diff --git a/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/__init__.py b/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/__init__.py
index ff8afd0c98..035cabde06 100644
--- a/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/__init__.py
+++ b/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,38 @@
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------
+# The way this works is:
+#
+# o We put a `[tool.setuptools_scm]` stanza in pyproject.toml.
+#
+# o When the user does `pip install .` the src/tiledbsoma/_version.py
+#   file gets created. We have a .gitignore line for that since it
+#   isn't supposed to go into version control, but rather, is supposed
+#   to be created at package-setup time.
+#
+# o The src/tiledbsoma/_version.py is created by setuptools by reading
+#   Git history. If the currently checked-out code is at a version stamp
+#   like `1.2.3` we'll get `__version__` being `1.2.3`; else we'll get
+#   something like `1.2.4.dev2`.
+#
+# o When the user does `import tiledbsoma` this code here is run,
+#   which loads the `src/tiledbsoma/_version.py`.
+#
+# In summary, who needs to do what:
+#
+# o Package developers: simply create a Git release at
+# https://github.com/single-cell-data/TileDB-SingleCell/releases
+#
+# o Package users: just `pip install .`.
+try:
+    from ._version import version as __version__
+except ImportError:
+    from pkg_resources import DistributionNotFound, get_distribution
+
+    try:
+        __version__ = get_distribution("tiledbsoma").version
+    except DistributionNotFound:
+        __version__ = "unknown"
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------
+
 from .general_utilities import get_implementation, get_storage_engine, get_version
 from .soma_collection import SOMACollection
 from .soma_dataframe import SOMADataFrame