diff --git a/tools/version.py b/tools/version.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..a9fdbcff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+"""A simple script to update the version embedded in the source."""
+
+import argparse
+import pathlib
+import re
+
+from packaging.version import Version
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__)
+    parser.add_argument('version', type=Version, help='version number to embed in source files')
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    version: Version = args.version
+
+    major_minor_version = f'{version.major}.{version.minor}'
+    version_info = ', '.join(map(repr, get_version_info(version)))
+
+    updates: list[tuple[str, re.Pattern, str | Version]] = [
+        ('doc/source/conf.py', re.compile(r"^(version = ')[^']*(')$", flags=re.MULTILINE), major_minor_version),
+        ('doc/source/conf.py', re.compile(r"^(release = ')[^']*(')$", flags=re.MULTILINE), version),
+        ('setup.py', re.compile(r"^( +version=')[^']*(',)$", flags=re.MULTILINE), version),
+        ('src/c/_cffi_backend.c', re.compile(r'^(#define CFFI_VERSION +")[^"]*(")$', flags=re.MULTILINE), version),
+        ('src/c/test_c.py', re.compile(r'^(assert __version__ == ")[^"]*(", .*)$', flags=re.MULTILINE), version),
+        ('src/cffi/__init__.py', re.compile(r'^(__version__ = ")[^"]*(")$', flags=re.MULTILINE), version),
+        ('src/cffi/__init__.py', re.compile(r'^(__version_info__ = \()[^)]*(\))$', flags=re.MULTILINE), version_info),
+        ('src/cffi/_embedding.h', re.compile(r'^( +"\\ncompiled with cffi version: )[^"]*(")$', flags=re.MULTILINE), version),
+    ]
+
+    repo_root = pathlib.Path(__file__).parent.parent
+
+    for relative_path, pattern, replacement in updates:
+        path = repo_root / relative_path
+        original_content = path.read_text()
+
+        if not pattern.search(original_content):
+            raise RuntimeError(f'{relative_path}: no match found for pattern: {pattern.pattern}')
+
+        updated_content = pattern.sub(rf'\g<1>{replacement}\g<2>', original_content)
+
+        if updated_content == original_content:
+            print(f'{relative_path}: unchanged')
+        else:
+            path.write_text(updated_content)
+            print(f'{relative_path}: updated')
+
+
+def get_version_info(version: Version) -> tuple:
+    """Return a tuple representing the given version."""
+    version_info = list(version.release)
+
+    if version.pre is not None:
+        version_info.append(''.join(map(str, version.pre)))
+
+    if version.post is not None:
+        version_info.append(f'post{version.post}')
+
+    if version.dev is not None:
+        version_info.append(f'dev{version.dev}')
+
+    if version.local is not None:
+        version_info.append(f'+{version.local}')
+
+    return tuple(version_info)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()