diff --git a/Foxnouns.Backend/Foxnouns.Backend.csproj b/Foxnouns.Backend/Foxnouns.Backend.csproj
index 8438390..f92814a 100644
--- a/Foxnouns.Backend/Foxnouns.Backend.csproj
+++ b/Foxnouns.Backend/Foxnouns.Backend.csproj
@@ -29,4 +29,8 @@
         <Exec Command="../build_info.sh" IgnoreExitCode="false">
         </Exec>
     </Target>
+
+    <ItemGroup>
+        <EmbeddedResource Include="..\.version" LogicalName="version"/>
+    </ItemGroup>
 </Project>
diff --git a/Foxnouns.Backend/Program.cs b/Foxnouns.Backend/Program.cs
index 4eca8cb..5025f70 100644
--- a/Foxnouns.Backend/Program.cs
+++ b/Foxnouns.Backend/Program.cs
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
 using Newtonsoft.Json;
 using Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization;
 
+// Read version information from .version in the repository root
+await BuildInfo.ReadBuildInfo();
+
 var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
 
 var config = builder.AddConfiguration();