diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yaml b/.github/workflows/publish.yaml
index 5c121c1..4403989 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yaml
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ jobs:
           tags: |
             type=semver,pattern={{version}}
 
+      - name: Set application version
+        if: ${{ github.ref_type == 'tag' }}
+        run: sed -i 's/^version = ".*"$/version = "${{ steps.meta.outputs.version }}"/' Cargo.toml
+
       - name: Build image
         uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
         env:
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index c328197..5d249e6 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1901,7 +1901,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "numtracker"
-version = "0.1.1"
+version = "0.0.0"
 dependencies = [
  "assert_matches",
  "async-graphql",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 74f9f84..3355f25 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 [package]
 name = "numtracker"
-version = "0.1.1"
+# This version is *not* used for the built container image. It is set during the
+# CI build process so that the version always matches the latest git tag.
+version = "0.0.0"
 edition = "2021"
 license = "Apache-2.0"
 
diff --git a/helm/numtracker/Chart.yaml b/helm/numtracker/Chart.yaml
index 291ad0c..c8c2965 100644
--- a/helm/numtracker/Chart.yaml
+++ b/helm/numtracker/Chart.yaml
@@ -1,24 +1,11 @@
 apiVersion: v2
 name: numtracker
 description: Helm chart to deploy the numtracker service for unifying beamline filenaming
-
-# A chart can be either an 'application' or a 'library' chart.
-#
-# Application charts are a collection of templates that can be packaged into versioned archives
-# to be deployed.
-#
-# Library charts provide useful utilities or functions for the chart developer. They're included as
-# a dependency of application charts to inject those utilities and functions into the rendering
-# pipeline. Library charts do not define any templates and therefore cannot be deployed.
 type: application
 
-# This is the chart version. This version number should be incremented each time you make changes
-# to the chart and its templates, including the app version.
-# Versions are expected to follow Semantic Versioning (https://semver.org/)
-version: 0.1.0
+# These versions are ignored and are automatically set via the CI process to the version from the tag
 
-# This is the version number of the application being deployed. This version number should be
-# incremented each time you make changes to the application. Versions are not expected to
-# follow Semantic Versioning. They should reflect the version the application is using.
-# It is recommended to use it with quotes.
-appVersion: "0.1.0"
+# This is the version of the helm chart
+version: 0.0.0
+# This is the version number of the application being deployed by the helm chart
+appVersion: "0.0.0"