diff --git a/.github/workflows/on-push.yml b/.github/workflows/on-push.yml
index 6b976ca1..dc3ec890 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/on-push.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/on-push.yml
@@ -101,10 +101,6 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-    - name: Check MANIFEST.in
-      run: |
-        $CONDA/bin/conda install -c conda-forge check-manifest
-        $CONDA/bin/check-manifest .
     - name: Build distributions
       run: |
         $CONDA/bin/conda install pip setuptools wheel
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
deleted file mode 100644
index 9177aef6..00000000
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-include *.grib
-include *.grib2
-include *.rst
-include *.yml
-include .dockerignore
-include Dockerfile
-include LICENSE
-include Makefile
-include tox.ini
-recursive-include cfgrib *.h
-recursive-include ci *.in
-recursive-include ci *.ps1
-recursive-include ci *.txt
-recursive-include ci *.yml
-recursive-include docs *.gitkeep
-recursive-include docs *.py
-recursive-include docs *.rst
-recursive-include tests *.grib
-recursive-include tests *.ipynb
-recursive-include tests *.py
-recursive-include tests *.yml
diff --git a/cfgrib/__init__.py b/cfgrib/__init__.py
index 778575b1..fa949633 100644
--- a/cfgrib/__init__.py
+++ b/cfgrib/__init__.py
@@ -13,9 +13,14 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-__version__ = "0.9.9.0.dev0"
+try:
+    # NOTE: the `version.py` file must not be present in the git repository
+    #       as it is generated by setuptools at install time
+    from .version import __version__
+except ImportError:
+    # Local copy or not installed with setuptools
+    __version__ = "999"
 
-# cfgrib core API depends on the ECMWF ecCodes C-library only
 from .cfmessage import CfMessage
 from .dataset import Dataset, DatasetBuildError, open_file, open_fileindex
 from .messages import FileStream, Message
@@ -25,3 +30,5 @@
     from .xarray_store import open_dataset, open_datasets
 except ImportError:
     pass
+
+__all__ = ["__version__"]
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index cfc95b0d..e70545d4 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,18 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = [
+    "setuptools>=42",
+    "wheel",
+    "setuptools_scm[toml]>=3.4",
+    "setuptools_scm_git_archive",
+]
+
+[tool.setuptools_scm]
+write_to = "cfgrib/version.py"
+write_to_template = '''
+# don't change, don't track in version control
+__version__ = "{version}"
+'''
+
 [tool.black]
 line-length = 99
 
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index d6932e3c..88f57ca1 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
-[zest.releaser]
-python-file-with-version = cfgrib/__init__.py
-
-# exclude xarray_entrypoint for now
 [mypy]
 
+[mypy-cfgrib]
+ignore_errors = True
+
+# exclude xarray_entrypoint for now
 [mypy-cfgrib.xarray_entrypoint]
 ignore_errors = True
+
+[zest.releaser]
+python-file-with-version = cfgrib/version.py
+create-wheel = yes
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9a315a57..5e666b47 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 import os
-import re
 
 import setuptools  # type: ignore
 
@@ -25,19 +24,8 @@ def read(path: str) -> str:
     return open(file_path).read()
 
 
-# single-sourcing the package version using method 1 of:
-#   https://packaging.python.org/guides/single-sourcing-package-version/
-def parse_version_from(path: str) -> str:
-    version_file = read(path)
-    version_match = re.search(r'^__version__ = "(.*)"', version_file, re.M)
-    if version_match is None or len(version_match.groups()) > 1:
-        raise ValueError("couldn't parse version")
-    return version_match.group(1)
-
-
 setuptools.setup(
     name="cfgrib",
-    version=parse_version_from("cfgrib/__init__.py"),
     description="Python interface to map GRIB files to the NetCDF Common Data Model "
     "following the CF Convention using ecCodes.",
     long_description=read("README.rst") + read("CHANGELOG.rst"),
@@ -51,7 +39,7 @@ def parse_version_from(path: str) -> str:
     python_requires=">=3.5",
     extras_require={
         "xarray": ["xarray>=0.12.0"],
-        "tests": ["dask[array]", "flake8", "pytest", "pytest-cov", "scipy", "xarray>=0.12.0",],
+        "tests": ["dask[array]", "flake8", "pytest", "pytest-cov", "scipy", "xarray>=0.12.0"],
     },
     zip_safe=True,
     keywords="eccodes grib xarray",