diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/release.yml b/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
index 0b586a8..3ccda7e 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build release binaries
         run: |
           VERSION="${{ github.event.inputs.tag || github.ref_name }}"
+          BUILD_DATE="$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S UTC")"
+          LDFLAGS="-X 'git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/pkg/buildinfo.Version=${VERSION}' -X 'git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/pkg/buildinfo.BuildDate=${BUILD_DATE}'"
           for target in "linux/amd64" "linux/arm64" "darwin/amd64" "darwin/arm64" "windows/amd64"; do
             GOOS="${target%/*}"
             GOARCH="${target#*/}"
@@ -71,7 +73,7 @@ jobs:
             NAME="relspec-${GOOS}-${GOARCH}${EXT}"
             GOOS="$GOOS" GOARCH="$GOARCH" go build \
               -trimpath \
-              -ldflags "-X git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/cmd/relspec.version=${VERSION}" \
+              -ldflags "$LDFLAGS" \
               -o "$NAME" ./cmd/relspec
             echo "Built $NAME"
           done
@@ -234,11 +236,12 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           VERSION="${{ github.event.inputs.tag || github.ref_name }}"
           PKGVER="${VERSION#v}"
+          BUILD_DATE="$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S UTC")"
 
           for GOARCH in amd64 arm64; do
             GOOS=linux GOARCH=$GOARCH go build \
               -trimpath \
-              -ldflags "-X git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/cmd/relspec.version=${PKGVER}" \
+              -ldflags "-X 'git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/pkg/buildinfo.Version=v${PKGVER}' -X 'git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/pkg/buildinfo.BuildDate=${BUILD_DATE}'" \
               -o relspec ./cmd/relspec
 
             PKGDIR="relspec_${PKGVER}_${GOARCH}"
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 96725b3..34b6fac 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ STATICCHECK   = go run honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck@latest
 GOVULNCHECK   = go run golang.org/x/vuln/cmd/govulncheck@latest
 
 # Version information
-VERSION := $(shell git describe --tags --always --dirty 2>/dev/null || echo "dev")
+# VERSION file is the single source of truth (bumped by `make release-version`).
+# Falls back to git describe for ad-hoc builds where VERSION hasn't been committed yet.
+VERSION := $(shell [ -f VERSION ] && echo "v$$(cat VERSION | tr -d '[:space:]')" || git describe --tags --always --dirty 2>/dev/null || echo "dev")
 BUILD_DATE := $(shell date -u +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S UTC")
 LDFLAGS := -X 'git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/pkg/buildinfo.Version=$(VERSION)' -X 'git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/pkg/buildinfo.BuildDate=$(BUILD_DATE)'
 
@@ -223,6 +225,15 @@ release: lint fmt-check test build ## Run lint, format check, tests, build, then
 		echo "Creating new release: $$version"; \
 		commit_logs=$$(git log "$${latest_tag}..HEAD" --pretty=format:"- %s" --no-merges); \
 	fi; \
+	PKGVER=$${version#v}; \
+	echo "Updating package metadata to $$PKGVER..."; \
+	echo "$$PKGVER" > VERSION; \
+	sed -i "s/^pkgver=.*/pkgver=$$PKGVER/" linux/arch/PKGBUILD; \
+	sed -i "s/^Version:.*/Version:        $$PKGVER/" linux/centos/relspec.spec; \
+	git add VERSION linux/arch/PKGBUILD linux/centos/relspec.spec; \
+	if ! git diff --cached --quiet; then \
+		git commit -m "chore(release): update package version to $$PKGVER"; \
+	fi; \
 	if [ -z "$$commit_logs" ]; then \
 		tag_message="Release $$version"; \
 	else \
@@ -232,17 +243,18 @@ release: lint fmt-check test build ## Run lint, format check, tests, build, then
 	git push origin "$$version"; \
 	echo "Tag $$version created and pushed to remote repository."
 
-release-version: ## Auto-increment patch version, update package files, commit, tag, and push
-	@CURRENT=$$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "v0.0.0"); \
-	MAJOR=$$(echo $$CURRENT | sed 's/v\([0-9]*\)\.\([0-9]*\)\.\([0-9]*\).*/\1/'); \
-	MINOR=$$(echo $$CURRENT | sed 's/v\([0-9]*\)\.\([0-9]*\)\.\([0-9]*\).*/\2/'); \
-	PATCH=$$(echo $$CURRENT | sed 's/v\([0-9]*\)\.\([0-9]*\)\.\([0-9]*\).*/\3/'); \
-	NEXT="v$$MAJOR.$$MINOR.$$((PATCH + 1))"; \
+release-version: ## Auto-increment patch version, update VERSION/package files, commit, tag, and push
+	@CURRENT=$$([ -f VERSION ] && cat VERSION | tr -d '[:space:]' || (git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^v//') || echo "0.0.0"); \
+	MAJOR=$$(echo $$CURRENT | cut -d. -f1); \
+	MINOR=$$(echo $$CURRENT | cut -d. -f2); \
+	PATCH=$$(echo $$CURRENT | cut -d. -f3); \
 	PKGVER="$$MAJOR.$$MINOR.$$((PATCH + 1))"; \
-	echo "Current: $$CURRENT → Next: $$NEXT"; \
+	NEXT="v$$PKGVER"; \
+	echo "Current: v$$CURRENT → Next: $$NEXT"; \
+	echo "$$PKGVER" > VERSION; \
 	sed -i "s/^pkgver=.*/pkgver=$$PKGVER/" linux/arch/PKGBUILD; \
 	sed -i "s/^Version:.*/Version:        $$PKGVER/" linux/centos/relspec.spec; \
-	git add linux/arch/PKGBUILD linux/centos/relspec.spec; \
+	git add VERSION linux/arch/PKGBUILD linux/centos/relspec.spec; \
 	git commit -m "chore(release): update package version to $$PKGVER"; \
 	git tag -a "$$NEXT" -m "Release $$NEXT"; \
 	git push origin HEAD "$$NEXT"; \
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..818b8de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+1.0.81
diff --git a/linux/arch/PKGBUILD b/linux/arch/PKGBUILD
index 41d2e05..751e1a5 100644
--- a/linux/arch/PKGBUILD
+++ b/linux/arch/PKGBUILD
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Maintainer: Hein (Warky Devs) <hein@warky.dev>
 pkgname=relspec
-pkgver=1.0.74
+pkgver=1.0.81
 pkgrel=1
 pkgdesc="RelSpec is a comprehensive database relations management tool that reads, transforms, and writes database table specifications across multiple formats and ORMs."
 arch=('x86_64' 'aarch64')
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ build() {
     export CGO_ENABLED=0
     go build \
         -trimpath \
-        -ldflags "-X git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/cmd/relspec.version=$pkgver" \
+        -ldflags "-X 'git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/pkg/buildinfo.Version=v$pkgver' -X 'git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/pkg/buildinfo.BuildDate=$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S UTC")'" \
         -o "$pkgname" ./cmd/relspec
 }
 
diff --git a/linux/centos/relspec.spec b/linux/centos/relspec.spec
index db5013d..bfd6abc 100644
--- a/linux/centos/relspec.spec
+++ b/linux/centos/relspec.spec
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:           relspec
-Version:        1.0.74
+Version:        1.0.81
 Release:        1%{?dist}
 Summary:        RelSpec is a comprehensive database relations management tool that reads, transforms, and writes database table specifications across multiple formats and ORMs.
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ DBML, GraphQL, and more.
 export CGO_ENABLED=0
 go build \
     -trimpath \
-    -ldflags "-X git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/cmd/relspec.version=%{version}" \
+    -ldflags "-X 'git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/pkg/buildinfo.Version=v%{version}' -X 'git.warky.dev/wdevs/relspecgo/pkg/buildinfo.BuildDate=$(date -u +"%%Y-%%m-%%d %%H:%%M:%%S UTC")'" \
     -o %{name} ./cmd/relspec
 
 %install