diff --git a/.github/release_checklist.md b/.github/release_checklist.md
index 9abffc2..71b59ae 100644
--- a/.github/release_checklist.md
+++ b/.github/release_checklist.md
@@ -2,9 +2,7 @@ Release checklist
 - [ ] Check outstanding issues on JIRA and Github.
 - [ ] Check [latest documentation](https://python-zlib-ng.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) looks fine.
 - [ ] Create a release branch.
-  - [ ] Set version to a stable number.
   - [ ] Change current development version in `CHANGELOG.rst` to stable version.
-  - [ ] Change the version in `__init__.py`
 - [ ] Merge the release branch into `main`.
 - [ ] Created an annotated tag with the stable version number. Include changes 
 from CHANGELOG.rst.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 52dd2c0..7382e1d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ jobs:
   lint:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2.3.4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           submodules: recursive
       - name: Set up Python 3.8
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ jobs:
           - twine_check
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2.3.4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           submodules: recursive
       - name: Set up Python 3.8
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ jobs:
           - os: "windows-latest"
             python-version: "3.8"
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2.3.4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           submodules: recursive
       - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ jobs:
         distro: [ "ubuntu_latest" ]
         arch: ["aarch64"]
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2.3.4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           submodules: recursive
       - uses: uraimo/run-on-arch-action@v2.2.0
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ jobs:
           - os: "ubuntu-latest"
             python_version: "pypy"
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2.3.4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           submodules: recursive
       - name: Install miniconda.
@@ -170,9 +170,10 @@ jobs:
           - os: "ubuntu-latest"
             cibw_archs_linux: "aarch64"
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2.3.4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           submodules: recursive
+          fetch-depth: 0  # Fetch everything to get accurately versioned tag.
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v2
         name: Install Python
       - name: Install cibuildwheel twine build
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b6e4761..671f3ec 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+src/zlib_ng/_version.py
+
 # Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
 __pycache__/
 *.py[cod]
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 49eb90b..6cde131 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1 +1,10 @@
 graft src/zlib_ng/zlib-ng
+prune tests
+prune docs
+prune benchmark_scripts
+prune .github
+exclude tox.ini
+exclude requirements-docs.txt
+exclude codecov.yml
+exclude .readthedocs.yml
+exclude .git*
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 62f5f82..28ae41d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
 [build-system]
-requires = ["setuptools>=51", "wheel"]
+requires = ["setuptools>=64", "versioningit>=1.1.0"]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[tool.versioningit.vcs]
+method="git"
+default-tag = "v0.0.0"
+
+[tool.versioningit.write]
+file = "src/zlib_ng/_version.py"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 8da9d85..95a6a44 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 from setuptools import Extension, find_packages, setup
 from setuptools.command.build_ext import build_ext
 
+import versioningit
+
 ZLIB_NG_SOURCE = os.path.join("src", "zlib_ng", "zlib-ng")
 
 SYSTEM_IS_UNIX = (sys.platform.startswith("linux") or
@@ -124,7 +126,7 @@ def build_zlib_ng():
 
 setup(
     name="zlib-ng",
-    version="0.5.0-dev",
+    version=versioningit.get_version(),
     description="Drop-in replacement for zlib and gzip modules using zlib-ng",
     author="Leiden University Medical Center",
     author_email="r.h.p.vorderman@lumc.nl",  # A placeholder for now
diff --git a/src/zlib_ng/__init__.py b/src/zlib_ng/__init__.py
index aa9ea12..8504ed8 100644
--- a/src/zlib_ng/__init__.py
+++ b/src/zlib_ng/__init__.py
@@ -5,4 +5,6 @@
 # This file is part of python-zlib-ng which is distributed under the
 # PYTHON SOFTWARE FOUNDATION LICENSE VERSION 2.
 
-__version__ = "0.5.0-dev"
+from ._version import __version__
+
+__all__ = ["__version__"]
diff --git a/src/zlib_ng/_version.pyi b/src/zlib_ng/_version.pyi
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c8f915
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/zlib_ng/_version.pyi
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010,
+# 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
+# Python Software Foundation; All Rights Reserved
+
+# This file is part of python-zlib-ng which is distributed under the
+# PYTHON SOFTWARE FOUNDATION LICENSE VERSION 2.
+
+__version__: int
\ No newline at end of file