diff --git a/core/nwb.file.yaml b/core/nwb.file.yaml
index 41ca1691..fc3ac7eb 100644
--- a/core/nwb.file.yaml
+++ b/core/nwb.file.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ groups:
   attributes:
   - name: nwb_version
     dtype: text
-    value: "2.4.0"
+    value: "2.5.0-alpha"
     doc: File version string. Use semantic versioning, e.g. 1.2.1. This will be the
       name of the format with trailing major, minor and patch numbers.
   datasets:
diff --git a/core/nwb.namespace.yaml b/core/nwb.namespace.yaml
index ddf6f5c9..59e2f641 100644
--- a/core/nwb.namespace.yaml
+++ b/core/nwb.namespace.yaml
@@ -57,4 +57,4 @@ namespaces:
   - doc: This source module contains neurodata_type for retinotopy data.
     source: nwb.retinotopy.yaml
     title: Retinotopy
-  version: "2.4.0"
+  version: "2.5.0-alpha"
diff --git a/docs/format/source/conf.py b/docs/format/source/conf.py
index 16a522cd..ec2faa1f 100644
--- a/docs/format/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/format/source/conf.py
@@ -83,9 +83,9 @@ def setup(app):
 # built documents.
 #
 # The short X.Y version.
-version = '2.4.0'
+version = '2.5.0-alpha'
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
-release = '2.4.0'
+release = '2.5.0-alpha'
 
 # The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
 # for a list of supported languages.