diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 6e9b081..d1a68d9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -155,6 +155,9 @@ cython_debug/
 # IDEs/editors
 *.sw*
 
+# build version metadata
+_version.py
+
 # PyCharm
 #  JetBrains specific template is maintained in a separate JetBrains.gitignore that can
 #  be found at https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/main/Global/JetBrains.gitignore
diff --git a/gp2040ce_bintools/__init__.py b/gp2040ce_bintools/__init__.py
index 143abe4..53ee1d0 100644
--- a/gp2040ce_bintools/__init__.py
+++ b/gp2040ce_bintools/__init__.py
@@ -8,9 +8,20 @@ import sys
 
 import grpc
 
+# dynamically generate version number
+try:
+    # packaged/pip install -e . value
+    from ._version import version as __version__
+except ImportError:
+    # local clone value
+    from setuptools_scm import get_version
+    __version__ = get_version(root='..', relative_to=__file__)
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+# parse flags that are common to many tools (e.g. adding paths for finding .proto files)
 core_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(add_help=False)
+core_parser.add_argument('-v', '--version', action='version', version=f"%(prog)s {__version__}")
 core_parser.add_argument('--proto-files-path', type=pathlib.Path, default=list(), action='append',
                          help="path to .proto files to read, including dependencies; you will likely need "
                               "to supply this twice, once for GP2040-CE's .proto files and once for nanopb's")
diff --git a/gp2040ce_bintools/storage.py b/gp2040ce_bintools/storage.py
index b2ee81d..7fc266d 100644
--- a/gp2040ce_bintools/storage.py
+++ b/gp2040ce_bintools/storage.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ def get_config(filename):
 def visualize():
     """Pretty print the contents of GP2040-CE's storage."""
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
-        prog="visualize-storage",
         description="Read a the configuration storage section from a GP2040-CE board dump and print out its contents.",
         parents=[core_parser],
     )
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 66761d3..803aa8f 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=45", "setuptools_scm[toml]>=6.2"]
+
 [project]
 name = "gp2040ce-binary-tools"
-version = "0"
 description = "Tools for working with GP2040-CE binary dumps."
 readme = "README.md"
 license = {text = "MIT"}
@@ -9,13 +11,17 @@ authors = [
 ]
 requires-python = ">=3.8"
 dependencies = ["grpcio-tools"]
+dynamic = ["version"]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 dev = ["flake8", "flake8-blind-except", "flake8-builtins", "flake8-docstrings", "flake8-executable", "flake8-fixme",
-       "flake8-isort", "flake8-logging-format", "flake8-mutable", "flake8-pyproject", "pip-tools"]
+       "flake8-isort", "flake8-logging-format", "flake8-mutable", "flake8-pyproject", "pip-tools", "setuptools-scm"]
 
 [project.scripts]
 visualize-storage = "gp2040ce_bintools.storage:visualize"
 
 [tool.flake8]
 max-line-length = 120
+
+[tool.setuptools_scm]
+write_to = "gp2040ce_bintools/_version.py"
diff --git a/requirements/requirements-dev.txt b/requirements/requirements-dev.txt
index e578681..693ceee 100644
--- a/requirements/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/requirements/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.10
 # by the following command:
 #
-#    pip-compile --extra=dev --output-file=requirements/requirements-dev.txt pyproject.toml
+#    pip-compile --extra=dev --output-file=requirements/requirements-dev.txt
 #
 build==0.10.0
     # via pip-tools
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ isort==5.12.0
 mccabe==0.7.0
     # via flake8
 packaging==23.1
-    # via build
+    # via
+    #   build
+    #   setuptools-scm
 pip-tools==6.13.0
     # via gp2040ce-binary-tools (pyproject.toml)
 protobuf==4.23.3
@@ -57,12 +59,17 @@ pyflakes==3.0.1
     # via flake8
 pyproject-hooks==1.0.0
     # via build
+setuptools-scm==7.1.0
+    # via gp2040ce-binary-tools (pyproject.toml)
 snowballstemmer==2.2.0
     # via pydocstyle
 tomli==2.0.1
     # via
     #   build
     #   flake8-pyproject
+    #   setuptools-scm
+typing-extensions==4.6.3
+    # via setuptools-scm
 wheel==0.40.0
     # via pip-tools
 
diff --git a/requirements/requirements.txt b/requirements/requirements.txt
index 4fd21e2..672f6d6 100644
--- a/requirements/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements/requirements.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.10
 # by the following command:
 #
-#    pip-compile --output-file=requirements/requirements.txt pyproject.toml
+#    pip-compile --output-file=requirements/requirements.txt
 #
 grpcio==1.54.2
     # via grpcio-tools