diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5ee7812..435f23e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,3 +13,4 @@ __pycache__
 /dist/
 /docs/html/
 /requirements-mxdev.txt
+src/mxmake/_version.py
diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 4800c24..5ca0aa4 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Changelog
 
-## 1.3.1 (unreleased)
+## 2.0.0 (unreleased)
 
 - **Breaking**: Drop Python 3.9 support. Minimum Python version is now 3.10.
 - Feature: Modernize codebase to use Python 3.10+ features (PEP 604 union types, built-in generic types).
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 - Fix: theme for newer Sphinx 7.x.
 - Fix: interactive uv venv, use --allow-existing instead.
 - Feature: Add support for Python 3.14.
-- Feature: Add `docs-linkcheck` to check for broken links in the sphinx documentation.
 - Breaking: Removed `MXENV_UV_GLOBAL` setting in favor of automatic UV detection.
   When `PYTHON_PACKAGE_INSTALLER=uv`, mxmake now automatically detects and uses
   a globally installed `uv` if available. To force local installation of uv,
@@ -31,6 +30,7 @@
 - Improvement: Simplified mxenv.mk logic from 3+ nesting levels to 1-2 levels
   using computed intermediate variables (`USE_GLOBAL_UV`, `USE_LOCAL_UV`).
   Code is now more maintainable and easier to extend.
+- Chore: Migrate to hatch-vcs for automated versioning from git tags.
 
 ## 1.3.0 (2025-09-03)
 
diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9e9d92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,256 @@
+# mxmake Release Process Documentation
+
+## Overview
+
+The mxmake project uses **automated versioning via hatch-vcs**, which derives the version number from git tags during build time, eliminating manual version bumps in code.
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+- Commit access to the repository
+- PyPI publishing permissions (handled via GitHub Actions)
+- All tests passing on the main branch
+
+## Step-by-Step Release Process
+
+### 1. Prepare the Main Branch
+
+Ensure you're on the main branch with all tests passing:
+
+```bash
+git checkout main
+git pull origin main
+make test
+make check
+make typecheck
+git status  # Should be clean
+```
+
+### 2. Review Changes
+
+Check what's changed since the last release:
+
+```bash
+git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --oneline
+```
+
+### 3. Update CHANGES.md
+
+Edit the changelog to:
+- Change "(unreleased)" to the release date (format: YYYY-MM-DD)
+- Add a new unreleased section for future changes
+- Maintain format: "## X.Y.Z (YYYY-MM-DD)"
+- Optionally include "[author]" at the end of each entry
+
+Commit these changes:
+
+```bash
+git add CHANGES.md
+git commit -m "Prepare release X.Y.Z"
+git push origin main
+```
+
+### 4. Create a GitHub Release
+
+1. Navigate to https://github.com/mxstack/mxmake/releases/new
+2. Click "Choose a tag" and type the version: `vX.Y.Z` (with the "v" prefix)
+3. Click "Create new tag: vX.Y.Z on publish"
+4. Set release title: `vX.Y.Z` or `Version X.Y.Z`
+5. Copy the relevant CHANGES.md section into the description
+6. Click "Publish release"
+
+### 5. Monitor the Release
+
+The GitHub Actions workflow automatically:
+- Runs tests across Python 3.9-3.14 on multiple operating systems
+- Runs linting, type checking, and variant tests
+- Builds the package with the version from the git tag
+- Publishes to PyPI if all tests pass
+
+Monitor at: https://github.com/mxstack/mxmake/actions
+
+### 6. Post-Release Verification
+
+- Verify the package appears on PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/mxmake/
+- Check the version is correct
+- Optionally announce the release
+
+## Version Numbering
+
+**Format**: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (e.g., 1.4.0)
+
+- **Git tags**: vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (e.g., v1.4.0)
+- **Package version**: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (v prefix automatically stripped)
+- The "v" prefix in tags is **required**
+
+The project follows Semantic Versioning:
+- **MAJOR**: Breaking changes
+- **MINOR**: New features (backwards-compatible)
+- **PATCH**: Bug fixes (backwards-compatible)
+
+## Development Versions
+
+Between releases, development builds automatically receive versions like:
+
+```
+1.4.0.dev3+g1234abc
+```
+
+Where:
+- `1.4.0` = next release version from last tag
+- `dev3` = 3 commits since last tag
+- `g1234abc` = git commit hash
+
+This happens automatically via hatch-vcs with no manual intervention needed.
+
+## Emergency Hotfix Release
+
+For urgent fixes to a released version:
+
+1. Create a branch from the tag:
+   ```bash
+   git checkout -b hotfix-1.4.1 v1.4.0
+   ```
+
+2. Make and commit the fix:
+   ```bash
+   git add .
+   git commit -m "Fix critical bug"
+   git push origin hotfix-1.4.1
+   ```
+
+3. Create a pull request to main
+4. After merge, follow the normal release process with version `v1.4.1`
+
+## Testing a Release (TestPyPI)
+
+### Build Locally from a Tag
+
+```bash
+git tag v1.4.0-rc1
+python -m build
+unzip -p dist/mxmake-*.whl mxmake/_version.py
+git tag -d v1.4.0-rc1
+```
+
+### Upload to TestPyPI
+
+```bash
+pip install twine
+twine upload --repository testpypi dist/*
+pip install --index-url https://test.pypi.org/simple/ mxmake
+```
+
+## Release Checklist
+
+- [ ] All tests passing on main branch
+- [ ] CHANGES.md updated with release date
+- [ ] New unreleased section added to CHANGES.md
+- [ ] Changes committed and pushed
+- [ ] GitHub release created with correct tag (vX.Y.Z format)
+- [ ] GitHub Actions workflow completed successfully
+- [ ] Package visible on PyPI with correct version
+- [ ] Release announced (if applicable)
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+**Build fails with "version not found"**
+- Ensure you're in a git repository with tags fetched
+- Run: `git fetch --tags && python -m build`
+
+**Version is wrong in built package**
+- Ensure clean checkout at the tagged commit
+- Run: `git checkout v1.4.0 && git status && python -m build`
+
+**CI fails to publish to PyPI**
+- Check GitHub Actions workflow logs
+- Verify PyPI trusted publisher configuration
+- Contact repository maintainers
+
+**README doesn't render correctly on PyPI**
+- Test locally: `python -m build && twine check dist/*`
+- Upload to TestPyPI first
+- Fix markdown formatting in relevant files
+
+## Maintainer Notes
+
+### PyPI Trusted Publisher Setup
+
+Uses GitHub Actions OIDC for publishing (no API tokens needed):
+- Publisher: GitHub
+- Owner: mxstack
+- Repository: mxmake
+- Workflow: release.yml
+- Environment: release-pypi
+
+### GitHub Release Environments
+
+The workflow uses two environments:
+- **release-test-pypi**: Auto-publishes development versions to test.pypi.org on every main branch commit
+- **release-pypi**: Publishes official releases to pypi.org on GitHub release events
+
+## Changelog Management
+
+### Format
+
+```markdown
+## Changes
+
+## X.Y.Z (unreleased)
+
+- Description of change
+
+## X.Y.Z (YYYY-MM-DD)
+
+- Description of change
+```
+
+### Key Points
+
+- Version in CHANGES.md is **manual** (you edit it)
+- Package version is **automatic** (from git tag via hatch-vcs)
+- Format: "## X.Y.Z (YYYY-MM-DD)" for released versions
+- Optionally add "[author]" at the end of each change entry
+
+### Why This Works
+
+With hatch-vcs, the package version is determined at build time from git tags. This means:
+- Maintain a human-readable changelog manually
+- Build system automatically gets the correct version
+- No need to sync version numbers across multiple files
+
+## Manual Release (Not Recommended)
+
+For emergency situations only:
+
+```bash
+git checkout v1.4.0
+python -m build
+twine upload dist/*
+```
+
+This bypasses CI checks and is not recommended for normal releases.
+
+## Version Management Tools
+
+### Check Current Version
+
+```bash
+git describe --tags
+python -c "import mxmake; print(mxmake.__version__)"
+python -m build && unzip -p dist/mxmake-*.whl mxmake/_version.py
+```
+
+### List All Releases
+
+```bash
+git tag --list 'v*' --sort=-version:refname | head
+pip index versions mxmake
+```
+
+## Further Reading
+
+- [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/)
+- [hatch-vcs Documentation](https://github.com/ofek/hatch-vcs)
+- [GitHub Releases](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/releasing-projects-on-github)
+- [PyPI Trusted Publishers](https://docs.pypi.org/trusted-publishers/)
+- [Python Packaging Guide](https://packaging.python.org/)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d308283..5e4db94 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "mxmake"
 description = "Generates a Python project-specific Makefile by using an extensible library of configurable Makefile snippets."
-version = "1.4.0"
 keywords = ["development", "deployment", "make"]
 authors = [
   {name = "MX Stack Developers", email = "dev@bluedynamics.com" }
@@ -27,7 +26,13 @@ dependencies = [
     "mxdev>=4.0.2",
     "pyyaml"
 ]
-dynamic = ["readme"]
+dynamic = ["readme", "version"]
+
+[tool.hatch.version]
+source = "vcs"
+
+[tool.hatch.build.hooks.vcs]
+version-file = "src/mxmake/_version.py"
 
 [tool.hatch.metadata.hooks.fancy-pypi-readme]
 content-type = "text/markdown"
@@ -73,7 +78,7 @@ applications = "mxmake.topics:applications"
 i18n = "mxmake.topics:i18n"
 
 [build-system]
-requires = ["hatchling", "hatch-fancy-pypi-readme"]
+requires = ["hatchling", "hatch-vcs", "hatch-fancy-pypi-readme"]
 build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
@@ -96,7 +101,7 @@ python_version = "3.10"
 [tool.ruff]
 target-version = "py310"
 # Exclude a variety of commonly ignored directories.
-exclude = []
+exclude = ["src/mxmake/_version.py"]
 
 [tool.ruff.lint]
 select = ["UP"]  # Enable pyupgrade rules for Python 3.10+ modernization