diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b091f8b67..e3d08dc8f 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ namespaces = false
 
 [project]
 name = "sopel"
-version = "8.0.0"
+version = "8.1.0.dev0"
 description = "Simple and extensible IRC bot"
 maintainers = [
   { name="dgw" },