diff --git a/cmd/version.go b/cmd/version.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5dd35d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/version.go
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/*
+Copyright © 2022 Joel D. Elkins <joel@elkins.co>
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
+THE SOFTWARE.
+*/
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	_ "embed"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+)
+
+// versionCmd represents the version command
+var versionCmd = &cobra.Command{
+	Use:   "version",
+	Short: "Show version info",
+	Long:  `Output the ccl binary's version`,
+	Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) {
+		cmd.Println("ccl version", Version)
+	},
+}
+
+var (
+	//go:embed version.txt
+	version string
+	Version string = strings.TrimSpace(version)
+)
+
+func init() {
+	rootCmd.AddCommand(versionCmd)
+}
diff --git a/release.sh b/release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6187f69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+vers="$1"
+if [[ $vers = v*.*.* ]]; then
+    echo $vers >cmd/version.txt
+    git add cmd/version.txt
+    git commit -m "Release version $vers"
+    git tag $vers
+else
+    echo "bad version format"
+    exit 1
+fi