diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 488375b46d..aac0330340 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ internal API changes are not present.
 Main (unreleased)
 -----------------
 
+v1.2.0-rc.0
+-----------------
+
 ### Breaking changes
 
 - Updated OpenTelemetry to v0.102.1. (@mattdurham)
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 9a952fb88b..9395e39370 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -20,4 +20,4 @@
 #
 # Lines starting with "#" and blank lines are ignored.
 
-v1.2.0
+v1.3.0
diff --git a/docs/sources/_index.md b/docs/sources/_index.md
index 0326af0119..95af00b784 100644
--- a/docs/sources/_index.md
+++ b/docs/sources/_index.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ title: Grafana Alloy
 description: Grafana Alloy is a a vendor-neutral distribution of the OTel Collector
 weight: 350
 cascade:
-  ALLOY_RELEASE: v1.2.0
+  ALLOY_RELEASE: v1.3.0
   OTEL_VERSION: v0.87.0
   FULL_PRODUCT_NAME: Grafana Alloy
   PRODUCT_NAME: Alloy