diff --git a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/crew_chat.py b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/crew_chat.py
index ad1c65894..61d9b4d9e 100644
--- a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/crew_chat.py
+++ b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/crew_chat.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ from packaging import version
 import tomli
 
 from crewai.cli.utils import read_toml
-from crewai.cli.version import get_crewai_version
 from crewai.crew import Crew
 from crewai.llm import LLM
 from crewai.llms.base_llm import BaseLLM
@@ -21,6 +20,7 @@ from crewai.types.crew_chat import ChatInputField, ChatInputs
 from crewai.utilities.llm_utils import create_llm
 from crewai.utilities.printer import PRINTER
 from crewai.utilities.types import LLMMessage
+from crewai.utilities.version import get_crewai_version
 
 
 MIN_REQUIRED_VERSION: Final[Literal["0.98.0"]] = "0.98.0"
diff --git a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/enterprise/main.py b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/enterprise/main.py
index 395de418b..2977868f2 100644
--- a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/enterprise/main.py
+++ b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/enterprise/main.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from rich.console import Console
 from crewai.cli.authentication.main import Oauth2Settings, ProviderFactory
 from crewai.cli.command import BaseCommand
 from crewai.cli.settings.main import SettingsCommand
-from crewai.cli.version import get_crewai_version
+from crewai.utilities.version import get_crewai_version
 
 
 console = Console()
diff --git a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/plus_api.py b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/plus_api.py
index ac7acfda9..862ab81e8 100644
--- a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/plus_api.py
+++ b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/plus_api.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import httpx
 
 from crewai.cli.config import Settings
 from crewai.cli.constants import DEFAULT_CREWAI_ENTERPRISE_URL
-from crewai.cli.version import get_crewai_version
+from crewai.utilities.version import get_crewai_version
 
 
 class PlusAPI:
diff --git a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/run_crew.py b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/run_crew.py
index 6f031f245..ba2202032 100644
--- a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/run_crew.py
+++ b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/run_crew.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import click
 from packaging import version
 
 from crewai.cli.utils import build_env_with_all_tool_credentials, read_toml
-from crewai.cli.version import get_crewai_version
+from crewai.utilities.version import get_crewai_version
 
 
 class CrewType(Enum):
diff --git a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/version.py b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/version.py
index 60eb3a95a..232aa2423 100644
--- a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/version.py
+++ b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/cli/version.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 from collections.abc import Mapping
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 from functools import lru_cache
-import importlib.metadata
 import json
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any
@@ -13,6 +12,8 @@ from urllib.error import URLError
 import appdirs
 from packaging.version import InvalidVersion, Version, parse
 
+from crewai.utilities.version import get_crewai_version
+
 
 @lru_cache(maxsize=1)
 def _get_cache_file() -> Path:
@@ -25,11 +26,6 @@ def _get_cache_file() -> Path:
     return cache_dir / "version_cache.json"
 
 
-def get_crewai_version() -> str:
-    """Get the version number of CrewAI running the CLI."""
-    return importlib.metadata.version("crewai")
-
-
 def _is_cache_valid(cache_data: Mapping[str, Any]) -> bool:
     """Check if the cache is still valid, less than 24 hours old."""
     if "timestamp" not in cache_data:
diff --git a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/events/listeners/tracing/trace_batch_manager.py b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/events/listeners/tracing/trace_batch_manager.py
index 1a25b68a9..d2a0912f6 100644
--- a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/events/listeners/tracing/trace_batch_manager.py
+++ b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/events/listeners/tracing/trace_batch_manager.py
@@ -13,13 +13,13 @@ from crewai.cli.authentication.token import AuthError, get_auth_token
 from crewai.cli.config import Settings
 from crewai.cli.constants import DEFAULT_CREWAI_ENTERPRISE_URL
 from crewai.cli.plus_api import PlusAPI
-from crewai.cli.version import get_crewai_version
 from crewai.events.listeners.tracing.types import TraceEvent
 from crewai.events.listeners.tracing.utils import (
     get_user_id,
     is_tracing_enabled_in_context,
     should_auto_collect_first_time_traces,
 )
+from crewai.utilities.version import get_crewai_version
 
 
 logger = getLogger(__name__)
diff --git a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/events/listeners/tracing/trace_listener.py b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/events/listeners/tracing/trace_listener.py
index 0e3b284c0..c4cc6cb71 100644
--- a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/events/listeners/tracing/trace_listener.py
+++ b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/events/listeners/tracing/trace_listener.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import uuid
 from typing_extensions import Self
 
 from crewai.cli.authentication.token import AuthError, get_auth_token
-from crewai.cli.version import get_crewai_version
 from crewai.events.base_event_listener import BaseEventListener
 from crewai.events.base_events import BaseEvent
 from crewai.events.event_bus import CrewAIEventsBus
@@ -127,6 +126,7 @@ from crewai.events.types.tool_usage_events import (
     ToolUsageStartedEvent,
 )
 from crewai.events.utils.console_formatter import ConsoleFormatter
+from crewai.utilities.version import get_crewai_version
 
 
 class TraceCollectionListener(BaseEventListener):
diff --git a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/state/runtime.py b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/state/runtime.py
index b4293ad39..79c836e1e 100644
--- a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/state/runtime.py
+++ b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/state/runtime.py
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@ via ``RuntimeState.model_rebuild()``.
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import logging
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
 import uuid
 
+from packaging.version import Version
 from pydantic import (
     ModelWrapValidatorHandler,
     PrivateAttr,
@@ -24,6 +26,10 @@ from crewai.context import capture_execution_context
 from crewai.state.event_record import EventRecord
 from crewai.state.provider.core import BaseProvider
 from crewai.state.provider.json_provider import JsonProvider
+from crewai.utilities.version import get_crewai_version
+
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
@@ -61,6 +67,39 @@ def _sync_checkpoint_fields(entity: object) -> None:
         entity.checkpoint_kickoff_event_id = entity._kickoff_event_id
 
 
+def _migrate(data: dict[str, Any]) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Apply version-based migrations to checkpoint data.
+
+    Each block handles checkpoints older than a specific version,
+    transforming them forward to the current format. Blocks run in
+    version order so migrations compose.
+
+    Args:
+        data: The raw deserialized checkpoint dict.
+
+    Returns:
+        The migrated checkpoint dict.
+    """
+    raw = data.get("crewai_version")
+    current = Version(get_crewai_version())
+    stored = Version(raw) if raw else Version("0.0.0")
+
+    if raw is None:
+        logger.warning("Checkpoint has no crewai_version — treating as 0.0.0")
+    elif stored != current:
+        logger.debug(
+            "Migrating checkpoint from crewAI %s to %s",
+            stored,
+            current,
+        )
+
+    # --- migrations in version order ---
+    # if stored < Version("X.Y.Z"):
+    #     data.setdefault("some_field", "default")
+
+    return data
+
+
 class RuntimeState(RootModel):  # type: ignore[type-arg]
     root: list[Entity]
     _provider: BaseProvider = PrivateAttr(default_factory=JsonProvider)
@@ -77,6 +116,7 @@ class RuntimeState(RootModel):  # type: ignore[type-arg]
     @model_serializer(mode="plain")
     def _serialize(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
         return {
+            "crewai_version": get_crewai_version(),
             "parent_id": self._parent_id,
             "branch": self._branch,
             "entities": [e.model_dump(mode="json") for e in self.root],
@@ -89,6 +129,7 @@ class RuntimeState(RootModel):  # type: ignore[type-arg]
         cls, data: Any, handler: ModelWrapValidatorHandler[RuntimeState]
     ) -> RuntimeState:
         if isinstance(data, dict) and "entities" in data:
+            data = _migrate(data)
             record_data = data.get("event_record")
             state = handler(data["entities"])
             if record_data:
diff --git a/lib/crewai/src/crewai/utilities/version.py b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/utilities/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..57a5c562d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/crewai/src/crewai/utilities/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+"""Version utilities for crewAI."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from functools import cache
+import importlib.metadata
+
+
+@cache
+def get_crewai_version() -> str:
+    """Get the installed crewAI version string."""
+    return importlib.metadata.version("crewai")
diff --git a/lib/crewai/tests/test_checkpoint.py b/lib/crewai/tests/test_checkpoint.py
index cbea4b562..0a0c00027 100644
--- a/lib/crewai/tests/test_checkpoint.py
+++ b/lib/crewai/tests/test_checkpoint.py
@@ -196,6 +196,39 @@ class TestRuntimeStateLineage:
         assert state._parent_id is None
         assert state._branch == "main"
 
+    def test_serialize_includes_version(self) -> None:
+        from crewai.utilities.version import get_crewai_version
+
+        state = self._make_state()
+        dumped = json.loads(state.model_dump_json())
+        assert dumped["crewai_version"] == get_crewai_version()
+
+    def test_deserialize_migrates_on_version_mismatch(self, caplog: Any) -> None:
+        import logging
+
+        state = self._make_state()
+        raw = state.model_dump_json()
+        data = json.loads(raw)
+        data["crewai_version"] = "0.1.0"
+        with caplog.at_level(logging.DEBUG):
+            RuntimeState.model_validate_json(
+                json.dumps(data), context={"from_checkpoint": True}
+            )
+        assert "Migrating checkpoint from crewAI 0.1.0" in caplog.text
+
+    def test_deserialize_warns_on_missing_version(self, caplog: Any) -> None:
+        import logging
+
+        state = self._make_state()
+        raw = state.model_dump_json()
+        data = json.loads(raw)
+        data.pop("crewai_version", None)
+        with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING):
+            RuntimeState.model_validate_json(
+                json.dumps(data), context={"from_checkpoint": True}
+            )
+        assert "treating as 0.0.0" in caplog.text
+
     def test_serialize_includes_lineage(self) -> None:
         state = self._make_state()
         state._parent_id = "parent456"