diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8a79036..2a6aebb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -87,8 +87,22 @@ interface
   silent: bool, optional, if true, then filterdialog is suppressed
   transformation: list of float (16values), optional, after import this transformation matrix is applied to the object,
 - clear - clear all objects
+- version - return version number of plugin
 ```
 
+debugging
+---------
+
+I use QtCreator for developement.
+In order to load the plugin during debugging it must placed in a folder that is looked up.
+- /usr/lib/cloudcompare/plugins
+- /home/username/.local/share/CCCorp/CloudCompare/plugins
+- /usr/local/share/CCCorp/CloudCompare/plugins
+- /usr/share/CCCorp/CloudCompare/plugins
+- /var/lib/snapd/desktop/CCCorp/CloudCompare/plugins
+
+I set a link in the .local/share folder to the recent compiled version:
+  ln -s build-CloudCompare-Desktop-Debug/plugins/core/Standard/qJSonRPCPlugin/libQJSON_RPC_PLUGINd.so ~/.local/share/CCCorp/CloudCompare/plugins/libQJSON_RPC_PLUGINd.so
 
 contact
 -------
diff --git a/include/JsonRPCPlugin.h b/include/JsonRPCPlugin.h
index 6670cf9..6d0c473 100644
--- a/include/JsonRPCPlugin.h
+++ b/include/JsonRPCPlugin.h
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ public slots:
 private:
 	//! Default action
     QAction* m_action{nullptr};
+    const QString version{"1.0"};
 protected:
 	/// server that emit the execute signals
     JsonRPCServer rpc_server;
diff --git a/src/JsonRPCPlugin.cpp b/src/JsonRPCPlugin.cpp
index 563d13e..a3e3344 100644
--- a/src/JsonRPCPlugin.cpp
+++ b/src/JsonRPCPlugin.cpp
@@ -154,20 +154,25 @@ JsonRPCResult JsonRPCPlugin::execute(QString method, QMap<QString, QVariant> par
             result = JsonRPCResult::error(1, "cancelled by user");
         }
     }
-	else if (method == "clear")
-	{
+    else if (method == "clear")
+    {
 
         // remove everything below root
         auto root = m_app->dbRootObject();
         ccHObject* child;
         while ((child = root->getChild(0)) != nullptr)
-		{
+        {
             m_app->removeFromDB(child, true);
         }
         need_redraw = true;
         result = JsonRPCResult::success(0);
     }
-    
+    else if (method == "version")
+    {
+        // return version number of plugin
+        result = JsonRPCResult::success(version);
+    }
+
 	// redraw
     if (need_redraw)
 	{
diff --git a/test/client_version.py b/test/client_version.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..48b9656
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/client_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import asyncio
+import websockets
+
+async def hello():
+    uri = "ws://localhost:6001"
+    async with websockets.connect(uri) as websocket:
+        await websocket.send('{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "version", "id": 6}')
+        result = await websocket.recv()
+        print("result: ", result)
+
+asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(hello())
+