diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a0a5ba0..a5489d1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/make -f
 
 REPO ?= $(shell go list -m)
-VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --tags --dirty --always)
+VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --tags --dirty --always 2>/dev/null || cat VERSION 2>/dev/null || echo "develop")
 GO_VERSION ?= 1.17
 LINT_VERSION ?= 1.46.2
 BUILD ?= $(shell date -u --iso=seconds)
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..759e855
--- /dev/null
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+v0.21.0