diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index f6154099..978ac6f2 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-.git
 docker_setup.sh
 Dockerfile.base
 Dockerfile
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index aa98afff..83833ed9 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -29,13 +29,14 @@ def run_tests(self):
     required = f.read().splitlines()
 
 setup(name='render-python',
-      version='1.5.0',
+      use_scm_version=True,
       description=' a python API to interact via python with render '
                   'databases see https://github.com/saalfeldlab/render',
       author='Forrest Collman, Russel Torres, Eric Perlman, Sharmi Seshamani',
       author_email='forrest.collman@gmail.com',
       url='https://github.com/fcollman/render-python',
       packages=['renderapi'],
+      setup_requires=['setuptools_scm'],
       install_requires=required,
       tests_require=test_required,
       cmdclass={'test': PyTest},)