diff --git a/conda/meta.yaml b/conda/meta.yaml
index ca7edcf3..4443ebe6 100644
--- a/conda/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda/meta.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {% set name = "zstash" %}
-{% set version = "1.2.0" %}
+{% set version = "1.2.1rc1" %}
 
 package:
   name: {{ name|lower }}
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 498b4b03..91051102 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 setup(
     name="zstash",
-    version="1.2.0",
+    version="1.2.1rc1",
     author="Ryan Forsyth, Chris Golaz, Zeshawn Shaheen",
     author_email="forsyth2@llnl.gov, golaz1@llnl.gov, shaheen2@llnl.gov",
     description="Long term HPSS archiving software for E3SM",
diff --git a/tbump.toml b/tbump.toml
index f6ed13c0..80c66522 100644
--- a/tbump.toml
+++ b/tbump.toml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 github_url = "https://github.com/E3SM-Project/zstash.git"
 
 [version]
-current = "1.2.0"
+current = "1.2.1rc1"
 
 # Example of a semver regexp with support for PEP 440
 # release candidates.Make sure this matches current_version
diff --git a/zstash/__init__.py b/zstash/__init__.py
index d0f2dbd7..56f7abff 100644
--- a/zstash/__init__.py
+++ b/zstash/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "v1.2.0"
+__version__ = "v1.2.1rc1"