diff --git a/irc/version.go b/irc/version.go
index d21f14a8..175f1f64 100644
--- a/irc/version.go
+++ b/irc/version.go
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import "fmt"
 
 const (
 	// SemVer is the semantic version of Ergo.
-	SemVer = "2.8.0-unreleased"
+	SemVer = "2.8.0-rc1"
 )
 
 var (