diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/cd.yml b/.gitea/workflows/cd.yml
index 85d4c57..519443a 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/cd.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/cd.yml
@@ -60,7 +60,11 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           REGISTRY="localhost:5000"
           REF="${REGISTRY}/${{ env.IMAGE }}:${{ steps.meta.outputs.sha-tag }}"
+          # Stamp the real build version: the git tag on a v* build, else the short sha.
+          VERSION="${{ steps.meta.outputs.version-tag }}"
+          [ -z "$VERSION" ] && VERSION="${{ steps.meta.outputs.sha-tag }}"
           buildah build \
+            --build-arg VERSION="${VERSION}" \
             --label "org.opencontainers.image.revision=${{ github.sha }}" \
             --label "org.opencontainers.image.source=${{ github.repositoryUrl }}" \
             -t ${REF} \
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 22b4927..2bd2f30 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -14,7 +14,10 @@ ENV GOSUMDB=off
 COPY go.mod go.sum ./
 RUN go mod download
 COPY . .
-RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -trimpath -ldflags='-s -w' -o /out/gitea-mcp ./cmd/gitea-mcp
+# Build version stamped in by CI (--build-arg VERSION=<tag|sha>); defaults to
+# "dev" for a plain `docker build` (#47).
+ARG VERSION=dev
+RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w -X main.version=${VERSION}" -o /out/gitea-mcp ./cmd/gitea-mcp
 
 FROM gcr.io/distroless/static-debian12:nonroot
 COPY --from=build /out/gitea-mcp /gitea-mcp