diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b16a08c..08269c4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ section E (summary in [docs/DESIGN.md](docs/DESIGN.md)).
 <dependency>
    <groupId>com.kingsrook.qbits</groupId>
    <artifactId>qbit-cluster</artifactId>
-   <version>0.1.0-RC.1</version>
+   <version>0.1.0-RC.1</version><!-- first release; see GitHub releases for the latest -->
 </dependency>
 ```
 
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 9430a33..d9409c4 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
 
    <properties>
-      <revision>0.1.0-RC.1</revision>
+      <revision>0.1.0-SNAPSHOT</revision>
       <maven.compiler.source>21</maven.compiler.source>
       <maven.compiler.target>21</maven.compiler.target>
       <jacoco.version>0.8.15</jacoco.version>
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qbits/cluster/ClusterQBitProducerTest.java b/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qbits/cluster/ClusterQBitProducerTest.java
index afb2aff..0164e08 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qbits/cluster/ClusterQBitProducerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qbits/cluster/ClusterQBitProducerTest.java
@@ -89,7 +89,14 @@ class ClusterQBitProducerTest extends BaseClusterTest
       assertThat(QAlertTypeMetaData.of(qInstance, ClusterAlerts.NODE_LOST)).isNotNull();
       assertThat(HealthChecksMetaData.ofOrWithNew(qInstance).getChecks()).anyMatch(check -> ClusterHeartbeatHealthCheck.NAME.equals(check.getName()));
       assertThat(qInstance.getRuntimeServices()).extracting(reference -> reference.getName()).containsOnlyOnce(ClusterRuntimeService.class.getName());
-      assertThat(ClusterQBitProducer.version()).isEqualTo("0.1.0-RC.1");
+      ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+      // the version comes from the build (filtered qbit-cluster.properties) //
+      ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+      assertThat(ClusterQBitProducer.version()).matches("[0-9]+[.][0-9]+[.][0-9]+(-[A-Za-z0-9.]+)?");
+      if(System.getProperty("qbit.artifactVersion") != null)
+      {
+         assertThat(ClusterQBitProducer.version()).isEqualTo(System.getProperty("qbit.artifactVersion"));
+      }
    }