diff --git a/bin/tokencut.mjs b/bin/tokencut.mjs
index e408a75..fa2e56d 100644
--- a/bin/tokencut.mjs
+++ b/bin/tokencut.mjs
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ const flag = (name, def) => { const i = args.indexOf(name); return i >= 0 ? (arg
 const has = (name) => args.includes(name);
 const file = args.find((a) => !a.startsWith("--") && args[args.indexOf(a) - 1] !== "--max" && args[args.indexOf(a) - 1] !== "--max-tool" && args[args.indexOf(a) - 1] !== "--price" && args[args.indexOf(a) - 1] !== "--out");
 
+if (has("--version") || has("-V")) {
+  try {
+    const pkg = JSON.parse(readFileSync(new URL("../package.json", import.meta.url), "utf8"));
+    console.log(pkg.version ?? "0.0.0");
+  } catch {
+    console.log("0.0.0");
+  }
+  process.exit(0);
+}
+
 if (!file || has("--help")) {
   console.log(`tokencut -- measure and cut the token cost of an LLM/agent payload
 
@@ -18,6 +28,7 @@ if (!file || has("--help")) {
     --out <file>     write the compacted payload
     --price <n>      $ per 1M input tokens for the cost estimate (default 3)
     --json           machine-readable output
+    --version, -V    print package version
 
 Payload: an array of messages, or { system, messages } (Anthropic or OpenAI style).`);
   process.exit(file ? 0 : 1);
diff --git a/test/cli.test.mjs b/test/cli.test.mjs
index f0eba43..a686546 100644
--- a/test/cli.test.mjs
+++ b/test/cli.test.mjs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
-import { mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { mkdtempSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
@@ -56,3 +56,14 @@ test("accepts zero as a compact token budget", () => {
   assert.equal(result.status, 0, result.stderr);
   assert.doesNotThrow(() => JSON.parse(result.stdout));
 });
+
+
+test("--version prints package version", () => {
+  const r = spawnSync(process.execPath, ["bin/tokencut.mjs", "--version"], {
+    cwd: new URL("..", import.meta.url),
+    encoding: "utf8",
+  });
+  assert.equal(r.status, 0);
+  const ver = JSON.parse(readFileSync(new URL("../package.json", import.meta.url), "utf8")).version;
+  assert.equal(r.stdout.trim(), ver);
+});