diff --git a/src/qcodes/__init__.py b/src/qcodes/__init__.py
index e6f0b8d4674..5e3d0c15b93 100644
--- a/src/qcodes/__init__.py
+++ b/src/qcodes/__init__.py
@@ -8,16 +8,12 @@
 
 # config
 import warnings
-from typing import Any
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
 
-import qcodes._version
 import qcodes.configuration as qcconfig
 from qcodes.logger.logger import conditionally_start_all_logging
 from qcodes.utils import QCoDeSDeprecationWarning
 
-__version__ = qcodes._version.__version__
-
-
 config: qcconfig.Config = qcconfig.Config()
 
 conditionally_start_all_logging()
@@ -81,3 +77,25 @@
         "Please avoid setting this in your `qcodesrc.json` config file.",
         QCoDeSDeprecationWarning,
     )
+
+if not TYPE_CHECKING:
+
+    def __getattr__(name: str) -> Any:
+        """
+        Getting __version__ is slow in an editable install since we have shell out to run git describe.
+        Here we only do it lazily if required.
+
+        """
+        if name == "__version__":
+            import qcodes._version  # noqa: PLC0415  # lazy import since getting version is slow in editable install.
+
+            __version__ = qcodes._version.__version__
+            return __version__
+        raise AttributeError(f"module {__name__} has no attribute {name}")
+else:
+    __version__ = "not_set"
+
+__all__ = [
+    "__version__",
+    "config",
+]