diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1602f153
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+pyls/_version.py export-subst
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7bb58fa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+include README.rst
+include versioneer.py
+include pyls/_version.py