diff --git a/make_release/Readme.md b/make_release/Readme.md
index 39e7dcc..7be7412 100644
--- a/make_release/Readme.md
+++ b/make_release/Readme.md
@@ -24,9 +24,8 @@
 - [ ] bump the version on the Nushell side ([example with `reedline`][reedline pin example]) (reference the release notes for courtesy)
 
 ## 1. Minor bump of the version ([example][nushell bump example])
-- [ ] bump the version with `sd 'version = "0.xx.1"' 'version = "0.xx+1.0"' **/Cargo.toml`
-- [ ] bump the version info in the default configs with  `sd 'version = 0.xx.1' 'version = 0.xx+1.0' **/*.nu`
-- [ ] Also commit `Cargo.lock` AFTER running a cargo command (or update via `sd 'version = "0.xx.1"' 'version = "0.xx+1.0"' **/Cargo.lock` assuming no other package carries that version specifier)
+- [ ] in the repo of Nushell, run `/path/to/nu_scripts/make_release/bump-version.nu`
+- [ ] Also commit `Cargo.lock` AFTER running a Cargo command like `cargo check --workspace`
 
 ## 2. Tag the [`nushell`] repo
 > **Warning**  
@@ -86,7 +85,10 @@
 - [ ] run `./make_release/release-note/create-pr 0.xx.0 ((date now) + 4wk | date format "%Y-%m-%d" | into datetime)`
 
 ## 8. Bump the version as development
-- [ ] bump the patch version on [`nushell`] ([example][nushell dev example])
+- [ ] bump the patch version on [`nushell`] ([example][nushell dev example]) by running
+```nushell
+/path/to/nu_scripts/make_release/bump-version.nu --patch
+```
 
 
 [reedline bump example]: https://github.com/nushell/reedline/pull/596/files
diff --git a/make_release/bump-version.nu b/make_release/bump-version.nu
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1d6a0a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/make_release/bump-version.nu
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env nu
+use std log
+
+# bump the minor or patch version of the Nushell project
+def main [
+    --patch: bool  # update the minor version instead of the minor
+]: nothing -> nothing {
+    let version = open Cargo.toml
+        | get package.version
+        | parse "{major}.{minor}.{patch}"
+        | into int major minor patch
+        | into record
+
+    let new_version = if $patch {
+        $version | update patch { $in + 1 }
+    } else {
+        $version | update minor { $in + 1 } | update patch { 0 }
+    }
+
+    let version = $version | transpose | get column1 | str join "."
+    let new_version = $new_version | transpose | get column1 | str join "."
+
+    log info $"bumping all packages and Nushell files in (open Cargo.toml | get package.name) from ($version) to ($new_version)"
+
+    ls **/Cargo.toml | each {|file|
+        log debug $"bumping ($file.name) from ($version) to ($new_version)"
+        open --raw $file.name
+            | str replace --all --string $'version = "($version)"' $'version = "($new_version)"'
+            | save --force $file.name
+    }
+
+    "crates/nu-utils/src/sample_config/default_{config,env}.nu" | str expand | each {|file|
+        log debug $"bumping ($file) from ($version) to ($new_version)"
+        open --raw $file
+            | str replace --all --string $'version = ($version)' $'version = ($new_version)'
+            | save --force $file
+    }
+
+    null
+}