diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 6247d1b38..f81a51dc7 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-Changes in synapse v0.12.0 (2015-12-10)
-=======================================
+Changes in synapse v0.12.0-rc1 (2015-12-10)
+===========================================
 
 * Host the client APIs released as r0 by
   https://matrix.org/docs/spec/r0.0.0/client_server.html
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index 5db4eae35..c357f8f9c 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@
 """ This is a reference implementation of a Matrix home server.
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.12.0"
+__version__ = "0.12.0-rc1"