diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d93a2d64..e63b1cc0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ coverage.xml
 /.tox/
 /build/
 /dist/
+/stone/_version.py
 __pycache__/
 .DS_Store
 parser.out
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 26ae037d..aff7608d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 [build-system]
 # setuptools>=77 is required for the SPDX ``license`` expression used in
 # setup.py (see PEP 639). setuptools-scm derives the version from the latest
-# git tag (e.g. ``v3.5.0`` -> ``3.5.0``), so releases only require tagging.
+# git tag (e.g. ``v3.5.0`` -> ``3.5.0``), so releases only require tagging,
+# and writes it to stone/_version.py for runtime access.
 requires = ["setuptools>=77", "setuptools-scm>=8,<9"]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
@@ -10,3 +11,4 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 # by default (``v3.5.0`` -> ``3.5.0``); an untagged build gets a dev version
 # from the last tag plus commit distance.
 parentdir_prefix_version = "stone-"
+version_file = "stone/_version.py"
diff --git a/stone/__init__.py b/stone/__init__.py
index e69de29b..9a1c6741 100644
--- a/stone/__init__.py
+++ b/stone/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+try:
+    from ._version import __version__
+except ModuleNotFoundError:
+    # A source tree that has not been built or installed yet.
+    __version__ = '0.0.0.dev0'
+
+__all__ = ('__version__',)
diff --git a/stone/cli.py b/stone/cli.py
index ba2e7d4a..417d0c82 100644
--- a/stone/cli.py
+++ b/stone/cli.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
     sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
     __package__ = 'stone'  # pylint: disable=redefined-builtin
 
+from . import __version__
 from .cli_helpers import parse_route_attr_filter
 from .compiler import (
     BackendException,
@@ -54,6 +55,12 @@
     'example.spec -- -h".'
 )
 _cmdline_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=_cmdline_description)
+_cmdline_parser.add_argument(
+    '--version',
+    action='version',
+    version='%(prog)s ' + __version__,
+    help="Show the Stone version and exit.",
+)
 _cmdline_parser.add_argument(
     '-v',
     '--verbose',
diff --git a/test/test_cli.py b/test/test_cli.py
index 8f057db8..fb426a63 100755
--- a/test/test_cli.py
+++ b/test/test_cli.py
@@ -1,13 +1,17 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 
+import contextlib
+import io
 import json
 import os
 import tempfile
 import unittest
 
+from stone import __version__
 from stone.cli import (
     _actual_outputs,
+    _cmdline_parser,
     _load_expected_output_manifest,
     _recursive_stone_specs,
     _validate_expected_output_manifest,
@@ -180,6 +184,15 @@ def test_validate_expected_output_manifest(self):
         with self.assertRaises(SystemExit):
             _validate_expected_output_manifest(['a.py'], ['b.py'])
 
+    def test_version_flag(self):
+        # --version prints the version and exits 0, without requiring the
+        # otherwise-mandatory positional arguments.
+        out = io.StringIO()
+        with self.assertRaises(SystemExit) as cm, contextlib.redirect_stdout(out):
+            _cmdline_parser.parse_args(['--version'])
+        self.assertEqual(cm.exception.code, 0)
+        self.assertIn(__version__, out.getvalue())
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/test/test_version.py b/test/test_version.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..157f8971
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+
+import importlib.util
+import sys
+import types
+import unittest
+from unittest import mock
+
+import stone
+
+
+class TestVersion(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_generated_version_is_used_in_source_checkout(self):
+        generated_version = types.ModuleType('stone._version')
+        generated_version.__version__ = '9.8.7'
+
+        spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(
+            'stone._version_test', stone.__file__)
+        module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+        module.__package__ = 'stone'
+        with mock.patch.dict(sys.modules, {'stone._version': generated_version}):
+            spec.loader.exec_module(module)
+
+        self.assertEqual(module.__version__, '9.8.7')
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()