>
 
   <target name="deploy:artifact:add-remote" description="Adds a git remote and checks out deploy branch from upstream.">
@@ -70,6 +75,7 @@
   </target>
 
   <target name="deploy:artifact:commit">
+    <!-- We make these commands quiet because they can cause the output to be so long that Travis CI stops logging. -->
     <exec command="git add -A" dir="${deploy.dir}" logoutput="true" passthru="true" checkreturn="true"/>
     <exec command="git commit -m '${deploy.commitMsg}' --quiet" dir="${deploy.dir}" logoutput="true" passthru="true" checkreturn="true"/>
   </target>
diff --git a/template/readme/deploy.md b/template/readme/deploy.md
index fde2be823..8748ef188 100644
--- a/template/readme/deploy.md
+++ b/template/readme/deploy.md
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ In order to create the build artifact in `/deploy`, simply run
 
 This task is analogous to `setup:build:all` but with a few critical differences:
 * The docroot is created at `/deploy/docroot`.
-* Only production required to the docroot 
+* Only production required to the docroot
 * (planned) CSS / JS are compiled in production mode (compressed / minified)
 * (planned) Sensitive files, such as CHANGELOG.txt, are removed.
 
@@ -36,13 +36,23 @@ After the artifact is created, you can inspect it or even run it as a website lo
 ## <a name="build-artifact"></a>Create and deploy the build artifact
 
 To both create and deploy the build artifact in a single command, run the following command
- 
+
 ````
 ./blt.sh deploy:artifact -Ddeploy.branch=develop-build -Ddeploy.commitMsg='BLT-123: The commit message.'
 ````
 
 This command will commit the artifact to the `develop-build` branch with the specified commit message and push it to the remotes defined in project.yml.
 
+### Debugging deployment artifacts
+
+If you would like to create, commit, but _not push_ the artifact, you may do a dry run:
+
+````
+./blt.sh deploy:artifact -Ddeploy.branch=develop-build -Ddeploy.commitMsg='BLT-123: The commit message.' -Ddeploy.dryRun=true
+````
+
+This is helpful for debugging deployment artifacts.
+
 ## Continuous integration
 
 Instead of performing these deployments manually, you can enlist the help of a CI tool such as Travis or Jenkins.