diff --git a/.git_archival.txt b/.git_archival.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95cb3ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.git_archival.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+ref-names: $Format:%D$
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00a7b00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.git_archival.txt  export-subst
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 1e95d9e..b06ae73 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 # Licensed under a 3-clause BSD style license - see LICENSE.rst
-from tables3_api import __version__
-
 from setuptools import setup
 
 try:
@@ -12,7 +10,8 @@
       author='Jean Connelly, Tom Aldcroft',
       description='pytables 2 to 3 compatibility methods',
       author_email='jconnelly@cfa.harvard.edu',
-      version=__version__,
+      use_scm_version=True,
+      setup_requires=['setuptools_scm', 'setuptools_scm_git_archive'],
       zip_safe=False,
       packages=['tables3_api', 'tables3_api.tests'],
       tests_require=['pytest'],
diff --git a/tables3_api/__init__.py b/tables3_api/__init__.py
index 410136e..e35de8e 100644
--- a/tables3_api/__init__.py
+++ b/tables3_api/__init__.py
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 # Licensed under a 3-clause BSD style license - see LICENSE.rst
 import tables
 from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+import ska_helpers
 
-__version__ = 0.1
+__version__ = ska_helpers.get_version(__package__)
 
 
 def test(*args, **kwargs):