diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 18b1c9e..cc3a538 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -7,8 +7,27 @@ on:
     branches: [ master ]
 
 jobs:
+  version:
+    name: Version
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      version: ${{ steps.compute.outputs.version }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Compute version
+        id: compute
+        run: |
+          base_version=$(grep -oP 'SMEXT_CONF_VERSION\s+"\K[^"]+' Extension/sdk/smsdk_config.h)
+          build_number=$(git rev-list --count HEAD)
+          echo "version=${base_version}.${build_number}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
   build:
     name: sm${{ matrix.sm.label }}-${{ matrix.target.os_name }}-${{ matrix.target.arch }}
+    needs: version
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.target.os }}
     container: ${{ matrix.target.container }}
     strategy:
@@ -78,6 +97,7 @@ jobs:
             --mms-path ../mmsource \
             --steamworks-path ../SteamworksSDK \
             --target ${{ matrix.target.arch }} \
+            --version "${{ needs.version.outputs.version }}" \
             --enable-optimize
           ambuild
 
@@ -91,6 +111,7 @@ jobs:
             --mms-path ../mmsource \
             --steamworks-path ../SteamworksSDK \
             --target ${{ matrix.target.arch }} \
+            --version "${{ needs.version.outputs.version }}" \
             --enable-optimize
           ambuild
 
@@ -138,7 +159,7 @@ jobs:
 
   release:
     name: Release
-    needs: build
+    needs: [version, build]
     if: github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     permissions:
@@ -157,9 +178,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Assemble packages
         id: package
         run: |
-          base_version=$(grep -oP 'SMEXT_CONF_VERSION\s+"\K[^"]+' Extension/sdk/smsdk_config.h)
-          build_number=$(git rev-list --count HEAD)
-          version="${base_version}-git${build_number}"
+          version="${{ needs.version.outputs.version }}"
           echo "version=${version}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
           # One package per SourceMod version per OS: Windows as .zip, Linux as
diff --git a/Extension/AMBuilder b/Extension/AMBuilder
index 38eb323..f4f59e4 100644
--- a/Extension/AMBuilder
+++ b/Extension/AMBuilder
@@ -69,6 +69,12 @@ binary = SteamWorks.HL2Config(project, builder.cxx, 'SteamWorks.ext')
 # The Steam API headers all come from the SteamWorks SDK; the extension is built
 # with META_NO_HL2SDK, so no HL2SDK is required.
 binary.compiler.defines += ['META_NO_HL2SDK', 'SOURCEMOD_BUILD', 'VERSION_SAFE_STEAM_API_INTERFACES']
+
+# Let CI bake the generated release version into the binary. The value is passed
+# as an unquoted token and stringized in smsdk_config.h, avoiding shell-quoting
+# differences between MSVC and gcc/clang.
+if builder.options.version:
+  binary.compiler.defines += ['SMEXT_CONF_VERSION_OVERRIDE={0}'.format(builder.options.version)]
 binary.compiler.cxxincludes += [os.path.join(SteamWorks.steamworks_root, 'public', 'steam')]
 binary.compiler.cxxincludes += [os.path.join(SteamWorks.sm_root, 'public', 'safetyhook', 'include')]
 
diff --git a/Extension/sdk/smsdk_config.h b/Extension/sdk/smsdk_config.h
index ea6b672..11efd32 100644
--- a/Extension/sdk/smsdk_config.h
+++ b/Extension/sdk/smsdk_config.h
@@ -40,7 +40,18 @@
 /* Basic information exposed publicly */
 #define SMEXT_CONF_NAME			"SteamWorks Extension"
 #define SMEXT_CONF_DESCRIPTION	"Exposes SteamWorks functions to Developers"
-#define SMEXT_CONF_VERSION		"1.2.3"
+/* The literal below is the MAJOR.MINOR base and the version used by local builds.
+   CI turns it into a full MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH release version by defining
+   SMEXT_CONF_VERSION_OVERRIDE at build time as an unquoted token (e.g. 1.2.158,
+   where the patch is the commit count); it is stringized here so no cross-platform
+   shell quoting is required. Bump the MAJOR/MINOR here by hand. */
+#if defined(SMEXT_CONF_VERSION_OVERRIDE)
+#define SMEXT_CONF_VERSION_STR_(x)	#x
+#define SMEXT_CONF_VERSION_STR(x)	SMEXT_CONF_VERSION_STR_(x)
+#define SMEXT_CONF_VERSION			SMEXT_CONF_VERSION_STR(SMEXT_CONF_VERSION_OVERRIDE)
+#else
+#define SMEXT_CONF_VERSION		"1.2"
+#endif
 #define SMEXT_CONF_AUTHOR		"Kyle Sanderson, AlliedModders"
 #define SMEXT_CONF_URL			"https://github.com/alliedmodders/SM-SteamWorks"
 #define SMEXT_CONF_LOGTAG		"STEAMWORKS"
diff --git a/configure.py b/configure.py
index 39ba9e3..03ab5e1 100644
--- a/configure.py
+++ b/configure.py
@@ -30,4 +30,6 @@ run.options.add_argument('--enable-debug', action='store_const', const='1', dest
 run.options.add_argument('--enable-optimize', action='store_const', const='1', dest='opt',
                        help='Enable optimization')
 run.options.add_argument('--target', default=None, help='Override the default build target')
+run.options.add_argument('--version', type=str, dest='version', default=None,
+                       help='Override the version string baked into the binary (defaults to the literal in smsdk_config.h)')
 run.Configure()