diff --git a/bin/check-bundle-version.ts b/bin/check-bundle-version.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6464549
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/check-bundle-version.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2021 The NATS Authors
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+let tag = Deno.env.get("RELEASE_VERSION");
+const pkg = await Deno.readTextFile("package.json");
+const m = JSON.parse(pkg);
+if(tag) {
+  if(tag.startsWith("v")) {
+    tag = tag.substring(1);
+  }
+  if(m.version !== tag) {
+    console.error(`[ERROR] expected RELEASE_VERSION and package versions to match ${tag} !== ${m.version}`);
+    Deno.exit(1);
+  }
+  console.log(`[OK] RELEASE_VERSION and package versions match ${tag}`);
+} else {
+  console.log(`[SKIP] tag check`);
+}
+
+
+Deno.exit(0);
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index dd2c0f6..4bbb863 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
     "test": "npm run prepare && ava --verbose && deno test -A --unstable test/",
     "doc": "npm run clean && rm -Rf docs && npm run stage && node_modules/.bin/typedoc --out docs/ && touch ./docs/.nojekyll",
     "bump-qualifier": "npm version prerelease --no-commit-hooks --no-git-tag-version",
-    "bump-release": "npm version patch --no-commit-hooks --no-git-tag-version"
+    "bump-release": "npm version patch --no-commit-hooks --no-git-tag-version",
+    "check-package": "deno run --allow-all bin/check-bundle-version.ts"
   },
   "engines": {
     "node": ">=10.0.0"