diff --git a/src/template/files.go b/src/template/files.go
index 9d136a14..862ef604 100644
--- a/src/template/files.go
+++ b/src/template/files.go
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 package template
 
-import "path/filepath"
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+)
 
 func glob(pattern string) (bool, error) {
 	matches, err := filepath.Glob(pattern)
@@ -9,3 +12,8 @@ func glob(pattern string) (bool, error) {
 	}
 	return len(matches) > 0, nil
 }
+
+func readFile(path string) string {
+	content, _ := os.ReadFile(path)
+	return string(content)
+}
diff --git a/src/template/func_map.go b/src/template/func_map.go
index 3e9e9fb7..0a13d03e 100644
--- a/src/template/func_map.go
+++ b/src/template/func_map.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ func funcMap() template.FuncMap {
 		"reason":       GetReasonFromStatus,
 		"hresult":      hresult,
 		"trunc":        trunc,
+		"readFile":     readFile,
 	}
 	for key, fun := range sprig.TxtFuncMap() {
 		if _, ok := funcMap[key]; !ok {
diff --git a/website/docs/configuration/templates.mdx b/website/docs/configuration/templates.mdx
index b8d063fb..d4f6859d 100644
--- a/website/docs/configuration/templates.mdx
+++ b/website/docs/configuration/templates.mdx
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ use them.
 | `{{ if matchP "*.Repo" .Path }}Repo{{ else }}No Repo{{ end }}` | Exposes [regexp.MatchString][regexpms] as a boolean template function.                                                 |
 | `{{ replaceP "c.t" "cut code cat" "dog" }}`                    | Exposes [regexp.ReplaceAllString][regexpra] as a string template function.                                             |
 | <code>\{\{ .Code &vert; hresult \}\}</code>                    | Transform a status code to its HRESULT value for easy troubleshooting. For example `-1978335212` becomes `0x8A150014`. |
+| `{{ readFile ".version.json" }}`                               | Read a file in the current directory. Returns a string.                                                                |
 
 <!-- markdownlint-enable MD013 -->