diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a50a79aff1322..615ed1d047aa0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
     "name": "typescript",
     "author": "Microsoft Corp.",
     "homepage": "https://www.typescriptlang.org/",
-    "version": "3.5.0",
+    "version": "3.5.0-rc",
     "license": "Apache-2.0",
     "description": "TypeScript is a language for application scale JavaScript development",
     "keywords": [
diff --git a/src/compiler/core.ts b/src/compiler/core.ts
index 2dfc7acf18826..2c6b5435aa9b4 100644
--- a/src/compiler/core.ts
+++ b/src/compiler/core.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ namespace ts {
     // If changing the text in this section, be sure to test `configureNightly` too.
     export const versionMajorMinor = "3.5";
     /** The version of the TypeScript compiler release */
-    export const version = `${versionMajorMinor}.0-dev`;
+    export const version = `${versionMajorMinor}.0-rc`;
 }
 
 namespace ts {