diff --git a/alpha-cli-app/build.gradle.kts b/alpha-cli-app/build.gradle.kts
index a62227309..858599d60 100644
--- a/alpha-cli-app/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/alpha-cli-app/build.gradle.kts
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ tasks.create<Jar>("bundledJar") {
 	archiveFileName.set("${project.name}-${project.version}-bundled.jar")
 
 	exclude("META-INF/DEPENDENCIES")
+
+	filesMatching("META-INF/build.properties") {
+		duplicatesStrategy = DuplicatesStrategy.INCLUDE
+	}
 	
 	/*
 	 * In order to make sure we don"t overwrite NOTICE and LICENSE files coming from dependency
diff --git a/alpha-cli-app/src/main/java/at/ac/tuwien/kr/alpha/app/config/CommandLineParser.java b/alpha-cli-app/src/main/java/at/ac/tuwien/kr/alpha/app/config/CommandLineParser.java
index 4b3ccf1f5..23fc400ec 100644
--- a/alpha-cli-app/src/main/java/at/ac/tuwien/kr/alpha/app/config/CommandLineParser.java
+++ b/alpha-cli-app/src/main/java/at/ac/tuwien/kr/alpha/app/config/CommandLineParser.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import java.io.PrintWriter;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Properties;
 import java.util.function.Consumer;
 
 import org.apache.commons.cli.CommandLine;
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@ public class CommandLineParser {
 	
 	// "special", i.e. non-configuration options
 	private static final Option OPT_HELP = Option.builder("h").longOpt("help").hasArg(false).desc("shows this help").build();
+	private static final Option OPT_VERSION = Option.builder().longOpt("version").hasArg(false).desc("prints the version and exits").build();
 
 	// input-specific options
 	private static final Option OPT_INPUT = Option.builder("i").longOpt("input").hasArg(true).argName("file").type(FileInputStream.class)
@@ -158,6 +160,7 @@ public class CommandLineParser {
 		 * Below code adds all options defined above to CLI_OPTS - needed for parsing
 		 */
 		CommandLineParser.CLI_OPTS.addOption(CommandLineParser.OPT_HELP);
+		CommandLineParser.CLI_OPTS.addOption(CommandLineParser.OPT_VERSION);
 
 		CommandLineParser.CLI_OPTS.addOption(CommandLineParser.OPT_NUM_ANSWER_SETS);
 		CommandLineParser.CLI_OPTS.addOption(CommandLineParser.OPT_FILTER);
@@ -223,8 +226,10 @@ private void initializeGlobalOptionHandlers() {
 		/*
 		 * below put invocations are used to "register" the handler methods for each commandline option
 		 */
-		// help is handled separately, therefore dummy handler
+		// help and version are handled separately, therefore dummy handlers
 		this.globalOptionHandlers.put(CommandLineParser.OPT_HELP.getOpt(), (o, c) -> { });
+		this.globalOptionHandlers.put(CommandLineParser.OPT_VERSION.getOpt(), (o, c) -> { });
+
 		this.globalOptionHandlers.put(CommandLineParser.OPT_GROUNDER.getOpt(), this::handleGrounder);
 		this.globalOptionHandlers.put(CommandLineParser.OPT_SOLVER.getOpt(), this::handleSolver);
 		this.globalOptionHandlers.put(CommandLineParser.OPT_NOGOOD_STORE.getOpt(), this::handleNogoodStore);
@@ -269,6 +274,9 @@ public AlphaConfig parseCommandLine(String[] args) throws ParseException {
 		if (commandLine.hasOption(CommandLineParser.OPT_HELP.getOpt())) {
 			LOGGER.debug("Found help option!");
 			this.handleHelp();
+		} else if (commandLine.hasOption(CommandLineParser.OPT_VERSION.getLongOpt())) {
+			LOGGER.debug("Found version option!");
+			this.handleVersion();
 		} else {
 			this.validate(commandLine);
 		}
@@ -308,6 +316,16 @@ public String getUsageMessage() {
 		return helpBuffer.toString();
 	}
 
+	public String getVersion() {
+		try {
+			Properties properties = new Properties();
+			properties.load(CommandLineParser.class.getResourceAsStream("/META-INF/build.properties"));
+			return properties.getProperty("project.version");
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			return "unknown (" + e.getMessage() + ")";
+		}
+	}
+
 	private void validate(CommandLine commandLine) throws ParseException {
 		if (!commandLine.hasOption(CommandLineParser.OPT_INPUT.getOpt()) && !commandLine.hasOption(CommandLineParser.OPT_ASPSTRING.getOpt())) {
 			throw new ParseException("Missing input source - need to specifiy either a file (" + CommandLineParser.OPT_INPUT.getOpt() + ") or a string ("
@@ -330,6 +348,10 @@ private void handleHelp() {
 		this.abortAction.accept(this.getUsageMessage());
 	}
 
+	private void handleVersion() {
+		this.abortAction.accept(this.getVersion());
+	}
+
 	private void handleInput(Option opt, InputConfig cfg) {
 		String optVal = opt.getValue().trim();
 		cfg.getFiles().add(optVal);
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/alpha.java-common-conventions.gradle.kts b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/alpha.java-common-conventions.gradle.kts
index 4f89b9542..4d8a75007 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/alpha.java-common-conventions.gradle.kts
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/alpha.java-common-conventions.gradle.kts
@@ -64,6 +64,16 @@ tasks.jacocoTestReport {
 	}
 }
 
+tasks.register<WriteProperties>("buildProperties") {
+	outputFile = file("${sourceSets["main"].output.resourcesDir}/META-INF/build.properties")
+	encoding = "UTF-8"
+	property("project.version", project.version)
+}
+
+tasks.processResources {
+	dependsOn("buildProperties")
+}
+
 publishing {
 	publications {
 		create<MavenPublication>("binary") {