diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 83ea716..1acb9e4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 devenv.local.nix
 devenv.local.yaml
 
+# Nix
+result
+
 # direnv
 .direnv
 
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index e314e68..ad26824 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -442,7 +442,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "crypto",
  "diesel",
  "dotenvy",
- "git-version",
  "hex",
  "keyring",
  "tokio",
@@ -853,26 +852,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "rand_core",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "git-version"
-version = "0.3.9"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1ad568aa3db0fcbc81f2f116137f263d7304f512a1209b35b85150d3ef88ad19"
-dependencies = [
- "git-version-macro",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "git-version-macro"
-version = "0.3.9"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "53010ccb100b96a67bc32c0175f0ed1426b31b655d562898e57325f81c023ac0"
-dependencies = [
- "proc-macro2",
- "quote",
- "syn",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "hashbrown"
 version = "0.16.1"
diff --git a/crates/cli/Cargo.toml b/crates/cli/Cargo.toml
index 2e6f247..c0a8e53 100644
--- a/crates/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ diesel = { version = "2.2.0", features = [
 clap = { version = "4.6.1", features = ["derive", "cargo"] }
 tokio = { version = "1.52.3", features = ["full"] }
 crypto = { path = "../crypto" }
-git-version = "0.3"
 keyring = "4.1.4"
 colored = "3.1.1"
 chrono = "0.4.45"
diff --git a/crates/cli/build.rs b/crates/cli/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e91abee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/cli/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+use std::process::Command;
+
+fn main() {
+    let git_version = if let Ok(v) = std::env::var("CARGO_ENV_GIT_VERSION") {
+        v
+    } else {
+        Command::new("git")
+            .args(["describe", "--always", "--dirty"])
+            .output()
+            .map(|output| String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout).trim().to_string())
+            .unwrap_or_else(|_| "unknown".to_string())
+    };
+
+    println!("cargo:rustc-env=GIT_VERSION={}", git_version);
+
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=.git/HEAD");
+}
diff --git a/crates/cli/src/main.rs b/crates/cli/src/main.rs
index f4dd4cf..25c8e25 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/main.rs
@@ -4,9 +4,8 @@ use clap::Parser;
 use clap::crate_version;
 use cli::Cli;
 use colored::*;
-use git_version::git_version;
 
-const GIT_VERSION: &str = git_version!();
+const GIT_VERSION: &str = env!("GIT_VERSION");
 
 fn main() {
     let cli = Cli::parse();
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index b377d4b..509a8cc 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  description = "an opensource secrets management and distribution platform.";
+  description = "an open source secrets management and distribution platform.";
 
   inputs = {
     nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs?ref=nixos-unstable";
@@ -55,7 +55,23 @@
           default = naerskLib.buildPackage {
             name = "harbor";
             version = "0.1.0";
-            src = ./crates/cli;
+            src = ./.;
+
+            cargoBuildOptions =
+              x:
+              x
+              ++ [
+                "-p"
+                "cli"
+              ];
+
+            # Cargo automatically forwards any env var starting with CARGO_ENV_ to your build script
+            CARGO_ENV_GIT_VERSION = if (inputs.self ? shortRev) then inputs.self.shortRev else "dirty";
+
+            nativeBuildInputs = with pkgs; [
+              sqlite
+              git
+            ];
           };
         }
       );