diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-master.yml b/.github/workflows/release-master.yml
index 3f5058a4649..111d7abd712 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-master.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-master.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-name: Release cirq-unstable to PyPi
+name: Pre-release cirq to PyPi
 
 on:
   push:
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
           TWINE_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.PYPI_USER }}
           TWINE_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.PYPI_PASS }}
         run: |
-          export CIRQ_UNSTABLE_VERSION=$(dev_tools/packaging/generate-dev-version-id.sh)
-          [[ "$CIRQ_UNSTABLE_VERSION" =~ .*dev.* ]] && echo "Deploying dev version '$CIRQ_UNSTABLE_VERSION'" || (echo "not dev version"; exit 1)
+          export CIRQ_PRE_RELEASE_VERSION=$(dev_tools/packaging/generate-dev-version-id.sh)
+          [[ "$CIRQ_PRE_RELEASE_VERSION" =~ .*dev.* ]] && echo "Deploying dev version '$CIRQ_PRE_RELEASE_VERSION'" || (echo "not dev version"; exit 1)
           python setup.py bdist_wheel
           twine upload dist/*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index da195a2d2df..8f226afb784 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Installation and Documentation
 
 Cirq documentation is available at `cirq.readthedocs.io <https://cirq.readthedocs.io>`_.
 
-Documentation for the latest **unstable** version of cirq (tracks the repository's master branch; what you get if you ``pip install cirq-unstable``), is available at `cirq.readthedocs.io/latest <https://cirq.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_.
+Documentation for the latest **pre-release** version of cirq (tracks the repository's master branch; what you get if you ``pip install --pre cirq``), is available at `cirq.readthedocs.io/latest <https://cirq.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_.
 
 Documentation for the latest **stable** version of cirq (what you get if you ``pip install cirq``) is available at `cirq.readthedocs.io/stable <https://cirq.readthedocs.io/en/stable/>`_.
 
diff --git a/dev_tools/packaging/publish-dev-package.sh b/dev_tools/packaging/publish-dev-package.sh
index d63ea052920..efabf878d5c 100755
--- a/dev_tools/packaging/publish-dev-package.sh
+++ b/dev_tools/packaging/publish-dev-package.sh
@@ -15,8 +15,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 ################################################################################
-# Produces and uploads dev-version wheels to a pypi package 'cirq-unstable'
-# Note that this is not the dev-version for cirq, whose use is deprecated.
+# Produces and uploads dev-version wheels to the 'cirq' pypi package
 #
 # Uploads to the test pypi repository unless the --prod switch is added.
 #
@@ -112,8 +111,8 @@ cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
 tmp_package_dir=$(mktemp -d "/tmp/publish-dev-package_package.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX")
 trap "{ rm -rf ${tmp_package_dir}; }" EXIT
 
-# Configure to push to cirq-unstable and not cirq.
-export CIRQ_UNSTABLE_VERSION=$(dev_tools/packaging/generate-dev-version-id.sh)
+# Configure to push to a pre-release package of cirq.
+export CIRQ_PRE_RELEASE_VERSION=$(dev_tools/packaging/generate-dev-version-id.sh)
 
 # Produce packages.
 dev_tools/packaging/produce-package.sh "${tmp_package_dir}" "${UPLOAD_VERSION}"
diff --git a/dev_tools/packaging/verify-published-package.sh b/dev_tools/packaging/verify-published-package.sh
index baa158624b7..cc9e6e55381 100755
--- a/dev_tools/packaging/verify-published-package.sh
+++ b/dev_tools/packaging/verify-published-package.sh
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@
 
 ################################################################################
 # Downloads and tests cirq wheels from the pypi package repository.
-# Can verify prod, test, or unstable versions.
-#   --unstable: cirq-unstable from prod pypi
+# Can verify prod, test, or pre-release versions.
+#   --pre: pre-release cirq from prod pypi
 #   --test: cirq from test pypi
 #   --prod: cirq from prod pypi
 #
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 # dependencies disagree, the tests can spuriously fail.
 #
 # Usage:
-#     dev_tools/packaging/verify-published-package.sh PACKAGE_VERSION --test|--prod|--unstable
+#     dev_tools/packaging/verify-published-package.sh PACKAGE_VERSION --test|--prod|--pre
 ################################################################################
 
 set -e
@@ -44,19 +44,19 @@ if [ -z "${PROJECT_VERSION}" ]; then
 fi
 
 if [ "${PROD_SWITCH}" = "--test" ]; then
-    PYPI_REPOSITORY_FLAG="--index-url=https://test.pypi.org/simple/"
+    PIP_FLAGS="--index-url=https://test.pypi.org/simple/"
     PYPI_REPO_NAME="TEST"
     PYPI_PROJECT_NAME="cirq"
 elif [ "${PROD_SWITCH}" = "--prod" ]; then
-    PYPI_REPOSITORY_FLAG=''
+    PIP_FLAGS=''
     PYPI_REPO_NAME="PROD"
     PYPI_PROJECT_NAME="cirq"
-elif [ "${PROD_SWITCH}" = "--unstable" ]; then
-    PYPI_REPOSITORY_FLAG=''
+elif [ "${PROD_SWITCH}" = "--pre" ]; then
+    PIP_FLAGS='--pre'
     PYPI_REPO_NAME="PROD"
-    PYPI_PROJECT_NAME="cirq-unstable"
+    PYPI_PROJECT_NAME="cirq"
 else
-    echo -e "\033[31mSecond argument must be '--prod' or '--test' or '--unstable'.\033[0m"
+    echo -e "\033[31mSecond argument must be '--prod' or '--test' or '--pre'.\033[0m"
     exit 1
 fi
 
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ for PYTHON_VERSION in python3; do
         "${tmp_dir}/${PYTHON_VERSION}/bin/pip" install --quiet -r "${RUNTIME_DEPS_FILE}"
     fi
     echo Installing "${PYPI_PROJECT_NAME}==${PROJECT_VERSION} from ${PYPI_REPO_NAME} pypi"
-    "${tmp_dir}/${PYTHON_VERSION}/bin/pip" install --quiet ${PYPI_REPOSITORY_FLAG} "${PYPI_PROJECT_NAME}==${PROJECT_VERSION}"
+    "${tmp_dir}/${PYTHON_VERSION}/bin/pip" install --quiet ${PIP_FLAGS} "${PYPI_PROJECT_NAME}==${PROJECT_VERSION}"
 
     # Check that code runs without dev deps.
     echo Checking that code executes
diff --git a/docs/tutorials/google/colab.ipynb b/docs/tutorials/google/colab.ipynb
index 26d3d4e5936..87ed2acdea7 100644
--- a/docs/tutorials/google/colab.ipynb
+++ b/docs/tutorials/google/colab.ipynb
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@
     "\n",
     "For details of authentication and installation, please see [go/quantum-engine-quickstart](http://go/quantum-engine-quickstart). \n",
     "\n",
-    "Note:  The below code will install the latest stable release of cirq.  If you need the latest and greatest features and don't mind if a few things aren't quite working correctly, you can install `cirq-unstable` instead of `cirq` to get the most up-to-date features of cirq.\n",
+    "Note:  The below code will install the latest stable release of cirq.  If you need the latest and greatest features and don't mind if a few things aren't quite working correctly, you can install the pre-release version of `cirq` using `pip install --pre cirq` instead of `pip install cirq` to get the most up-to-date features of cirq.\n",
     "\n",
     "1. Enter the Cloud project ID you'd like to use in the `project_id` field.\n",
     "2. Then run the cell below (and go through the auth flow for access to the project id you entered).\n",
diff --git a/release.md b/release.md
index 6b32a894bb3..5b6bc874c66 100644
--- a/release.md
+++ b/release.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ themselves are created. Note that development is done on the `master`
 branch, so if you want to use a more stable version you should use one
 of the [releases](https://github.com/quantumlib/Cirq/releases) or
 install from pypi using `pip install cirq`.  The release from the
-latest commit to master can be installed with `pip install cirq-unstable`.
+latest commit to master can be installed with `pip install --pre cirq`.
 
 ## Versioning
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 90c3888174f..ef26e6ea428 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -30,11 +30,13 @@
 # README file as long_description.
 long_description = io.open('README.rst', encoding='utf-8').read()
 
-# If CIRQ_UNSTABLE_VERSION is set then we use cirq-unstable as the name of the package
-# and update the version to this value.
-if 'CIRQ_UNSTABLE_VERSION' in os.environ:
-    name = 'cirq-unstable'
-    __version__ = os.environ['CIRQ_UNSTABLE_VERSION']
+# If CIRQ_PRE_RELEASE_VERSION is set then we update the version to this value.
+# It is assumed that it ends with one of `.devN`, `.aN`, `.bN`, `.rcN` and hence
+# it will be a pre-release version on PyPi. See
+# https://packaging.python.org/guides/distributing-packages-using-setuptools/#pre-release-versioning
+# for more details.
+if 'CIRQ_PRE_RELEASE_VERSION' in os.environ:
+    __version__ = os.environ['CIRQ_PRE_RELEASE_VERSION']
     long_description = (
         "**This is a development version of Cirq and may be "
         "unstable.**\n\n**For the latest stable release of Cirq "