diff --git a/src/assets/geo_assets.js b/src/assets/geo_assets.js
index a66a3942e8e..1c74ed528c5 100644
--- a/src/assets/geo_assets.js
+++ b/src/assets/geo_assets.js
@@ -9,4 +9,7 @@
 
 var saneTopojson = require('sane-topojson');
 
+// export the version found in the package.json
+exports.version = require('../../package.json').version;
+
 exports.topojson = saneTopojson;
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 0b41010c308..fadf663eb17 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@
 
 var Plotly = require('./plotly');
 
+// export the version found in the package.json
+exports.version = require('../package.json').version;
+
 // plot api
 exports.plot = Plotly.plot;
 exports.newPlot = Plotly.newPlot;
diff --git a/tasks/bundle.js b/tasks/bundle.js
index 86df8aaf28f..2b13767ddab 100644
--- a/tasks/bundle.js
+++ b/tasks/bundle.js
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ var browserify = require('browserify');
 var UglifyJS = require('uglify-js');
 
 var compressAttributes = require('./util/compress_attributes');
-var appendVersion = require('./util/append_version');
 var constants = require('./util/constants');
 
 /*
@@ -48,19 +47,11 @@ browserify(constants.pathToPlotlySrc, {
     if(!DEV) {
         fs.writeFile(
             constants.pathToPlotlyDistMin,
-            UglifyJS.minify(buf.toString(), constants.uglifyOptions).code,
-            function() {
-                appendVersion(
-                    constants.pathToPlotlyDistMin, {object: 'Plotly'}
-                );
-            }
+            UglifyJS.minify(buf.toString(), constants.uglifyOptions).code
         );
     }
 })
-.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyDist))
-.on('finish', function() {
-    appendVersion(constants.pathToPlotlyDist, {object: 'Plotly', DEV: DEV});
-});
+.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyDist));
 
 
 // Browserify the geo assets
@@ -70,10 +61,7 @@ browserify(constants.pathToPlotlyGeoAssetsSrc, {
 .bundle(function(err) {
     if(err) throw err;
 })
-.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyGeoAssetsDist))
-.on('finish', function() {
-    appendVersion(constants.pathToPlotlyGeoAssetsDist, {object: 'PlotlyGeoAssets'});
-});
+.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyGeoAssetsDist));
 
     
 // Browserify the plotly.js with meta
@@ -84,7 +72,4 @@ browserify(constants.pathToPlotlySrc, {
 .bundle(function(err) {
     if(err) throw err;
 })
-.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyDistWithMeta))
-.on('finish', function() {
-    appendVersion(constants.pathToPlotlyDistWithMeta, {object: 'Plotly', DEV: DEV});
-});
+.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyDistWithMeta));
diff --git a/tasks/cibundle.js b/tasks/cibundle.js
index 1c37f3b7cd4..8e1db62885d 100644
--- a/tasks/cibundle.js
+++ b/tasks/cibundle.js
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ var fs = require('fs');
 var browserify = require('browserify');
 
 var compressAttributes = require('./util/compress_attributes');
-var appendVersion = require('./util/append_version');
 var constants = require('./util/constants');
 
 /*
@@ -24,10 +23,7 @@ browserify(constants.pathToPlotlySrc, {
 .bundle(function(err) {
     if(err) throw err;
 })
-.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyBuild))
-.on('finish', function() {
-    appendVersion(constants.pathToPlotlyBuild, {object: 'Plotly'});
-});
+.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyBuild));
 
 
 // Browserify the geo assets
@@ -37,7 +33,4 @@ browserify(constants.pathToPlotlyGeoAssetsSrc, {
 .bundle(function(err) {
     if(err) throw err;
 })
-.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyGeoAssetsDist))
-.on('finish', function() {
-    appendVersion(constants.pathToPlotlyGeoAssetsDist, {object: 'PlotlyGeoAssets'});
-});
+.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyGeoAssetsDist));
diff --git a/tasks/util/append_version.js b/tasks/util/append_version.js
deleted file mode 100644
index cc17057e40d..00000000000
--- a/tasks/util/append_version.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-var fs = require('fs');
-
-var pkg = require('../../package.json');
-
-/**
- * Append package version to bundle
- *
- * @param {string} path path to bundle
- * @param {object} opts
- *   - object {string} the standalone object in the bundle
- *   - DEV {boolean} is this a DEV build?
- */
-module.exports = function appendVersion(path, opts) {
-    var txt = [
-        opts.object,
-        '.version=', '\'',
-        pkg.version, opts.DEV ? '-dev' : '',
-        '\'', ';'
-    ].join('');
-
-    fs.appendFile(path, txt, function(err) {
-        if(err) throw err;
-    }) ;
-};
diff --git a/tasks/util/make_watchified_bundle.js b/tasks/util/make_watchified_bundle.js
index 7af73f3bd63..70ae5fadaa4 100644
--- a/tasks/util/make_watchified_bundle.js
+++ b/tasks/util/make_watchified_bundle.js
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ var browserify = require('browserify');
 var watchify = require('watchify');
 
 var compressAttributes = require('./compress_attributes');
-var appendVersion = require('./append_version');
 var formatBundleMsg = require('./format_bundle_msg');
 var constants = require('./constants');
 
@@ -53,9 +52,6 @@ module.exports = function makeWatchifiedBundle(onFirstBundleCallback) {
         .pipe(
             fs.createWriteStream(constants.pathToPlotlyBuild)
         )
-        .on('finish', function() {
-            appendVersion(constants.pathToPlotlyBuild, {object: 'Plotly', DEV: true});
-        });
     }
 
     return bundle;