diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 28d1ec711..867cdc950 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,24 @@
+Release 1.8.4 (in development)
+==============================
+
+Dependencies
+------------
+
+Incompatible changes
+--------------------
+
+Deprecated
+----------
+
+Features added
+--------------
+
+Bugs fixed
+----------
+
+Testing
+--------
+
 Release 1.8.3 (released Dec 26, 2018)
 =====================================
 
diff --git a/sphinx/__init__.py b/sphinx/__init__.py
index ee75f6fc2..88dca5ce4 100644
--- a/sphinx/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/__init__.py
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ if 'PYTHONWARNINGS' not in os.environ:
 warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', "'U' mode is deprecated",
                         DeprecationWarning, module='docutils.io')
 
-__version__ = '1.8.3'
-__released__ = '1.8.3'  # used when Sphinx builds its own docs
+__version__ = '1.8.4+'
+__released__ = '1.8.4'  # used when Sphinx builds its own docs
 
 #: Version info for better programmatic use.
 #:
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ __released__ = '1.8.3'  # used when Sphinx builds its own docs
 #:
 #: .. versionadded:: 1.2
 #:    Before version 1.2, check the string ``sphinx.__version__``.
-version_info = (1, 8, 3, 'final', 0)
+version_info = (1, 8, 4, 'beta', 0)
 
 package_dir = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))