diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 405d8b0..d33e50d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 <a href="docs/installation.md"><img src="badges/postgresql.svg" alt="PostgreSQL 15-18 (+19 beta)"></a>
 <a href="LICENSE"><img src="badges/license.svg" alt="License: MIT"></a>
-<a href="VERSION"><img src="badges/version.svg" alt="Version 1.0-dev"></a>
+<a href="VERSION"><img src="badges/version.svg" alt="Version 1.0-alpha"></a>
 <a href="docs/limitations.md#release-status"><img src="badges/status.svg" alt="Status: pre-release"></a>
 
 <p><strong><a href="https://commandprompt.github.io/pgcolumnar/">Read the documentation at commandprompt.github.io/pgcolumnar</a></strong></p>
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ append-mostly data.
 pgColumnar builds from one source tree on PostgreSQL 15 through 18, with 19
 validated against 19beta2, and is
 licensed under the [MIT License](LICENSE). It is [pre-release](docs/limitations.md#release-status); the version marker
-is `1.0-dev`, recorded in `VERSION`. A table `USING pgcolumnar` is stored in the
+is `1.0-alpha`, recorded in `VERSION`. A table `USING pgcolumnar` is stored in the
 native on-disk format, PGCN v1.
 
 ## Documentation
diff --git a/badges/version.svg b/badges/version.svg
index 26b33fc..ee564d9 100644
--- a/badges/version.svg
+++ b/badges/version.svg
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="104" height="20" role="img" aria-label="version: 1.0-dev"><title>version: 1.0-dev</title><g shape-rendering="crispEdges"><rect width="51" height="20" fill="#555"/><rect x="51" width="53" height="20" fill="#ea7233"/></g><g fill="#fff" text-anchor="middle" font-family="Verdana,Geneva,DejaVu Sans,sans-serif" text-rendering="geometricPrecision" font-size="110"><text x="265" y="140" textLength="410" transform="scale(.1)">version</text><text x="765" y="140" textLength="430" transform="scale(.1)">1.0-dev</text></g></svg>
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+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="118" height="20" role="img" aria-label="version: 1.0-alpha"><title>version: 1.0-alpha</title><g shape-rendering="crispEdges"><rect width="51" height="20" fill="#555"/><rect x="51" width="67" height="20" fill="#ea7233"/></g><g fill="#fff" text-anchor="middle" font-family="Verdana,Geneva,DejaVu Sans,sans-serif" text-rendering="geometricPrecision" font-size="110"><text x="265" y="140" textLength="410" transform="scale(.1)">version</text><text x="835" y="140" textLength="550" transform="scale(.1)">1.0-alpha</text></g></svg>
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