diff --git a/boltons/__init__.py b/boltons/__init__.py
index e69de29b..e49cc319 100644
--- a/boltons/__init__.py
+++ b/boltons/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+from importlib.metadata import version, PackageNotFoundError
+
+try:
+    __version__ = version("boltons")
+except PackageNotFoundError:
+    # Package is not installed (e.g. running from source checkout)
+    __version__ = "unknown"