diff --git a/lib/lifecycles/bump.js b/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
index 912c0cd29..026daec50 100644
--- a/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
+++ b/lib/lifecycles/bump.js
@@ -164,10 +164,20 @@ function updateConfigs(args, newVersion) {
     const configPath = path.resolve(process.cwd(), updater.filename);
     try {
       if (dotgit.ignore(configPath)) return;
-      const stat = fs.lstatSync(configPath);
-
-      if (!stat.isFile()) return;
-      const contents = fs.readFileSync(configPath, 'utf8');
+      let contents;
+      /**
+       * `data` field is used to pass raw file contents. It's uswfule to pass
+       * template strings to compile with Handlebars, but it could also be used
+       * for other use cases.
+       */
+      if (!updater.data) {
+        const stat = fs.lstatSync(configPath);
+
+        if (!stat.isFile()) return;
+        contents = fs.readFileSync(configPath, 'utf8');
+      } else {
+        contents = updater.data;
+      }
       checkpoint(
         args,
         'bumping version in ' + updater.filename + ' from %s to %s',
diff --git a/lib/updaters/index.js b/lib/updaters/index.js
index 1813d1c71..a42e02ed8 100644
--- a/lib/updaters/index.js
+++ b/lib/updaters/index.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ const JSON_BUMP_FILES = require('../../defaults').bumpFiles;
 const updatersByType = {
   json: require('./types/json'),
   'plain-text': require('./types/plain-text'),
+  template: require('./types/template'),
 };
 const PLAIN_TEXT_BUMP_FILES = ['VERSION.txt', 'version.txt'];
 
diff --git a/lib/updaters/types/template.js b/lib/updaters/types/template.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8ab650072
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/updaters/types/template.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+const Handlebars = require('handlebars');
+
+/* eslint-disable no-unused-vars */
+module.exports.readVersion = function (_contents) {
+  return '{{ version }}';
+};
+
+/* eslint-enable no-unused-vars */
+module.exports.writeVersion = function (contents, version) {
+  return Handlebars.compile(contents)({ version });
+};
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 6daefcc02..e550f991a 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
         "figures": "^3.1.0",
         "find-up": "^5.0.0",
         "git-semver-tags": "^7.0.1",
+        "handlebars": "^4.7.8",
         "semver": "^7.1.1",
         "stringify-package": "^1.0.1",
         "yargs": "^17.5.1"
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 7f8672f13..13ff02a97 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
     "figures": "^3.1.0",
     "find-up": "^5.0.0",
     "git-semver-tags": "^7.0.1",
+    "handlebars": "^4.7.8",
     "semver": "^7.1.1",
     "stringify-package": "^1.0.1",
     "yargs": "^17.5.1"