diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index cda4db9..439ec64 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ use structopt::StructOpt;
 mod changelog;
 mod cmd;
 mod gitea;
+mod version;
 
 #[derive(StructOpt, Debug)]
 pub(crate) struct Common {
diff --git a/src/version.rs b/src/version.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a8e6d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/version.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+use anyhow::Result;
+use std::{fs, path::PathBuf};
+
+fn read_version(fname: PathBuf) -> Result<String> {
+    let version = fs::read_to_string(fname)?;
+    Ok(version.trim().into())
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    #[test]
+    fn read_version() {
+        let version = super::read_version("./testdata/VERSION".into()).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(version, "0.1.0");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/testdata/VERSION b/testdata/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e8bf73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0.1.0