diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 39de62d0..61e1a756 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2631,7 +2631,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "kwctl"
-version = "1.15.0"
+version = "1.16.0-rc1"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "assert_cmd",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index d005f9c0..4ee48a31 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [package]
 name = "kwctl"
 description = "Tool to manage Kubewarden policies"
-version = "1.15.0"
+version = "1.16.0-rc1"
 authors = ["Kubewarden Developers <kubewarden@suse.de>"]
 edition = "2021"