diff --git a/src/git-version.h.in b/src/git-version.h.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0d2080
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/git-version.h.in
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#define GIT_VERSION "@GIT_VERSION@"
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 9e6c043..a07ba67 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
+#include "git-version.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "options.h"
 #include "configfile.h"
@@ -101,7 +102,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     error_enter_session_mode();
 
     /* Print launch hints */
-    tio_printf("tio v%s", VERSION);
+    tio_printf("tio %s", GIT_VERSION);
     if (interactive_mode)
     {
         tio_printf("Press ctrl-%c q to quit", option.prefix_key);
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 2d506de..17cc691 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
+# Generate git version header
+git_version_h = vcs_tag(command : ['git', 'describe', '--tags', '--always', '--dirty'],
+                        input : 'git-version.h.in',
+                        output :'git-version.h',
+                        replace_string:'@GIT_VERSION@')
+
 config_h = configuration_data()
-config_h.set_quoted('VERSION', meson.project_version())
 config_h.set('BAUDRATE_CASES', baudrate_cases)
 configure_file(output: 'config.h', configuration: config_h)
 
@@ -21,7 +26,8 @@ tio_sources = [
   'xymodem.c',
   'script.c',
   'fs.c',
-  'readline.c'
+  'readline.c',
+  git_version_h
 ]
 
 
diff --git a/src/options.c b/src/options.c
index 19f8c8a..398279f 100644
--- a/src/options.c
+++ b/src/options.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <regex.h>
 #include <getopt.h>
 #include <errno.h>
+#include "git-version.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "misc.h"
 #include "print.h"
@@ -1085,7 +1086,7 @@ void options_parse(int argc, char *argv[])
                 break;
 
             case 'v':
-                printf("tio v%s\n", VERSION);
+                printf("tio %s\n", GIT_VERSION);
                 exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
                 break;
 
diff --git a/src/tty.c b/src/tty.c
index c4785b9..74f6ab3 100644
--- a/src/tty.c
+++ b/src/tty.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #if defined(__linux__)
 #include <linux/serial.h>
 #endif
+#include "git-version.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
@@ -1090,7 +1091,7 @@ void handle_command_sequence(char input_char, char *output_char, bool *forward)
                 break;
 
             case KEY_V:
-                tio_printf("tio v%s", VERSION);
+                tio_printf("tio %s", GIT_VERSION);
                 break;
 
             case KEY_X: