diff --git a/newsroom/__init__.py b/newsroom/__init__.py
index 1c26f0ee9..59c757ae3 100644
--- a/newsroom/__init__.py
+++ b/newsroom/__init__.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 from newsroom.user_roles import UserRole
 
-__version__ = "2.8.0.dev"
+__version__ = "2.8.0rc1"
 
 # reuse content api dbs
 MONGO_PREFIX = "CONTENTAPI_MONGO"
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 8a3fa79ee..37f897b1a 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "newsroom-core",
-  "version": "2.8.0-dev.0",
+  "version": "2.8.0-rc.1",
   "lockfileVersion": 1,
   "requires": true,
   "dependencies": {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 7f966b827..6d969260e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "newsroom-core",
-  "version": "2.8.0-dev.0",
+  "version": "2.8.0-rc.1",
   "license": "GPLv3",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index bc13b52a3..d713b468d 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -23,5 +23,5 @@ python-bidi<0.5
 # https://github.com/xhtml2pdf/xhtml2pdf/issues/589
 reportlab>=3.6.11,<4.3
 
-superdesk-core @ git+https://github.com/superdesk/superdesk-core.git@release/2.8
+superdesk-core @ git+https://github.com/superdesk/superdesk-core.git@v2.8.0rc1
 superdesk-planning @ git+https://github.com/superdesk/superdesk-planning.git@v2.7.2
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 901971a6e..d11c088fc 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 
 setup(
     name="Newsroom-Core",
-    version="2.8.0.dev",
+    version="2.8.0rc1",
     description="Newsroom Core library",
     author="Sourcefabric",
     url="https://github.com/superdesk/newsroom-core",