diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 831b5b3a94..3d868a53e7 100644
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -9,4 +9,8 @@ cp -R ${SRC_DIR}/input/* rmgdatabase/
 # Create rmgrc file that points to this folder in site-packages/rmgpy directory
 cd ${SP_DIR}
 mkdir rmgpy
-echo 'database.directory: ' ${PREFIX}/share/rmgdatabase > ${SP_DIR}/rmgpy/rmgrc
\ No newline at end of file
+echo 'database.directory: ' ${PREFIX}/share/rmgdatabase > ${SP_DIR}/rmgpy/rmgrc
+
+# Save version number stored in version.py
+$PYTHON -c 'exec(open('version.py').read()); print __version__' > ${SRC_DIR}/__conda_version__.txt
+
diff --git a/meta.yaml b/meta.yaml
index 66b94cdafb..a7e969dc82 100644
--- a/meta.yaml
+++ b/meta.yaml
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 # For conda build
 package:
   name: rmgdatabase
-  version: "1.0.1"
+  version: "0" # set by build.sh, which gets it from version.py file
 
 source:
   path: .
 
 build:
-  number: 1
-
+  number: {{ environ.get('GIT_DESCRIBE_NUMBER', 0) }} # number of commits since last git tag (which should be last change to __version__)
+ 
 requirements:
   build:
     - python
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 347f5854e5..e3d2e8afe7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -42,9 +42,11 @@
 scripts = ['scripts/' + scriptName for scriptName in scripts]
 
 
+# Read the version number
+exec(open('version.py').read())
 # Initiate the build and/or installation
 setup(name='RMG-database',
-    version='1.0.0',
+    version=__version__,
     description='Reaction Mechanism Generator Database',
     author='William H. Green and the RMG Team',
     author_email='rmg_dev@mit.edu',
diff --git a/version.py b/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2637849f2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# This file describes the version 
+
+__version__ = '1.0.1'
\ No newline at end of file