diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 053b6cdd0ed7..5971a1f6e828 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
   "copyright": "© 2020, Lakend Labs, Inc.",
   "license": "MIT",
   "description": "Lens - The Kubernetes IDE",
-  "version": "3.5.1",
+  "version": "3.5.1-rc.1",
   "main": "main.ts",
   "config": {
     "bundledKubectlVersion": "1.17.4",
diff --git a/static/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/static/RELEASE_NOTES.md
index 7182bb5187ab..65d875585506 100644
--- a/static/RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/static/RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Here you can find description of changes we've built into each release. While we try our best to make each upgrade automatic and as smooth as possible, there may be some cases where your might need to do something to ensure the application works smoothly. So please read through the release highlights!
 
-## 3.5.1 (current version)
+## 3.5.1-rc.1 (current version)
 - Fix kubernetes api requests to work with non-"namespaces" pathnames
 - Fix: Handle invalid metrics responses properly
 - Fix: Display namespace defined in kubeconfig always in the namespace selector