diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
index 0b1ec1c..951632a 100644
--- a/RELEASE.md
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Release notes
 
 
-### head
+### 2025.8.22
 
 Features:
 
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Bugfixes:
 - Now using glibc 2.17 in conda builds (was using the host)
 - Fixed shifted pixels in clusters close to the edge of a frame
 
-### 2025.07.18
+### 2025.7.18
 
 Features:
 
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Bugfixes:
 - Removed unused file: ClusterFile.cpp 
 
 
-### 2025.05.22
+### 2025.5.22
 
 Features:
 
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index fe2f750..3469ebe 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2025.7.18
\ No newline at end of file
+2025.8.22
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/update_version.py b/update_version.py
index 476895a..783eb9f 100644
--- a/update_version.py
+++ b/update_version.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Script to update VERSION file with semantic versioning if provided as an argumen
 import sys
 import os
 import re
+from datetime import datetime
 
 from packaging.version import Version, InvalidVersion
 
@@ -26,9 +27,9 @@ def get_version():
 
     # Check at least one argument is passed
     if len(sys.argv) < 2:
-        return "0.0.0"
-
-    version = sys.argv[1]
+        version =   datetime.today().strftime('%Y.%-m.%-d')
+    else: 
+        version = sys.argv[1]
 
     try:
         v = Version(version)  # normalize check if version follows PEP 440 specification
@@ -54,4 +55,4 @@ def write_version_to_file(version):
 if __name__ == "__main__":
 
     version = get_version()
-    write_version_to_file(version)
\ No newline at end of file
+    write_version_to_file(version)