diff --git a/version/version.go b/version/version.go
index 6d9a0ef..e0e66b9 100644
--- a/version/version.go
+++ b/version/version.go
@@ -13,10 +13,12 @@ import (
 )
 
 // VERSION has the current software version (set in the build process)
-var VERSION string
-var buildTime string
-var gitVersion string
-var gitModified bool
+var (
+	VERSION     string
+	buildTime   string
+	gitVersion  string
+	gitModified bool
+)
 
 var info Info
 
@@ -28,7 +30,6 @@ type Info struct {
 }
 
 func init() {
-
 	info.BuildTime = buildTime
 	info.GitRev = gitVersion
 
@@ -90,6 +91,15 @@ func VersionCmd(name string) *cobra.Command {
 	return versionCmd
 }
 
+type KongVersionCmd struct {
+	Name string `kong:"-"`
+}
+
+func (cmd *KongVersionCmd) Run() error {
+	fmt.Printf("%s %s\n", cmd.Name, Version())
+	return nil
+}
+
 func RegisterMetric(name string, registry prometheus.Registerer) {
 	if len(name) > 0 {
 		name = strings.ReplaceAll(name, "-", "_")