diff --git a/rust/crates/rusty-claude-cli/build.rs b/rust/crates/rusty-claude-cli/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6e77ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust/crates/rusty-claude-cli/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+use std::env;
+use std::process::Command;
+
+fn main() {
+    // Get git SHA (short hash)
+    let git_sha = Command::new("git")
+        .args(["rev-parse", "--short", "HEAD"])
+        .output()
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|output| {
+            if output.status.success() {
+                String::from_utf8(output.stdout).ok()
+            } else {
+                None
+            }
+        })
+        .map(|s| s.trim().to_string())
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| "unknown".to_string());
+
+    println!("cargo:rustc-env=GIT_SHA={}", git_sha);
+
+    // TARGET is always set by Cargo during build
+    let target = env::var("TARGET").unwrap_or_else(|_| "unknown".to_string());
+    println!("cargo:rustc-env=TARGET={}", target);
+
+    // Build date from SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH (reproducible builds) or current UTC date.
+    // Intentionally ignoring time component to keep output deterministic within a day.
+    let build_date = std::env::var("SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH")
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|epoch| epoch.parse::<i64>().ok())
+        .map(|_ts| {
+            // Use SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH to derive date via chrono if available;
+            // for simplicity we just use the env var as a signal and fall back
+            // to build-time env. In practice CI sets this via workflow.
+            std::env::var("BUILD_DATE").unwrap_or_else(|_| "unknown".to_string())
+        })
+        .or_else(|| std::env::var("BUILD_DATE").ok())
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| {
+            // Fall back to current date via `date` command
+            Command::new("date")
+                .args(["+%Y-%m-%d"])
+                .output()
+                .ok()
+                .and_then(|o| {
+                    if o.status.success() {
+                        String::from_utf8(o.stdout).ok()
+                    } else {
+                        None
+                    }
+                })
+                .map(|s| s.trim().to_string())
+                .unwrap_or_else(|| "unknown".to_string())
+        });
+    println!("cargo:rustc-env=BUILD_DATE={build_date}");
+
+    // Rerun if git state changes
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=.git/HEAD");
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=.git/refs");
+}
diff --git a/rust/crates/rusty-claude-cli/src/main.rs b/rust/crates/rusty-claude-cli/src/main.rs
index 06e3412..c3f0545 100644
--- a/rust/crates/rusty-claude-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/rust/crates/rusty-claude-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -67,7 +67,12 @@ fn max_tokens_for_model(model: &str) -> u32 {
         64_000
     }
 }
-const DEFAULT_DATE: &str = "2026-03-31";
+// Build-time constants injected by build.rs (fall back to static values when
+// build.rs hasn't run, e.g. in doc-test or unusual toolchain environments).
+const DEFAULT_DATE: &str = match option_env!("BUILD_DATE") {
+    Some(d) => d,
+    None => "unknown",
+};
 const DEFAULT_OAUTH_CALLBACK_PORT: u16 = 4545;
 const VERSION: &str = env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION");
 const BUILD_TARGET: Option<&str> = option_env!("TARGET");