diff --git a/version.json b/version.json
index cfba864..c5a3a3a 100644
--- a/version.json
+++ b/version.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "version": "1.8",
+  "version": "1.9",
   "publicReleaseRefSpec": [
     "^refs/heads/main$", // we release out of master
     "^refs/heads/rel/\\d+\\.\\d+\\.\\d+" // we also release branches starting with rel/N.N.N