diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 40a819c6f2..ecaf7485ff 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ precheckin: test lint
 release-precheck: manifests
 	@if [ "$(GIT_TREE_STATE)" != "clean" ]; then echo 'git tree state is $(GIT_TREE_STATE)' ; exit 1; fi
 	@if [ -z "$(GIT_TAG)" ]; then echo 'commit must be tagged to perform release' ; exit 1; fi
+	@if [ "$(GIT_TAG)" != "v`cat VERSION`" ]; then echo 'VERSION does not match git tag'; exit 1; fi
 
 .PHONY: release
 release: release-precheck precheckin cli-darwin cli-linux server-image controller-image repo-server-image cli-image
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index ac39a106c4..78bc1abd14 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.9.0
+0.10.0
diff --git a/docs/getting_started.md b/docs/getting_started.md
index db8de6152b..32d9a9f642 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started.md
+++ b/docs/getting_started.md
@@ -35,28 +35,27 @@ curl -sSL -o /usr/local/bin/argocd https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/
 chmod +x /usr/local/bin/argocd
 ```
 
-## 3. Open access to ArgoCD API server
+## 3. Access the ArgoCD API server
 
 By default, the ArgoCD API server is not exposed with an external IP. To access the API server,
 choose one of the following means to expose the ArgoCD API server:
 
-### Use a LoadBalancer
+### Service Type LoadBalancer
 Change the argocd-server service type to `LoadBalancer`:
 
 ```bash
 kubectl patch svc argocd-server -n argocd -p '{"spec": {"type": "LoadBalancer"}}'
 ```
 
-### Use Ingress
-The ArgoCD API server can be exposed using Ingress. See the [ingress instructions](ingress.md)
-on how to configure ArgoCD with ingress.
+### Ingress
+Follow the [ingress documentation](ingress.md) on how to configure ArgoCD with ingress.
 
 ### Port Forwarding
 `kubectl port-forward` can also be used to connect to the API server without exposing the service.
-The API server can be accessed using the localhost address.
+The API server can be accessed using the localhost address/port.
 
 
-## 4. Login to the server from the CLI
+## 4. Login using the CLI
 
 Login as the `admin` user. The initial password is autogenerated to be the pod name of the
 ArgoCD API server. This can be retrieved with the command:
@@ -65,12 +64,6 @@ kubectl get pods -n argocd -l app=argocd-server -o name | cut -d'/' -f 2
 ```
 
 Using the above password, login to ArgoCD's external IP:
-
-On Minikube:
-```bash
-argocd login $(minikube service argocd-server -n argocd --url | cut -d'/' -f 3) --name minikube
-```
-Other clusters:
 ```bash
 kubectl get svc -n argocd argocd-server
 argocd login <EXTERNAL-IP>
@@ -86,8 +79,8 @@ argocd relogin
 ## 5. Register a cluster to deploy apps to (optional)
 
 This step registers a cluster's credentials to ArgoCD, and is only necessary when deploying to
-an external cluster. When deploying in-cluster (the same cluster that ArgoCD is running in), 
-https://kubernetes.default.svc should be used as the K8s API server address for apps.
+an external cluster. When deploying internally (to the same cluster that ArgoCD is running in), 
+https://kubernetes.default.svc should be used as the application's K8s API server address.
 
 First list all clusters contexts in your current kubconfig:
 ```bash
diff --git a/docs/internal/releasing.md b/docs/internal/releasing.md
index 6b7aa15450..013c474444 100644
--- a/docs/internal/releasing.md
+++ b/docs/internal/releasing.md
@@ -15,8 +15,9 @@ git checkout -b release-X.Y
 git push upstream release-X.Y
 ```
 
-3. Update manifests with new version
+3. Update VERSION and manifests with new version
 ```bash
+vi VERSION # ensure value is desired X.Y.Z semantic version 
 vi manifests/base/kustomization.yaml # update with new image tags
 make manifests
 git commit -a -m "Update manifests to vX.Y.Z"