diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7930ad3..ff5e650 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ endif
 # Get the build number from the commit count on the main branch
 COMMIT_COUNT := $(shell git rev-list --count HEAD)
 
+# Capture the current build date in RFC3339 format
+BUILD_DATE := $(shell date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")
+
 # Default target: Builds binaries for both OSX and Linux
 all: mac linux simple-responder
 
@@ -28,12 +31,12 @@ test-all:
 # Build OSX binary
 mac:
 	@echo "Building Mac binary..."
-	GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64 go build -ldflags="-X main.GIT_HASH=${GIT_HASH} -X main.COMMIT_COUNT=${COMMIT_COUNT}" -o $(BUILD_DIR)/$(APP_NAME)-darwin-arm64
+	GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64 go build -ldflags="-X main.commit=${GIT_HASH} -X main.version=${COMMIT_COUNT} -X main.date=${BUILD_DATE}" -o $(BUILD_DIR)/$(APP_NAME)-darwin-arm64
 
 # Build Linux binary
 linux:
 	@echo "Building Linux binary..."
-	GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -ldflags="-X main.GIT_HASH=${GIT_HASH} -X main.COMMIT_COUNT=${COMMIT_COUNT}" -o $(BUILD_DIR)/$(APP_NAME)-linux-amd64
+	GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -ldflags="-X main.commit=${GIT_HASH} -X main.version=${COMMIT_COUNT} -X main.date=${BUILD_DATE}" -o $(BUILD_DIR)/$(APP_NAME)-linux-amd64
 
 # for testing proxy.Process
 simple-responder:
diff --git a/llama-swap.go b/llama-swap.go
index 88e10f3..a5a8390 100644
--- a/llama-swap.go
+++ b/llama-swap.go
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ import (
 	"github.com/mostlygeek/llama-swap/proxy"
 )
 
-// see Makefile which injects new values at build time
-var GIT_HASH string = "abcd1234"
-var COMMIT_COUNT string = "0-dev"
+var version string = "0"
+var commit string = "abcd1234"
+var date = "unknown"
 
 func main() {
 	// Define a command-line flag for the port
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ func main() {
 	flag.Parse() // Parse the command-line flags
 
 	if *showVersion {
-		fmt.Printf("version: v%s (%s)\n", COMMIT_COUNT, GIT_HASH)
+		fmt.Printf("version: v%s (%s), built at %s\n", version, commit, date)
 		os.Exit(0)
 	}