diff --git a/scripts/release/publish-docs-content.sh b/scripts/release/publish-docs-content.sh
index 91b533efbe85..8322955be7d2 100755
--- a/scripts/release/publish-docs-content.sh
+++ b/scripts/release/publish-docs-content.sh
@@ -32,8 +32,9 @@ mkdir $repoPath/overview
 mkdir $repoPath/guides
 mkdir $repoPath/api
 mkdir $repoPath/examples
+mkdir $repoPath/plunker
 
-# Move api files over to $repoPath/api
+# Copy api files over to $repoPath/api
 cp -r $docsPath/api/* $repoPath/api
 
 # Flatten the markdown docs structure and move it into $repoPath/overview
@@ -52,7 +53,7 @@ do
   fi
 done
 
-# Move guide files over to $repoPath/guides
+# Copy guide files over to $repoPath/guides
 for filename in $overviewFiles*
 do
   if [ -f $filename ]; then
@@ -60,9 +61,12 @@ do
   fi
 done
 
-# Move highlighted examples into $repoPath
+# Copy highlighted examples into $repoPath
 cp -r $examplesSource/* $repoPath/examples
 
+# Copy example plunker assets
+rsync -a $docsPath/plunker $repoPath/plunker
+
 # Copies assets over to the docs-content repository.
 cp LICENSE $repoPath/
 
diff --git a/tools/gulp/tasks/docs.ts b/tools/gulp/tasks/docs.ts
index efc95961d346..793d07162cc9 100644
--- a/tools/gulp/tasks/docs.ts
+++ b/tools/gulp/tasks/docs.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import {task, src, dest} from 'gulp';
 import {Dgeni} from 'dgeni';
 import * as path from 'path';
-import {HTML_MINIFIER_OPTIONS} from '../constants';
+import {DIST_ROOT, HTML_MINIFIER_OPTIONS, SOURCE_ROOT} from '../constants';
 
 // There are no type definitions available for these imports.
 const markdown = require('gulp-markdown');
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ const htmlmin = require('gulp-htmlmin');
 const hljs = require('highlight.js');
 const dom  = require('gulp-dom');
 
+const DIST_DOCS = path.join(DIST_ROOT, 'docs');
+
 // Our docs contain comments of the form `<!-- example(...) -->` which serve as placeholders where
 // example code should be inserted. We replace these comments with divs that have a
 // `material-docs-example` attribute which can be used to locate the divs and initialize the example
@@ -46,8 +48,17 @@ const MARKDOWN_TAGS_TO_CLASS_ALIAS = [
   'code',
 ];
 
-task('docs', ['markdown-docs', 'highlight-docs', 'api-docs', 'minify-html-docs']);
 
+/** Generate all docs content. */
+task('docs', [
+  'markdown-docs',
+  'highlight-examples',
+  'api-docs',
+  'minified-api-docs',
+  'plunker-example-assets',
+]);
+
+/** Generates html files from the markdown overviews and guides. */
 task('markdown-docs', () => {
   return src(['src/lib/**/*.md', 'guides/*.md'])
       .pipe(markdown({
@@ -67,7 +78,11 @@ task('markdown-docs', () => {
       .pipe(dest('dist/docs/markdown'));
 });
 
-task('highlight-docs', () => {
+/**
+ * Creates syntax-highlighted html files from the examples to be used for the source view of
+ * live examples on the docs site.
+ */
+task('highlight-examples', () => {
   // rename files to fit format: [filename]-[filetype].html
   const renameFile = (path: any) => {
     const extension = path.extname.slice(1);
@@ -81,18 +96,26 @@ task('highlight-docs', () => {
       .pipe(dest('dist/docs/examples'));
 });
 
+/** Generates API docs from the source JsDoc using dgeni. */
 task('api-docs', () => {
   const docsPackage = require(path.resolve(__dirname, '../../dgeni'));
   const docs = new Dgeni([docsPackage]);
   return docs.generate();
 });
 
-task('minify-html-docs', ['api-docs'], () => {
+/** Generates minified html api docs. */
+task('minified-api-docs', ['api-docs'], () => {
   return src('dist/docs/api/*.html')
     .pipe(htmlmin(HTML_MINIFIER_OPTIONS))
     .pipe(dest('dist/docs/api/'));
 });
 
+/** Copies example sources to be used as plunker assets for the docs site. */
+task('plunker-example-assets', () => {
+  src(path.join(SOURCE_ROOT, 'examples', '**/*'))
+      .pipe(dest(path.join(DIST_DOCS, 'plunker', 'examples')));
+});
+
 /** Updates the markdown file's content to work inside of the docs app. */
 function transformMarkdownFiles(buffer: Buffer, file: any): string {
   let content = buffer.toString('utf-8');