diff --git a/tools/lammps-gui/lammpsgui.cpp b/tools/lammps-gui/lammpsgui.cpp
index 80e099ba2d..ebfb7f90fb 100644
--- a/tools/lammps-gui/lammpsgui.cpp
+++ b/tools/lammps-gui/lammpsgui.cpp
@@ -1398,6 +1398,15 @@ void LammpsGui::start_lammps()
     lammps.open(narg, args);
     lammpsstatus->show();
 
+    // must have at least 2 August 2023 version of LAMMPS
+    // TODO: must update this check before next feature release
+    if (lammps.version() < 20230802) {
+        QMessageBox::critical(this, "Incompatible LAMMPS Version",
+                              "LAMMPS-GUI version " LAMMPS_GUI_VERSION " requires\n"
+                              "LAMMPS version 2 August 2023 or later");
+        exit(1);
+    }
+
     // delete additional arguments again (3 were there initially
     while ((int)lammps_args.size() > initial_narg) {
         delete lammps_args.back();
diff --git a/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.cpp b/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.cpp
index a71a750ac8..84de5866c4 100644
--- a/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.cpp
+++ b/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.cpp
@@ -36,6 +36,19 @@ void LammpsWrapper::open(int narg, char **args)
 #endif
 }
 
+int LammpsWrapper::version()
+{
+    int val = 0;
+    if (lammps_handle) {
+#if defined(LAMMPS_GUI_USE_PLUGIN)
+        val = ((liblammpsplugin_t *)plugin_handle)->version(lammps_handle);
+#else
+        val = lammps_version(lammps_handle);
+#endif
+    }
+    return val;
+}
+
 int LammpsWrapper::extract_setting(const char *keyword)
 {
     int val = 0;
diff --git a/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.h b/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.h
index 665f44c25c..1d024a94e7 100644
--- a/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.h
+++ b/tools/lammps-gui/lammpswrapper.h
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ public:
 
     void force_timeout();
 
+    int version();
     int extract_setting(const char *keyword);
     void *extract_global(const char *keyword);
     void *extract_atom(const char *keyword);