diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..31619ef07f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+use std::process::Command;
+
+fn main() {
+    let version = Command::new(if cfg!(windows) { "git.exe" } else { "git" })
+        .args(["describe", "--match=v*\\.*\\.*"])
+        .output()
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|out| parse_describe(&out.stdout))
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION").into());
+
+    println!("cargo:rustc-env=GITOXIDE_VERSION={version}");
+}
+
+fn parse_describe(input: &[u8]) -> Option<String> {
+    let input = std::str::from_utf8(input).ok()?;
+    input.trim().to_owned().into()
+}
diff --git a/cargo-smart-release/build.rs b/cargo-smart-release/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..20ecf3f7c0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cargo-smart-release/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+use std::process::Command;
+
+fn main() {
+    let version = Command::new(if cfg!(windows) { "git.exe" } else { "git" })
+        .args(["describe", "--match=cargo-smart-release-*"])
+        .output()
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|out| parse_describe(&out.stdout))
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION").into());
+
+    println!("cargo:rustc-env=CARGO_SMART_RELEASE_VERSION={version}");
+}
+
+fn parse_describe(input: &[u8]) -> Option<String> {
+    let input = std::str::from_utf8(input).ok()?;
+    input.trim().to_owned().into()
+}
diff --git a/cargo-smart-release/src/cli/options.rs b/cargo-smart-release/src/cli/options.rs
index d1617c89eff..026900d2ce1 100644
--- a/cargo-smart-release/src/cli/options.rs
+++ b/cargo-smart-release/src/cli/options.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ pub struct Args {
 
 #[derive(clap::Parser)]
 pub enum SubCommands {
-    #[clap(name = "smart-release", version = clap::crate_version!())]
+    #[clap(name = "smart-release", version = env!("CARGO_SMART_RELEASE_VERSION"))]
     /// Release workspace crates fearlessly.
     ///
     /// Use --execute to actually perform the operation.
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ pub enum SubCommands {
         #[clap(long, help_heading = Some("CHANGELOG"))]
         capitalize_commit: bool,
     },
-    #[clap(name = "changelog", version = clap::crate_version!())]
+    #[clap(name = "changelog", version = env!("CARGO_SMART_RELEASE_VERSION"))]
     /// Generate changelogs from commit histories, non-destructively.
     ///
     /// Use --write to actually write generated changelogs
diff --git a/src/plumbing/options/mod.rs b/src/plumbing/options/mod.rs
index a58492d8fe5..627c75a9cd7 100644
--- a/src/plumbing/options/mod.rs
+++ b/src/plumbing/options/mod.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ use gitoxide_core as core;
 use gix::bstr::BString;
 
 #[derive(Debug, clap::Parser)]
-#[clap(name = "gix-plumbing", about = "The git underworld", version = clap::crate_version!())]
+#[clap(name = "gix", about = "The git underworld", version = env!("GITOXIDE_VERSION"))]
 #[clap(subcommand_required = true)]
 #[clap(arg_required_else_help = true)]
 pub struct Args {
@@ -129,10 +129,7 @@ pub mod corpus {
     use std::path::PathBuf;
 
     #[derive(Debug, clap::Parser)]
-    #[command(
-        about = "run algorithms on a corpus of git repositories and store their results for later analysis",
-        version = clap::crate_version!(), // TODO: make this an actual version that is git describe, leverage `gix`
-    )]
+    #[command(about = "run algorithms on a corpus of git repositories and store their results for later analysis")]
     pub struct Platform {
         /// The path to the database to read and write depending on the sub-command.
         #[arg(long, default_value = "corpus.db")]
diff --git a/src/porcelain/options.rs b/src/porcelain/options.rs
index 1ae734bf8c0..784e112a0f2 100644
--- a/src/porcelain/options.rs
+++ b/src/porcelain/options.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 #[derive(Debug, clap::Parser)]
-#[clap(about = "The rusty git", version = clap::crate_version!())]
+#[clap(about = "The rusty git", version = env!("GITOXIDE_VERSION"))]
 #[clap(subcommand_required = true)]
 pub struct Args {
     /// Do not display verbose messages and progress information
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@ pub mod tools {
     #[derive(Debug, clap::Parser)]
     #[command(
         about = "a database accelerated engine to extract information and query it",
-        version = clap::crate_version!(),
         visible_alias = "q"
     )]
     pub struct Query {
@@ -135,7 +134,6 @@ pub mod tools {
     #[clap(
         about = "Estimate hours worked based on a commit history",
         long_about = "See https://github.com/kimmobrunfeldt/git-hours#how-it-works for details",
-        version = clap::crate_version!(),
         visible_alias = "h",
         visible_alias = "hours"
     )]