diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7adc3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+---
+name: p5rem
+channels:
+  - conda-forge
+  - nodefaults
+
+dependencies:
+  - cbor2
+  - diskcache
+  - numpy >=2.0.0
+  - pyactivestorage
+  - pyfive >=0.5.0
+  # testing
+  - pytest
+  - pytest-cov
diff --git a/p5rem/__init__.py b/p5rem/__init__.py
index fbfc0ec..dcec76e 100644
--- a/p5rem/__init__.py
+++ b/p5rem/__init__.py
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@
 from .proxy import rDataset, rFile
 from .session import Session, p5remSession
 
+from importlib.metadata import version, PackageNotFoundError
+
+
 __all__ = [
 	"BootstrappedProcess",
 	"BootstrapError",
@@ -36,4 +39,16 @@
 	"p5remSession",
 	"rDataset",
 	"rFile",
-]
\ No newline at end of file
+]
+
+
+try:
+    __version__ = version("p5rem")
+except PackageNotFoundError as exc:
+    msg = (
+        "p5rem package not found, please run `pip install -e .` before "
+        "importing the package."
+    )
+    raise PackageNotFoundError(
+        msg,
+    ) from exc
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e18ed07..cc26672 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,16 +1,21 @@
 [build-system]
-requires = ["setuptools>=64", "wheel"]
-build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta:__legacy__"
+requires = [
+    "setuptools>=80",
+    "setuptools_scm>=8",
+]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "p5rem"
-version = "0.1.0"
 description = "Remote HDF5 chunk serving and reduction over SSH"
-readme = "README.md"
 license = {text = "BSD-3-Clause"}
 authors = [
     {name = "Bryan Lawrence", email = "bryan.lawrence@ncas.ac.uk"}
 ]
+dynamic = [
+    "readme",
+    "version", 
+] 
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
 dependencies = [
     "pyfive>=0.5.0",
@@ -31,6 +36,12 @@ dev = [
 where = ["."]
 include = ["p5rem*"]
 
+[tool.setuptools_scm]
+version_scheme = "release-branch-semver"
+
+[tool.setuptools.dynamic]
+readme = {file = "README.md", content-type = "text/markdown"}
+
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 markers = [
     "integration: optional integration tests requiring external services",