diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 18fc2b3035b..6433492c0f3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ out/
 *.iws
 classpath.txt
 version.properties
+!modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/resources/version.properties
 .project
 .classpath
 lib/*
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ packages/
 
 /target
 /generated-files
-/nbactions.xml
+nbactions.xml
 
 # scalatra
 samples/server-generator/scalatra/output
diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/pom.xml b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/pom.xml
index e484393bb14..6b56d5a6f56 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/pom.xml
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/pom.xml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
         <resources>
             <resource>
                 <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
+                <filtering>true</filtering>
                 <excludes>
                     <exclude>logback.xml</exclude>
                 </excludes>
diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/SwaggerCodegen.java b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/SwaggerCodegen.java
index 98c0b8c05b5..94b64be8d02 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/SwaggerCodegen.java
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/SwaggerCodegen.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import io.swagger.codegen.cmd.Generate;
 import io.swagger.codegen.cmd.Langs;
 import io.swagger.codegen.cmd.Meta;
+import io.swagger.codegen.cmd.Version;
 
 /**
  * User: lanwen
@@ -21,16 +22,20 @@ public class SwaggerCodegen {
 
 
     public static void main(String[] args) {
+        String version = Version.readVersionFromResources();
         @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
         Cli.CliBuilder<Runnable> builder = Cli.<Runnable>builder("swagger-codegen-cli")
-                .withDescription("Swagger code generator CLI. More info on swagger.io")
+                .withDescription(String.format(
+                        "Swagger code generator CLI (version %s). More info on swagger.io",
+                        version))
                 .withDefaultCommand(Langs.class)
                 .withCommands(
                         Generate.class,
                         Meta.class,
                         Langs.class,
                         Help.class,
-                        ConfigHelp.class
+                        ConfigHelp.class,
+                        Version.class
                 );
 
         builder.build().parse(args).run();
diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/cmd/Meta.java b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/cmd/Meta.java
index c2dffbe6200..3b5d71eec9f 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/cmd/Meta.java
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/cmd/Meta.java
@@ -68,12 +68,8 @@ public void run() {
                         "src/main/resources/META-INF/services", "io.swagger.codegen.CodegenConfig")
         );
 
-        String swaggerVersion = this.getClass().getPackage().getImplementationVersion();
-        // if the code is running outside of the jar (i.e. from the IDE), it will not have the version available.
-        // let's default it with something.
-        if (swaggerVersion==null) {
-            swaggerVersion = "2.1.3";
-        }
+        String swaggerVersion = Version.readVersionFromResources();
+
         Map<String, Object> data = new ImmutableMap.Builder<String, Object>()
                 .put("generatorPackage", targetPackage)
                 .put("generatorClass", mainClass)
diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/cmd/Version.java b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/cmd/Version.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c39b54a30a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/cmd/Version.java
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+package io.swagger.codegen.cmd;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+import io.airlift.airline.Command;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+@Command(name = "version", description = "Show version information")
+public class Version implements Runnable {
+
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(Meta.class);
+
+    private static final String VERSION_PLACEHOLDER = "${project.version}";
+
+    private static final String UNREADABLE_VERSION = "unreadable";
+    private static final String UNSET_VERSION = "unset";
+    private static final String UNKNOWN_VERSION = "unknown";
+
+    public static String readVersionFromResources() {
+        Properties versionProperties = new Properties();
+        try (InputStream is = Version.class.getResourceAsStream("/version.properties")) {
+            versionProperties.load(is);
+        } catch (IOException ex) {
+            LOGGER.error("Error loading version properties", ex);
+            return UNREADABLE_VERSION;
+        }
+
+        String version = versionProperties.getProperty("version", UNKNOWN_VERSION).trim();
+        if (VERSION_PLACEHOLDER.equals(version)) {
+            return UNSET_VERSION;
+        } else {
+            return version;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void run() {
+        String version = readVersionFromResources();
+        System.out.println(version);
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/resources/version.properties b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/resources/version.properties
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..410af8cc687
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen-cli/src/main/resources/version.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+version = ${project.version}