diff --git a/swh/core/db/__init__.py b/swh/core/db/__init__.py
--- a/swh/core/db/__init__.py
+++ b/swh/core/db/__init__.py
@@ -295,3 +295,14 @@
 
     def mktemp(self, tblname: str, cur: Optional[psycopg2.extensions.cursor] = None):
         self.cursor(cur).execute("SELECT swh_mktemp(%s)", (tblname,))
+
+    def get_current_version(self):
+        """Return the database version stored in the backend. This should match the
+        current_version attribute of the backend implementation class.
+
+        """
+        with self.transaction() as cur:
+            cur.execute("select version from dbversion order by dbversion desc limit 1")
+            res = cur.fetchone()
+            assert res is not None
+            return res[0]
diff --git a/swh/core/db/tests/test_cli.py b/swh/core/db/tests/test_cli.py
--- a/swh/core/db/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/swh/core/db/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -334,3 +334,25 @@
         in result.output
     )
     assert swh_db_module(conninfo) == module_name
+
+
+def test_cli_swh_db_version(swh_db_cli, mock_import_swhmodule, postgresql):
+    module_name = "test.cli"
+    cli_runner, db_params = swh_db_cli
+
+    conninfo = craft_conninfo(postgresql, "test-db-version")
+    # This creates the db and installs the necessary admin extensions
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(swhdb, ["create", module_name, "--dbname", conninfo])
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+
+    # This initializes the schema and data
+    result = cli_runner.invoke(swhdb, ["init", module_name, "--dbname", conninfo])
+
+    db = BaseDb.connect(conninfo)
+    with db.cursor() as cur:
+        cur.execute("select version from dbversion order by dbversion desc limit 1")
+        expected_version = cur.fetchone()[0]
+        assert db.get_current_version() == expected_version
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, f"Unexpected output: {result.output}"
+    assert f"initialized at version {expected_version}" in result.output