diff --git a/pinecone/__init__.py b/pinecone/__init__.py
index 5494a0873..2fba73590 100644
--- a/pinecone/__init__.py
+++ b/pinecone/__init__.py
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@
 
 import os as _os
 
+from pinecone._version import __version__  # noqa: F401  (re-exported as public API)
+
 # Avoid importing typing at runtime — its transitive deps (re, enum,
 # collections, contextlib, functools, warnings) add ~28ms to cold import.
 # All annotations use PEP 563 (from __future__ import annotations), so
@@ -201,8 +203,6 @@
     from pinecone.models.vectors.vector import ScoredVector, Vector
     from pinecone.utils.filter_builder import Field, FilterBuilder
 
-__version__ = "9.0.0"
-
 if _os.environ.get("PINECONE_DEBUG"):
     import logging as _logging
 
diff --git a/pinecone/_internal/http_client.py b/pinecone/_internal/http_client.py
index a756b3fc0..2943c2d0d 100644
--- a/pinecone/_internal/http_client.py
+++ b/pinecone/_internal/http_client.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 import httpx
 import orjson
 
-from pinecone import __version__
+from pinecone._version import __version__
 from pinecone._internal.config import PineconeConfig, RetryConfig
 from pinecone._internal.constants import API_VERSION_HEADER, DEFAULT_BASE_URL
 from pinecone._internal.user_agent import build_user_agent
diff --git a/pinecone/_version.py b/pinecone/_version.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0121ef029
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pinecone/_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+__version__ = "9.0.0"
diff --git a/pinecone/admin/admin.py b/pinecone/admin/admin.py
index b46714eef..ce5cf99ab 100644
--- a/pinecone/admin/admin.py
+++ b/pinecone/admin/admin.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 import httpx
 import orjson
 
-from pinecone import __version__
+from pinecone._version import __version__
 from pinecone._internal.config import PineconeConfig
 from pinecone._internal.constants import ADMIN_API_VERSION, API_VERSION_HEADER, DEFAULT_BASE_URL
 from pinecone._internal.http_client import HTTPClient, _build_socket_options, _RetryTransport
diff --git a/pinecone/grpc/__init__.py b/pinecone/grpc/__init__.py
index 06915f329..57281c0c0 100644
--- a/pinecone/grpc/__init__.py
+++ b/pinecone/grpc/__init__.py
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ def __init__(
         # Build gRPC endpoint and create the Rust-backed channel
         endpoint = _build_grpc_endpoint(self._host, secure)
 
-        from pinecone import __version__
+        from pinecone._version import __version__
         from pinecone._grpc import GrpcChannel  # type: ignore[import-not-found]
 
         self._channel: GrpcChannelProtocol = GrpcChannel(
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 996f27d06..a13142ca2 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ Issues = "https://github.com/pinecone-io/python-sdk/issues"
 manifest-path = "rust/Cargo.toml"
 module-name = "pinecone._grpc"
 python-source = "."
+python-packages = ["pinecone"]
 # maturin 1.7.x doesn't auto-include the LICENSE file in the sdist even though
 # it adds `License-File: LICENSE` to PKG-INFO from the SPDX license expression.
 # The mismatch makes PyPI reject the sdist. Explicit include fixes both forms.