diff --git a/compose/web/Dockerfile b/compose/web/Dockerfile
index b849caa..c2c6249 100644
--- a/compose/web/Dockerfile
+++ b/compose/web/Dockerfile
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ FROM node:22-alpine AS builder
 WORKDIR /build/web
 COPY web/package.json web/package-lock.json ./
 RUN npm ci
+COPY VERSION ./
 COPY web/ ./
 RUN npm run build
 
diff --git a/web/vite.config.ts b/web/vite.config.ts
index b6a7fc2..fe592c5 100644
--- a/web/vite.config.ts
+++ b/web/vite.config.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,17 @@
 import { svelte } from '@sveltejs/vite-plugin-svelte'
 import tailwindcss from '@tailwindcss/vite'
 import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
-import { readFileSync } from 'fs'
+import { readFileSync, existsSync } from 'fs'
 
-const version = readFileSync('../VERSION', 'utf-8').trim()
+// In Docker, VERSION is copied into the build WORKDIR (/build/web/VERSION).
+// In local dev, the cwd is web/ and VERSION is two dirs up (../../VERSION
+// from vite.config.ts location in web/). Try both.
+let version: string
+if (existsSync('../VERSION')) {
+  version = readFileSync('../VERSION', 'utf-8').trim()
+} else {
+  version = readFileSync('VERSION', 'utf-8').trim()
+}
 
 // Injects OIKOS_API_TOKEN into proxied /api requests in dev — the API no
 // longer has a dev-open bypass (plans/2026-07-12-wails-desktop-app.md 0.4),