diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 7ec9d8c4..a3dae07a 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: cmdstanr
 Title: R Interface to 'CmdStan'
-Version: 0.6.1
+Version: 0.6.1.9000
 Date: 2023-08-25
 Authors@R:
     c(person(given = "Jonah", family = "Gabry", role = c("aut", "cre"),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 186ef64e..6818a803 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# cmdstanr 0.6.1.9000
+
 # cmdstanr 0.6.1
 
 * Store return codes instead of always querying exit status by @jgabry in #798