diff --git a/DeepSpeech.py b/DeepSpeech.py
index 941eeb81..67971b48 100755
--- a/DeepSpeech.py
+++ b/DeepSpeech.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ from util.config import Config, initialize_globals
 from util.feeding import create_dataset, samples_to_mfccs, audiofile_to_features
 from util.flags import create_flags, FLAGS
 from util.logging import log_info, log_error, log_debug, log_progress, create_progressbar
+from util.helpers import check_ctcdecoder_version; check_ctcdecoder_version()
 
 
 # Graph Creation
diff --git a/evaluate.py b/evaluate.py
index 01385039..4b0602c1 100755
--- a/evaluate.py
+++ b/evaluate.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from util.evaluate_tools import calculate_report
 from util.feeding import create_dataset
 from util.flags import create_flags, FLAGS
 from util.logging import log_error, log_progress, create_progressbar
+from util.helpers import check_ctcdecoder_version; check_ctcdecoder_version()
 
 
 def sparse_tensor_value_to_texts(value, alphabet):
diff --git a/native_client/bazel_workspace_status_cmd.sh b/native_client/bazel_workspace_status_cmd.sh
index dfdb3fa4..7969b19a 100755
--- a/native_client/bazel_workspace_status_cmd.sh
+++ b/native_client/bazel_workspace_status_cmd.sh
@@ -18,9 +18,12 @@ set -ex
 tf_git_rev=$(git describe --long --tags)
 echo "STABLE_TF_GIT_VERSION ${tf_git_rev}"
 
-pushd native_client
+# use this trick to be able to use the script from anywhere
+pushd $(dirname "$0")
 ds_git_rev=$(git describe --long --tags)
 echo "STABLE_DS_GIT_VERSION ${ds_git_rev}"
+ds_version=$(cat ../VERSION)
+echo "STABLE_DS_VERSION ${ds_version}"
 ds_graph_version=$(cat ../GRAPH_VERSION)
 echo "STABLE_DS_GRAPH_VERSION ${ds_graph_version}"
 popd
diff --git a/native_client/ctcdecode/Makefile b/native_client/ctcdecode/Makefile
index 23319e78..eff83f38 100644
--- a/native_client/ctcdecode/Makefile
+++ b/native_client/ctcdecode/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.PHONY: bindings clean
+.PHONY: bindings clean workspace_status.cc
 
 include ../definitions.mk
 
@@ -23,15 +23,22 @@ clean-keep-common:
 
 clean: clean-keep-common
 	rm -f common.a
+	rm workspace_status.cc
+	rm -fr bazel-out/
 
-bindings: clean-keep-common
+workspace_status.cc:
+	mkdir -p bazel-out/ && \
+		../bazel_workspace_status_cmd.sh > bazel-out/stable-status.txt && \
+		../gen_workspace_status.sh > $@
+
+bindings: clean-keep-common workspace_status.cc
 	pip install --quiet $(PYTHON_PACKAGES) wheel==0.33.6 setuptools==39.1.0
 	AS=$(AS) CC=$(CC) CXX=$(CXX) LD=$(LD) CFLAGS="$(CFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS)" LDFLAGS="$(LDFLAGS_NEEDED)" $(PYTHON_PATH) $(NUMPY_INCLUDE) python ./setup.py build_ext --num_processes $(NUM_PROCESSES) $(PYTHON_PLATFORM_NAME) $(SETUP_FLAGS)
 	find temp_build -type f -name "*.o" -delete
 	AS=$(AS) CC=$(CC) CXX=$(CXX) LD=$(LD) CFLAGS="$(CFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS)" LDFLAGS="$(LDFLAGS_NEEDED)" $(PYTHON_PATH) $(NUMPY_INCLUDE) python ./setup.py bdist_wheel $(PYTHON_PLATFORM_NAME) $(SETUP_FLAGS)
 	rm -rf temp_build
 
-bindings-debug: clean-keep-common
+bindings-debug: clean-keep-common workspace_status.cc
 	pip install --quiet $(PYTHON_PACKAGES) wheel==0.33.6 setuptools==39.1.0
 	AS=$(AS) CC=$(CC) CXX=$(CXX) LD=$(LD) CFLAGS="$(CFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS) -DDEBUG" LDFLAGS="$(LDFLAGS_NEEDED)" $(PYTHON_PATH) $(NUMPY_INCLUDE) python ./setup.py build_ext --debug --num_processes $(NUM_PROCESSES) $(PYTHON_PLATFORM_NAME) $(SETUP_FLAGS)
 	$(GENERATE_DEBUG_SYMS)
diff --git a/native_client/ctcdecode/__init__.py b/native_client/ctcdecode/__init__.py
index 41fb3002..e33eeb5c 100644
--- a/native_client/ctcdecode/__init__.py
+++ b/native_client/ctcdecode/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
-from . import swigwrapper
+from . import swigwrapper # pylint: disable=import-self
 
+__version__ = swigwrapper.__version__
 
 class Scorer(swigwrapper.Scorer):
     """Wrapper for Scorer.
diff --git a/native_client/ctcdecode/setup.py b/native_client/ctcdecode/setup.py
index 80d5ca79..8a77ac31 100644
--- a/native_client/ctcdecode/setup.py
+++ b/native_client/ctcdecode/setup.py
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ decoder_module = Extension(
              'ctc_beam_search_decoder.cpp',
              'scorer.cpp',
              'path_trie.cpp',
-             'decoder_utils.cpp'],
+             'decoder_utils.cpp',
+             'workspace_status.cc'],
     swig_opts=['-c++', '-extranative'],
     language='c++',
     include_dirs=INCLUDES + [numpy_include],
diff --git a/native_client/ctcdecode/swigwrapper.i b/native_client/ctcdecode/swigwrapper.i
index b7ac8b11..d3e70898 100644
--- a/native_client/ctcdecode/swigwrapper.i
+++ b/native_client/ctcdecode/swigwrapper.i
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include "ctc_beam_search_decoder.h"
 #define SWIG_FILE_WITH_INIT
 #define SWIG_PYTHON_STRICT_BYTE_CHAR
+#include "workspace_status.h"
 %}
 
 %include "pyabc.i"
@@ -27,6 +28,9 @@ import_array();
 %include "scorer.h"
 %include "ctc_beam_search_decoder.h"
 
+%constant const char* __version__ = ds_version();
+%constant const char* __git_version__ = ds_git_version();
+
 %template(IntVector) std::vector<int>;
 %template(OutputVector) std::vector<Output>;
 %template(OutputVectorVector) std::vector<std::vector<Output>>;
diff --git a/native_client/gen_workspace_status.sh b/native_client/gen_workspace_status.sh
index 8b2755d8..298905bd 100755
--- a/native_client/gen_workspace_status.sh
+++ b/native_client/gen_workspace_status.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 set -x
 
 tf_git_version=$(grep "STABLE_TF_GIT_VERSION" "bazel-out/stable-status.txt" | cut -d' ' -f2)
+ds_version=$(grep "STABLE_DS_VERSION" "bazel-out/stable-status.txt" | cut -d' ' -f2)
 ds_git_version=$(grep "STABLE_DS_GIT_VERSION" "bazel-out/stable-status.txt" | cut -d' ' -f2)
 ds_graph_version=$(grep "STABLE_DS_GRAPH_VERSION" "bazel-out/stable-status.txt" | cut -d' ' -f2)
 
@@ -10,6 +11,9 @@ cat <<EOF
 const char *tf_local_git_version() {
     return "${tf_git_version}";
 }
+const char *ds_version() {
+    return "${ds_version}";
+}
 const char *ds_git_version() {
     return "${ds_git_version}";
 }
diff --git a/native_client/workspace_status.h b/native_client/workspace_status.h
index 314ac72b..e032d7b1 100644
--- a/native_client/workspace_status.h
+++ b/native_client/workspace_status.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #define WORKSPACE_STATUS_H
 
 const char *tf_local_git_version();
+const char *ds_version();
 const char *ds_git_version();
 const int ds_graph_version();
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index befe6f54..69805d58 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ six
 pyxdg
 attrdict
 absl-py
+semver
 
 # Requirements for building native_client files
 setuptools
diff --git a/util/helpers.py b/util/helpers.py
index 6c792409..bc143463 100644
--- a/util/helpers.py
+++ b/util/helpers.py
@@ -7,3 +7,28 @@ def secs_to_hours(secs):
     hours, remainder = divmod(secs, 3600)
     minutes, seconds = divmod(remainder, 60)
     return '%d:%02d:%02d' % (hours, minutes, seconds)
+
+# pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+def check_ctcdecoder_version():
+    import sys
+    import os
+    import semver
+
+    ds_version_s = open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '../VERSION')).read().strip()
+
+    try:
+        from ds_ctcdecoder import __version__ as decoder_version
+    except ImportError as e:
+        if e.msg.find('__version__') > 0:
+            print("DeepSpeech version ({ds_version}) requires CTC decoder to expose __version__. Please upgrade the ds_ctcdecoder package to version {ds_version}".format(ds_version=ds_version_s))
+            sys.exit(1)
+        raise e
+
+    decoder_version_s = decoder_version.decode()
+
+    rv = semver.compare(ds_version_s, decoder_version_s)
+    if rv != 0:
+        print("DeepSpeech version ({}) and CTC decoder version ({}) do not match. Please ensure matching versions are in use.".format(ds_version_s, decoder_version_s))
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    return rv