diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f757eb4..a6969a5 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -129,6 +129,15 @@ version = "1.3.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "08c48aae112d48ed9f069b33538ea9e3e90aa263cfa3d1c24309612b1f7472de"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "cc"
+version = "1.0.67"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e3c69b077ad434294d3ce9f1f6143a2a4b89a8a2d54ef813d85003a4fd1137fd"
+dependencies = [
+ "jobserver",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "cfg-if"
 version = "1.0.0"
@@ -206,6 +215,16 @@ version = "1.0.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "b2641c4a7c0c4101df53ea572bffdc561c146f6c2eb09e4df02bc4811e3feeb4"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "form_urlencoded"
+version = "1.0.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5fc25a87fa4fd2094bffb06925852034d90a17f0d1e05197d4956d3555752191"
+dependencies = [
+ "matches",
+ "percent-encoding",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "funty"
 version = "1.1.0"
@@ -234,6 +253,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "wasi 0.10.2+wasi-snapshot-preview1",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "git2"
+version = "0.13.18"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b483c6c2145421099df1b4efd50e0f6205479a072199460eff852fa15e5603c7"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags",
+ "libc",
+ "libgit2-sys",
+ "log",
+ "openssl-probe",
+ "openssl-sys",
+ "url",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "glob"
 version = "0.3.0"
@@ -264,6 +298,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "libc",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "idna"
+version = "0.2.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "418a0a6fab821475f634efe3ccc45c013f742efe03d853e8d3355d5cb850ecf8"
+dependencies = [
+ "matches",
+ "unicode-bidi",
+ "unicode-normalization",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "indexmap"
 version = "1.6.2"
@@ -274,6 +319,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "hashbrown",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "jobserver"
+version = "0.1.22"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "972f5ae5d1cb9c6ae417789196c803205313edde988685da5e3aae0827b9e7fd"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "lazy_static"
 version = "1.4.0"
@@ -299,6 +353,61 @@ version = "0.2.93"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "9385f66bf6105b241aa65a61cb923ef20efc665cb9f9bb50ac2f0c4b7f378d41"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "libgit2-sys"
+version = "0.12.19+1.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f322155d574c8b9ebe991a04f6908bb49e68a79463338d24a43d6274cb6443e6"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+ "libssh2-sys",
+ "libz-sys",
+ "openssl-sys",
+ "pkg-config",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "libssh2-sys"
+version = "0.2.21"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e0186af0d8f171ae6b9c4c90ec51898bad5d08a2d5e470903a50d9ad8959cbee"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+ "libz-sys",
+ "openssl-sys",
+ "pkg-config",
+ "vcpkg",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "libz-sys"
+version = "1.1.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "602113192b08db8f38796c4e85c39e960c145965140e918018bcde1952429655"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+ "pkg-config",
+ "vcpkg",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "log"
+version = "0.4.14"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "51b9bbe6c47d51fc3e1a9b945965946b4c44142ab8792c50835a980d362c2710"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "matches"
+version = "0.1.8"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7ffc5c5338469d4d3ea17d269fa8ea3512ad247247c30bd2df69e68309ed0a08"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "memchr"
 version = "2.3.4"
@@ -333,6 +442,25 @@ version = "1.7.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "af8b08b04175473088b46763e51ee54da5f9a164bc162f615b91bc179dbf15a3"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "openssl-probe"
+version = "0.1.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "77af24da69f9d9341038eba93a073b1fdaaa1b788221b00a69bce9e762cb32de"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "openssl-sys"
+version = "0.9.61"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "313752393519e876837e09e1fa183ddef0be7735868dced3196f4472d536277f"
+dependencies = [
+ "autocfg",
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+ "pkg-config",
+ "vcpkg",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ordered-float"
 version = "2.1.1"
@@ -348,6 +476,18 @@ version = "2.4.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "afb2e1c3ee07430c2cf76151675e583e0f19985fa6efae47d6848a3e2c824f85"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "percent-encoding"
+version = "2.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d4fd5641d01c8f18a23da7b6fe29298ff4b55afcccdf78973b24cf3175fee32e"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "pkg-config"
+version = "0.3.19"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3831453b3449ceb48b6d9c7ad7c96d5ea673e9b470a1dc578c2ce6521230884c"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ppv-lite86"
 version = "0.2.10"
@@ -639,12 +779,45 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-width",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tinyvec"
+version = "1.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5b5220f05bb7de7f3f53c7c065e1199b3172696fe2db9f9c4d8ad9b4ee74c342"
+dependencies = [
+ "tinyvec_macros",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "tinyvec_macros"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cda74da7e1a664f795bb1f8a87ec406fb89a02522cf6e50620d016add6dbbf5c"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "treeline"
 version = "0.1.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "a7f741b240f1a48843f9b8e0444fb55fb2a4ff67293b50a9179dfd5ea67f8d41"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-bidi"
+version = "0.3.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "eeb8be209bb1c96b7c177c7420d26e04eccacb0eeae6b980e35fcb74678107e0"
+dependencies = [
+ "matches",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-normalization"
+version = "0.1.17"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "07fbfce1c8a97d547e8b5334978438d9d6ec8c20e38f56d4a4374d181493eaef"
+dependencies = [
+ "tinyvec",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-segmentation"
 version = "1.7.1"
@@ -663,6 +836,24 @@ version = "0.2.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "f7fe0bb3479651439c9112f72b6c505038574c9fbb575ed1bf3b797fa39dd564"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "url"
+version = "2.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9ccd964113622c8e9322cfac19eb1004a07e636c545f325da085d5cdde6f1f8b"
+dependencies = [
+ "form_urlencoded",
+ "idna",
+ "matches",
+ "percent-encoding",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "vcpkg"
+version = "0.2.12"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cbdbff6266a24120518560b5dc983096efb98462e51d0d68169895b237be3e5d"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "vec_map"
 version = "0.8.2"
@@ -744,6 +935,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "dirs-next",
  "dunce",
+ "git2",
  "glob",
  "once_cell",
  "ordered-float",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index b0d6333..dac7054 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ tempfile = "3.1.0"
 [target.'cfg(windows)'.dependencies]
 rand = "0.7.3"
 
+[build-dependencies]
+git2 = "0.13.18"
+
 [dev-dependencies]
 assert_cmd = "1.0.1"
 seq-macro = "0.2.1"
diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
index d9f3e37..88d4f5f 100644
--- a/build.rs
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -1,16 +1,24 @@
-use std::process::Command;
+use git2::{DescribeFormatOptions, DescribeOptions, Repository};
+
+use std::env;
+
+fn git_version() -> Option<String> {
+    let path = env::var("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR").ok()?;
+    let repository = Repository::open(path).ok()?;
+
+    let mut options = DescribeOptions::new();
+    options.describe_tags();
+    let describe = repository.describe(&options).ok()?;
+
+    let mut format = DescribeFormatOptions::new();
+    format.dirty_suffix("-dirty");
+
+    describe.format(Some(&format)).ok()
+}
 
 fn main() {
-    let git_describe = Command::new("git")
-        .args(&["describe", "--tags", "--broken"])
-        .output()
-        .ok()
-        .and_then(|proc| String::from_utf8(proc.stdout).ok());
-
-    let version_info = match git_describe {
-        Some(description) if !description.is_empty() => description,
-        _ => format!("v{}", env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION")),
-    };
-
-    println!("cargo:rustc-env=ZOXIDE_VERSION={}", version_info);
+    let version = git_version()
+        .or_else(|| env::var("CARGO_PKG_VERSION").ok())
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| "unknown".to_string());
+    println!("cargo:rustc-env=ZOXIDE_VERSION={}", version);
 }