diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index a89a4326..93ce3e63 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
 include(CheckIncludeFiles)
-project(phoenix)
+project(phoenix VERSION 1.0.0)
 
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
 set(PHOENIX_LOG_LEVEL 3 CACHE STRING "The logging level to use for phoenix. Set to 4, 3, 2, or 1 for DEBUG, INFO, WARN or ERROR respectively")
@@ -119,7 +119,8 @@ set_target_properties(phoenix
         PROPERTIES
         ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib"
         LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib"
-        RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin")
+        RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin"
+        VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION})
 
 # when building tests, create a test executable and load it into CTest
 if (CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR STREQUAL CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR)
diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..71546eb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# changelog
+
+This file contains all changes made to _phoenix_ in reverse order, meaning the newest change is listed first. This
+file is updated whenever a new version of _phoenix_ is released. More information about how versioning works can be
+found in [readme.md](readme.md#versioning).
+
+---
+
+## v1.0.0 – Initial release
+
+After about a year of development, _phoenix_ released version `1.0.0` in October 2022. After replacing
+[Try/ZenLib](https://github.com/Try/ZenLib) which was forked from [ataulien/ZenLib](https://github.com/ataulien/ZenLib)
+in the _Gothic_ engine re-implementation [OpenGothic](https://github.com/Try/OpenGothic) and a bit more than 500
+commits, _phoenix_ has finally reached a point at which I would consider it to be stable enough to make a full release.
+
+Thanks to everyone who helped test the implementation in [OpenGothic#271](https://github.com/Try/OpenGothic/pull/271).
+I want to especially thank [@Try](https://github.com/Try) for allowing me to integrate into
+[OpenGothic](https://github.com/Try/OpenGothic)! It really helped motivate me to keep working on _phoenix_ and to make
+it better!
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index dad92847..a77ef923 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -6,11 +6,10 @@
 ![License](https://img.shields.io/github/license/lmichaelis/phoenix?label=License&color=important)
 ![C++](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=C%2B%2B&message=17&color=informational)
 ![Platforms](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?label=Supports&message=GCC%20|%20Clang%20|%20MSVC%20|%20Apple%20Clang&color=blueviolet)
+![Version](https://img.shields.io/github/v/tag/lmichaelis/phoenix?label=Version&sort=semver)
 
-**🐲 This repository is currently frozen in preparation for _phoenix'_ 1.0 release. Only bugs and incorrect behavior
-will be addressed until then. Expect this freeze to last
-until [OpenGothic#271](https://github.com/Try/OpenGothic/pull/271)
-is merged.**
+**🐲 Here be dragons! _phoenix_ is still changing a lot and might break your code if you choose to update.
+See [versioning](#versioning) for details.**
 
 The _phoenix_ project aims to re-implement file formats used by the _ZenGin_ made
 by [Piranha Bytes](https://www.piranha-bytes.com/)
@@ -23,8 +22,9 @@ _phoenix_ includes **parsers and basic datastructures** for most file formats us
 type-safe **VM for _Daedalus_ scripts** and supporting infrastructure like _Gothic II_ class definitions. Tools for
 inspecting and converting _ZenGin_ files can be found in [phoenix studio](https://github.com/lmichaelis/phoenix-studio).
 
-## contributing
-If you'd like to contribute, please read [contributing](contributing.md) first.
+To get started, take a look in the [📖 Wiki](https://github.com/lmichaelis/phoenix/wiki). Don't hesitate to open a
+discussion thread over in [Discussions](https://github.com/lmichaelis/phoenix/discussions) if you have a question or
+need help. Please open an issue for any bug you encounter!
 
 ## supported file formats
 Currently, the following file formats are supported.
@@ -47,7 +47,12 @@ Currently, the following file formats are supported.
 | Model Script Binary      |             `.MSB`             | Contains model animation script data and associated hierarchy and mesh information (binary form)                           | `model_script`       |
 | Virtual Disk             |             `.VDF`             | Contains a directory structure containing multiple files; similar to [tar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_(computing)). | `vdf_file`           |
 
+## contributing
+
+If you'd like to contribute, please read [contributing](contributing.md) first.
+
 ## building
+
 _phoenix_ is currently only tested on Linux and while Windows _should_ be supported you might run into issues. If so,
 feel free to create an issue or open a merge request. You will need
 
@@ -234,10 +239,21 @@ int main(int, char**) {
 ```
 
 For more examples on how to use _phoenix_, take a look into the
-[`examples`](https://github.com/lmichaelis/phoenix/tree/main/examples) and
-[`tools`](https://github.com/lmichaelis/phoenix/tree/main/tools) directories. A working example of using the VM can be
+[`examples`](https://github.com/lmichaelis/phoenix/tree/main/examples) directory and
+[`phoenix-studio`](https://github.com/lmichaelis/phoenix-studio) repository. A working example of using the VM can be
 found in [`examples/run_interpreter.cc`](https://github.com/lmichaelis/phoenix/blob/main/examples/run_interpreter.cc).
 
+## versioning
+
+_phoenix_ uses [semantic versioning](https://semver.org/). Before updating _phoenix_ in your application, make sure
+that you are aware of potential breaking changes to the API. A detailed log of changes can be found in
+[changelog.md](changelog.md) as well as the releases section of the GitHub repository page.
+
+The `main` branch is used for _phoenix_ development and contains potentially breaking changes without any kind of
+warning. Each minor version of _phoenix_ will get its own branch (e.g. `v1.0`). Within these branches API stability is
+guaranteed and patches will be merged into them as required. Patches will be backported to the last minor as well (i.e.
+if `v1.3.4` is a bugfix-release, its contents will be backported to `v1.2.*` but not `v1.1.*` or any previous version).
+
 ## licensing
 
 While the source code of _phoenix_ is licensed under the [MIT license](license.md), the