diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1dddc840a6f..eadb7021be2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.6.0-alpha] - 10/07/2021
+
+**WARNING: Alpha releases may contain bugs and no guarantee is made about API stability. They are not recommended for production use!**
+
+## New features
+
+* implement basic retry support in runtime [#328](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/328)
+* event stream framing support [#320](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-sdk-kotlin/pull/320)
+* replace GSON based JSON serde with KMP compatible impl [#477](https://github.com/awslabs/smithy-kotlin/pull/477)
+
+
 ## [0.5.0-alpha] - 09/30/2021
 
 **WARNING: Alpha releases may contain bugs and no guarantee is made about API stability. They are not recommended for production use!**
diff --git a/docs/GettingStarted.md b/docs/GettingStarted.md
index cb2dbe8a35d..7903d92c0ee 100644
--- a/docs/GettingStarted.md
+++ b/docs/GettingStarted.md
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Consult the [stability guide](stability.md) for more information on SDK stabilit
     ```kt
     # file: my-project/build.gradle.kts
 
-    val awsKotlinSdkVersion = "0.4.0-alpha"
+    val awsKotlinSdkVersion = "0.6.0-alpha"
     // OR put it in gradle.properties
     // val awsKotlinSdkVersion: String by project
 
diff --git a/examples/build.gradle.kts b/examples/build.gradle.kts
index c115cda1d3c..2f95a29d219 100644
--- a/examples/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/examples/build.gradle.kts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ plugins {
 
 allprojects {
     group = "aws.sdk.kotlin.example"
-    version = "0.5.1-SNAPSHOT"
+    version = "0.6.0-alpha"
 
     repositories {
         mavenLocal()
diff --git a/examples/gradle.properties b/examples/gradle.properties
index 52fd494ff93..b335fa9f416 100644
--- a/examples/gradle.properties
+++ b/examples/gradle.properties
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 
 # AWS SDK
-awsSdkKotlinVersion=0.5.1-SNAPSHOT
+awsSdkKotlinVersion=0.6.0-alpha
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index 3d884e6c6ac..e7899dbed62 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -7,13 +7,13 @@ kotlin.native.ignoreDisabledTargets=true
 org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx6g -XX:MaxPermSize=6g -XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=1G
 
 # sdk
-sdkVersion=0.5.1-SNAPSHOT
+sdkVersion=0.6.0-alpha
 
 # codegen
 smithyVersion=1.9.1
 smithyGradleVersion=0.5.3
 # smithy-kotlin codegen and runtime are versioned together
-smithyKotlinVersion=0.4.2-SNAPSHOT
+smithyKotlinVersion=0.5.0-alpha
 
 # kotlin
 kotlinVersion=1.5.30