diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 20ab2c90b06d65..1d4342fac2568d 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@
     "@nrwl/js": "13.10.6",
     "@nrwl/node": "13.10.6",
     "@nrwl/workspace": "13.10.6",
+    "@octokit/rest": "18.12.0",
     "@storybook/addon-a11y": "6.5.5",
     "@storybook/addon-actions": "6.5.5",
     "@storybook/addon-docs": "6.5.5",
diff --git a/scripts/github/pullRequests.ts b/scripts/github/pullRequests.ts
index 5080cf4a40541a..1ea5838a31c2f1 100644
--- a/scripts/github/pullRequests.ts
+++ b/scripts/github/pullRequests.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-import type { Octokit } from '@octokit/rest';
-import type { IPullRequest, IRepoDetails } from './types';
+import type { Octokit, RestEndpointMethodTypes } from '@octokit/rest';
+import { IPullRequest, IRepoDetails } from './types';
 
 export interface IGetPullRequestFromCommitParams {
   github: Octokit;
@@ -54,17 +54,18 @@ export async function getPullRequestForCommit(
  */
 export function processPullRequestApiResponse(
   pr:
-    | Octokit.ReposListPullRequestsAssociatedWithCommitResponseItem
-    | Octokit.SearchIssuesAndPullRequestsResponseItemsItem,
+    | RestEndpointMethodTypes['search']['issuesAndPullRequests']['response']['data']['items'][number]
+    | RestEndpointMethodTypes['repos']['listPullRequestsAssociatedWithCommit']['response']['data'][number],
   authorEmail?: string,
 ): IPullRequest {
+  const user = pr.user as NonNullable<typeof pr['user']>;
   return {
     number: pr.number,
     url: pr.html_url,
     author: {
       email: authorEmail,
-      username: pr.user.login,
-      url: pr.user.html_url,
+      username: user.login,
+      url: user.html_url,
     },
   };
 }
diff --git a/scripts/package.json b/scripts/package.json
index ceaf5899221780..e8890ba34e7595 100644
--- a/scripts/package.json
+++ b/scripts/package.json
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
     "@mdx-js/loader": "^1.5.5",
     "@microsoft/load-themed-styles": "^1.10.26",
     "@microsoft/loader-load-themed-styles": "^1.7.205",
-    "@octokit/rest": "^16.28.2",
     "@types/babel__traverse": "^7.0.4",
     "@types/inquirer": "^6.5.0",
     "@types/lerna-alias": "^3.0.0",
diff --git a/scripts/update-release-notes/index.ts b/scripts/update-release-notes/index.ts
index 7760d5b74897dd..81353f3c62ba69 100644
--- a/scripts/update-release-notes/index.ts
+++ b/scripts/update-release-notes/index.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * given tag.
  */
 
-import { Octokit } from '@octokit/rest';
+import type { RestEndpointMethodTypes } from '@octokit/rest';
 import { argv, repoDetails, github } from './init';
 import { getTagToChangelogMap, getTags } from './changelogsAndTags';
 import { getReleases } from './releases';
@@ -49,7 +49,9 @@ async function updateReleaseNotes() {
     console.log(`${hasBeenReleased ? 'Patching' : 'Creating'} release notes for ${entryInfo}...\n`);
     count++;
 
-    const releaseDetails: Partial<Octokit.ReposUpdateReleaseParams> = {
+    const releaseDetails:
+      | RestEndpointMethodTypes['repos']['updateRelease']['parameters']
+      | RestEndpointMethodTypes['repos']['createRelease']['parameters'] = {
       ...repoDetails,
       tag_name: entry.tag,
       name: `${entry.name} v${entry.version}`,
@@ -64,9 +66,13 @@ async function updateReleaseNotes() {
     if (argv.apply) {
       try {
         if (hasBeenReleased) {
-          await github.repos.updateRelease(releaseDetails as Octokit.ReposUpdateReleaseParams);
+          await github.repos.updateRelease(
+            releaseDetails as RestEndpointMethodTypes['repos']['updateRelease']['parameters'],
+          );
         } else {
-          await github.repos.createRelease(releaseDetails as Octokit.ReposCreateReleaseParams);
+          await github.repos.createRelease(
+            releaseDetails as RestEndpointMethodTypes['repos']['createRelease']['parameters'],
+          );
         }
         console.log(`Successfully ${hasBeenReleased ? 'updated' : 'created'} release notes for ${entryInfo}`);
       } catch (err) {
diff --git a/scripts/update-release-notes/pullRequests.ts b/scripts/update-release-notes/pullRequests.ts
index 0bf6e834559474..114daa04e8f8fe 100644
--- a/scripts/update-release-notes/pullRequests.ts
+++ b/scripts/update-release-notes/pullRequests.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { Octokit } from '@octokit/rest';
+import type { RestEndpointMethodTypes } from '@octokit/rest';
 import { ChangelogEntry } from 'beachball';
 import { IPullRequest, processPullRequestApiResponse, getPullRequestForCommit } from '../github';
 import { repoDetails, github } from './init';
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ async function getMatchingRecentPullRequest(entry: ChangelogEntry): Promise<IPul
     if (author) {
       // Get this author's recent PRs and look for one or more with a matching commit message and email
       possiblePrs = (await getRecentPrsByAuthor(author, authorEmail)).filter(pr =>
-        pr.commits!.some(commit => commit.message === message && commit.authorEmail === authorEmail),
+        (pr.commits ?? []).some(commit => commit.message === message && commit.authorEmail === authorEmail),
       );
     }
   } catch (ex) {
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ async function getRecentPrsByAuthor(
       // Get the author's 10 most recently updated merged PRs
       console.log(`Getting ${count} most recent PRs by ${authorUsername}...`);
       // (this is not quite the right type, since merge_commit_sha doesn't exist on the real response)
-      const result: Octokit.SearchIssuesAndPullRequestsResponseItemsItem[] = (
+      const result = (
         await github.search.issuesAndPullRequests({
           q: [
             'type:pr',
@@ -130,20 +130,25 @@ async function _addCommitInfo(prs: IPullRequest[]): Promise<IExtendedPullRequest
     console.log(`  Getting commits for #${pr.number}...`);
     try {
       const commits = await github.pulls.listCommits({ pull_number: pr.number, ...repoDetails });
+
       results.push({
         ...pr,
-        commits: commits.data
-          .filter(commit => !!commit.author)
-          .map(commit => ({
-            commit: commit.sha,
-            message: commit.commit.message,
-            author: commit.author.login,
-            authorEmail: commit.commit.author.email,
-          })),
+        commits: dataWithAuthor(commits.data).map(commit => ({
+          commit: commit.sha,
+          message: commit.commit.message,
+          author: commit.author.login,
+          authorEmail: commit.commit.author?.email,
+        })),
       });
     } catch (ex) {
       // ignore
     }
   }
   return results;
+
+  function dataWithAuthor(value: RestEndpointMethodTypes['pulls']['listCommits']['response']['data']) {
+    type Commit = typeof value[number];
+    type FilteredCommit = Omit<Commit, 'author'> & { author: NonNullable<Commit['author']> };
+    return value.filter(commit => Boolean(commit.author)) as FilteredCommit[];
+  }
 }
diff --git a/scripts/update-release-notes/releases.ts b/scripts/update-release-notes/releases.ts
index 2f8c190733ca38..63a98c30cb1e99 100644
--- a/scripts/update-release-notes/releases.ts
+++ b/scripts/update-release-notes/releases.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import { Octokit } from '@octokit/rest';
 import { repoDetails, github } from './init';
 import { IRelease } from './types';
 
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ export async function getReleases(tags?: string[]): Promise<Map<string, IRelease
     // Get all the releases
     console.log('Getting all releases...');
     try {
-      const res: Octokit.ReposListReleasesResponseItem[] = await github.paginate(
+      const res = await github.paginate<{ tag_name: string; id: number }>(
         github.repos.listReleases.endpoint.merge(repoDetails),
       );
 
diff --git a/scripts/update-release-notes/types.ts b/scripts/update-release-notes/types.ts
index 9f57da3aa5b6c2..0fa8e866ccfade 100644
--- a/scripts/update-release-notes/types.ts
+++ b/scripts/update-release-notes/types.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { ChangelogJsonEntry } from 'beachball';
-import { IPullRequest } from '../github/index';
+import { IPullRequest } from '../github';
 
 /** Entry in a CHANGELOG.json's `entries` array, plus the package name */
 export interface IChangelogEntry extends ChangelogJsonEntry {
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ export interface ICommit {
   /** Author GitHub username */
   author: string;
   /** Author email */
-  authorEmail: string;
+  authorEmail?: string;
 }
 
 export interface IExtendedPullRequest extends IPullRequest {
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 5381618fb9e9f4..e60d2f9456055f 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -3519,27 +3519,15 @@
     node-fetch "^2.6.7"
     universal-user-agent "^6.0.0"
 
-"@octokit/rest@^16.28.2":
-  version "16.43.1"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@octokit/rest/-/rest-16.43.1.tgz#3b11e7d1b1ac2bbeeb23b08a17df0b20947eda6b"
-  integrity sha512-gfFKwRT/wFxq5qlNjnW2dh+qh74XgTQ2B179UX5K1HYCluioWj8Ndbgqw2PVqa1NnVJkGHp2ovMpVn/DImlmkw==
+"@octokit/rest@18.12.0", "@octokit/rest@^16.43.0 || ^17.11.0 || ^18.12.0", "@octokit/rest@^18.12.0":
+  version "18.12.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@octokit/rest/-/rest-18.12.0.tgz#f06bc4952fc87130308d810ca9d00e79f6988881"
+  integrity sha512-gDPiOHlyGavxr72y0guQEhLsemgVjwRePayJ+FcKc2SJqKUbxbkvf5kAZEWA/MKvsfYlQAMVzNJE3ezQcxMJ2Q==
   dependencies:
-    "@octokit/auth-token" "^2.4.0"
-    "@octokit/plugin-paginate-rest" "^1.1.1"
-    "@octokit/plugin-request-log" "^1.0.0"
-    "@octokit/plugin-rest-endpoint-methods" "2.4.0"
-    "@octokit/request" "^5.2.0"
-    "@octokit/request-error" "^1.0.2"
-    atob-lite "^2.0.0"
-    before-after-hook "^2.0.0"
-    btoa-lite "^1.0.0"
-    deprecation "^2.0.0"
-    lodash.get "^4.4.2"
-    lodash.set "^4.3.2"
-    lodash.uniq "^4.5.0"
-    octokit-pagination-methods "^1.1.0"
-    once "^1.4.0"
-    universal-user-agent "^4.0.0"
+    "@octokit/core" "^3.5.1"
+    "@octokit/plugin-paginate-rest" "^2.16.8"
+    "@octokit/plugin-request-log" "^1.0.4"
+    "@octokit/plugin-rest-endpoint-methods" "^5.12.0"
 
 "@octokit/rest@^16.28.4":
   version "16.43.2"
@@ -3563,16 +3551,6 @@
     once "^1.4.0"
     universal-user-agent "^4.0.0"
 
-"@octokit/rest@^16.43.0 || ^17.11.0 || ^18.12.0", "@octokit/rest@^18.12.0":
-  version "18.12.0"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@octokit/rest/-/rest-18.12.0.tgz#f06bc4952fc87130308d810ca9d00e79f6988881"
-  integrity sha512-gDPiOHlyGavxr72y0guQEhLsemgVjwRePayJ+FcKc2SJqKUbxbkvf5kAZEWA/MKvsfYlQAMVzNJE3ezQcxMJ2Q==
-  dependencies:
-    "@octokit/core" "^3.5.1"
-    "@octokit/plugin-paginate-rest" "^2.16.8"
-    "@octokit/plugin-request-log" "^1.0.4"
-    "@octokit/plugin-rest-endpoint-methods" "^5.12.0"
-
 "@octokit/types@^2.0.0", "@octokit/types@^2.0.1":
   version "2.1.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@octokit/types/-/types-2.1.1.tgz#77e80d1b663c5f1f829e5377b728fa3c4fe5a97d"