diff --git a/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json b/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json
index 77a48e8ce..944455615 100644
--- a/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json
+++ b/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   "plugins": [
     {
       "name": "gitnexus",
-      "version": "1.6.10",
+      "version": "1.6.11",
       "source": {
         "source": "local",
         "path": "./gitnexus-claude-plugin"
diff --git a/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json b/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json
index 717a4c132..57073ec59 100644
--- a/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json
+++ b/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   "plugins": [
     {
       "name": "gitnexus",
-      "version": "1.6.10",
+      "version": "1.6.11",
       "source": "./gitnexus-claude-plugin",
       "description": "Code intelligence powered by a knowledge graph. Provides execution flow tracing, blast radius analysis, and augmented search across your codebase."
     }
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
index 9e9372dea..13f937f59 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "gitnexus",
   "description": "Code intelligence powered by a knowledge graph. Provides execution flow tracing, blast radius analysis, and augmented search across your codebase.",
-  "version": "1.6.10",
+  "version": "1.6.11",
   "author": {
     "name": "GitNexus"
   },
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/.codex-plugin/plugin.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/.codex-plugin/plugin.json
index 67ef62af2..2e2b43e2e 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/.codex-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/.codex-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "gitnexus",
   "description": "Code intelligence powered by a knowledge graph. Provides execution flow tracing, blast radius analysis, and augmented search across your codebase.",
-  "version": "1.6.10",
+  "version": "1.6.11",
   "skills": "./skills",
   "mcpServers": "./.mcp.json",
   "hooks": "./hooks/hooks.json",
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-cli/mcp.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-cli/mcp.json
index 1af6255fb..57267bfb0 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-cli/mcp.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-cli/mcp.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "mcpServers": {
     "gitnexus": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.10", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.11", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-debugging/mcp.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-debugging/mcp.json
index 1af6255fb..57267bfb0 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-debugging/mcp.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-debugging/mcp.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "mcpServers": {
     "gitnexus": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.10", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.11", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-exploring/mcp.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-exploring/mcp.json
index 1af6255fb..57267bfb0 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-exploring/mcp.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-exploring/mcp.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "mcpServers": {
     "gitnexus": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.10", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.11", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-guide/mcp.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-guide/mcp.json
index 1af6255fb..57267bfb0 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-guide/mcp.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-guide/mcp.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "mcpServers": {
     "gitnexus": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.10", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.11", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-impact-analysis/mcp.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-impact-analysis/mcp.json
index 1af6255fb..57267bfb0 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-impact-analysis/mcp.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-impact-analysis/mcp.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "mcpServers": {
     "gitnexus": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.10", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.11", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-lfg/mcp.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-lfg/mcp.json
index 1af6255fb..57267bfb0 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-lfg/mcp.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-lfg/mcp.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "mcpServers": {
     "gitnexus": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.10", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.11", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-plan/mcp.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-plan/mcp.json
index 1af6255fb..57267bfb0 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-plan/mcp.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-plan/mcp.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "mcpServers": {
     "gitnexus": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.10", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.11", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-refactoring/mcp.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-refactoring/mcp.json
index 1af6255fb..57267bfb0 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-refactoring/mcp.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-refactoring/mcp.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "mcpServers": {
     "gitnexus": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.10", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.11", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-review/mcp.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-review/mcp.json
index 1af6255fb..57267bfb0 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-review/mcp.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-review/mcp.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "mcpServers": {
     "gitnexus": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.10", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.11", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-work/mcp.json b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-work/mcp.json
index 1af6255fb..57267bfb0 100644
--- a/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-work/mcp.json
+++ b/gitnexus-claude-plugin/skills/gitnexus-work/mcp.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "mcpServers": {
     "gitnexus": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.10", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@1.6.11", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/gitnexus/CHANGELOG.md b/gitnexus/CHANGELOG.md
index 6b4520d63..091870103 100644
--- a/gitnexus/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/gitnexus/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,50 @@ All notable changes to GitNexus will be documented in this file.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [1.6.11] - 2026-09-04
+
+### Added
+
+- **Zig is a supported language** — functions, methods, structs/enums/unions, relative and `build.zig` / `build.zig.zon` imports, and CALLS including receiver-bound dispatch. `comptime`-false branches mark CALLS as `staticGated`. The grammar is an optional dependency, so a missing native binding skips `.zig` files instead of failing install (#1432, #3161)
+- **Update notifications** — cache-first npm `latest` check with one stderr line on interactive CLI, a `doctor` line, one MCP process log, and a dismissible web banner from `/api/info`. Silent for npx, dev checkouts, and Docker; opt out with `GITNEXUS_NO_UPDATE_NOTIFIER` (#3175)
+- **`gitnexus auto-sync`** — scheduled SSH clone/pull and analyze from `GITNEXUS_HOME/watch_config.yml`. `gitnexus watch` is reserved and prints the split with `analyze --watch` (#2493)
+- **`analyze --watch`** — local incremental re-index with debounce, serialized writers, and last-good graph on failure (#3072)
+- **`--no-parse-cache` forces a cold parser rebuild** on analyze (#3153)
+- **Spring / JVM modeling** — vendor-suffix mapping annotations (#2883), messaging destinations (#3132), handler annotation arguments and template publishes (#3128), Kotlin decorator routes and config consumers (#3133, #3126), optional Actuator runtime import (#3107), `SpringContextUtil.getBeans` dynamic lookups (#2886), Lombok and Kotlin accessor synthesis (#2885), and Java static-wildcard / Kotlin star-import folding for route constants (#3110, #3059)
+- **More contract and route surfaces** — AsyncAPI 3.x Destination nodes (#3140), wrapped-client HTTP consumers with leading-prefix template stripping (#3111), GraphQL cross-repo contracts (#3070), and PHP generated-client `Request(method, host + resourcePath)` consumers (#3079)
+- **Wiki `grok` local CLI provider** (#3069)
+- **Optional bearer auth on the `serve` MCP route** (#3100)
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **Web UI is built from `prepack`**, not on every `npm ci` (#3166)
+- **`analyze --watch` no longer drops events** across a gitignore reload (#3159)
+- **`detect_changes` does not call a zero-symbol result a clean tree** (#3138)
+- **`includeTests` is honored** for C#, Java, Swift and PHP test paths (#2866)
+- **Decorator routes connect to their handler function** (#2865)
+- **Analyze no longer clobbers customized GitNexus skills** (#3124)
+- **Generated agent block requires graph tools** on structural reads (#3125)
+- **`group` degraded links, sync warnings and UID-only impact actually work** (#3113); Maven child coordinates parse independently of parent POMs (#3108); ambiguous sync names fail closed and `analyze --name` is honored (#3094)
+- **Grep tool honors regex, `fileFilter`, and `caseSensitive`** in serve and the web UI (#3109)
+- **Razor ViewComponent names bind to in-repo classes** (#3104)
+- **Incremental analyze skips derived layers it can reuse** (#3016, #3102)
+- **Parse-cache chunks are stable** and ParsedFile loads are cheaper (#3093)
+- **MCP omitted `repo` resolves from cwd** (#3085)
+- **`status` judges freshness by covered files**, not a dirty working tree (#3083)
+- **`impact` File risk is comparable via shared axes** (#3075, #3082), repo-relative paths resolve through `filePath` (#3074, #3084), and scope-extraction omissions are reported (#3071)
+- **Cursor hooks preserve quoted shell search patterns** (#2938)
+
+### Performance
+
+- **Six equivalent redundancies dropped** on the Java-scale emit path (#3129)
+- **V8 sidecars plus hardlinked ParsedFile restore** (#3099)
+
+### Chore / Dependencies
+
+- **Transitive CVE patches** (#3095)
+- **Major runtime bumps** — `chokidar` 4 → 5 (#3117), `graphql` 16 → 17 (#3119)
+- **Dependency bumps** across gitnexus (`js-yaml`, `qs`, `fast-uri`, `ignore`, `tsx`, `@types/node`, `onnxruntime-node`), gitnexus-web (`axios`, `mermaid`, Playwright, Vitest, Testing Library), and the CodeQL action group (#3115, #3118, #3135, #3141–#3151, #3154, #3155, #3158)
+
 ## [1.6.10] - 2026-08-27
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/gitnexus/package-lock.json b/gitnexus/package-lock.json
index 924776110..c13d24635 100644
--- a/gitnexus/package-lock.json
+++ b/gitnexus/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "gitnexus",
-  "version": "1.6.10",
+  "version": "1.6.11",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "gitnexus",
-      "version": "1.6.10",
+      "version": "1.6.11",
       "hasInstallScript": true,
       "license": "PolyForm-Noncommercial-1.0.0",
       "dependencies": {
diff --git a/gitnexus/package.json b/gitnexus/package.json
index 2eff9e678..eda58d62b 100644
--- a/gitnexus/package.json
+++ b/gitnexus/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "gitnexus",
-  "version": "1.6.10",
+  "version": "1.6.11",
   "description": "Graph-powered code intelligence for AI agents. Index any codebase, query via MCP or CLI.",
   "author": "Abhigyan Patwari",
   "license": "PolyForm-Noncommercial-1.0.0",
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/cli/command-banner.ts b/gitnexus/src/cli/command-banner.ts
index 83fe65383..bfc921894 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/cli/command-banner.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/cli/command-banner.ts
@@ -4,11 +4,8 @@
  * pipe/JSON-safe (`gitnexus query … | jq`, `status --json`).
  */
 
-import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
 import type { Command } from 'commander';
-
-const _require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
-const pkg = _require('../../package.json') as { version?: unknown };
+import { packageVersion } from '../core/package-version.js';
 
 const SKIP_COMMAND_BANNER = new Set(['__update-check', 'help']);
 
@@ -18,7 +15,7 @@ const SPECIAL_TITLES: Record<string, string> = {
 };
 
 export function installedCliVersion(): string {
-  return typeof pkg.version === 'string' ? pkg.version : '';
+  return packageVersion();
 }
 
 export function commandDisplayName(name: string): string {
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/cli/index.ts b/gitnexus/src/cli/index.ts
index 08694bc4c..70238dc00 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/cli/index.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/cli/index.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 // Removing it from here improves MCP server startup time significantly.
 
 import { Command } from 'commander';
-import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
+import { packageVersion } from '../core/package-version.js';
 import {
   createAnalyzerLbugLazyAction,
   createLazyAction,
@@ -17,15 +17,13 @@ import { t } from './i18n/index.js';
 import { writeCommandBanner } from './command-banner.js';
 import { runProcessCliUpdateNotice } from './update-notice.js';
 
-const _require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
-const pkg = _require('../../package.json');
 const program = new Command();
 
 function collectCodingAgents(value: string, previous: string[] | undefined): string[] {
   return [...(previous ?? []), ...value.split(',')];
 }
 
-program.name('gitnexus').description('GitNexus local CLI and MCP server').version(pkg.version);
+program.name('gitnexus').description('GitNexus local CLI and MCP server').version(packageVersion());
 
 program
   .command('setup')
@@ -521,5 +519,5 @@ program.hook('preAction', (_thisCommand, actionCommand) => {
   writeCommandBanner(actionCommand);
 });
 
-runProcessCliUpdateNotice(typeof pkg.version === 'string' ? pkg.version : '');
+runProcessCliUpdateNotice(packageVersion());
 program.parse(process.argv);
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/cli/setup.ts b/gitnexus/src/cli/setup.ts
index 6dd0f9b85..7ca83643c 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/cli/setup.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/cli/setup.ts
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ import fs from 'fs/promises';
 import path from 'path';
 import os from 'os';
 import { execFile, execFileSync } from 'child_process';
-import { createRequire } from 'module';
 import { promisify } from 'util';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
 import { parseTree, modify, applyEdits, ParseError, parse as parseJsonc } from 'jsonc-parser';
+import { packageVersion } from '../core/package-version.js';
 import { getGlobalDir } from '../storage/repo-manager.js';
 import {
   getEditorTargets,
@@ -37,9 +37,8 @@ const execFileAsync = promisify(execFile);
 // re-stamped every release by scripts/sync-plugin-manifests.mjs (#2445),
 // since they too execute `gitnexus@<version>` on connect. Only the READMEs
 // stay on `gitnexus@latest` — they're quickstart docs, not executed state.
-const _require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
-const _pkg = _require('../../package.json') as { version?: unknown };
-if (typeof _pkg.version !== 'string' || !_pkg.version) {
+const PKG_VERSION = packageVersion();
+if (!PKG_VERSION) {
   throw new Error(
     'gitnexus/package.json#version is missing or not a string — cannot generate MCP fallback config.',
   );
@@ -47,7 +46,7 @@ if (typeof _pkg.version !== 'string' || !_pkg.version) {
 // Version-pinned ref for the persisted MCP entry — deliberately distinct from
 // the cjs's exported `gitnexus@latest` hint ref (resolve-analyze-cmd.cjs); the
 // two are not unified (see the comment above and that file's MCP_PINNED_REF).
-const MCP_PINNED_REF = `gitnexus@${_pkg.version}`;
+const MCP_PINNED_REF = `gitnexus@${PKG_VERSION}`;
 
 /**
  * Build the `command` string written into an editor's hook settings, which the
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/cli/update.ts b/gitnexus/src/cli/update.ts
index edd2596ef..adde2ae2b 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/cli/update.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/cli/update.ts
@@ -5,16 +5,13 @@
  */
 
 import { spawn } from 'node:child_process';
-import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
 import { homedir } from 'node:os';
 import { composeWin32NpmCommand } from '../core/embeddings/runtime-install.js';
+import { packageVersion } from '../core/package-version.js';
 import { STRICT_UPDATE_VERSION } from '../core/update-cache.js';
 import { refresh, type UpdateState } from '../core/update-check.js';
 import { t } from './i18n/index.js';
 
-const _require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
-const pkg = _require('../../package.json') as { version?: unknown };
-
 export const UPDATE_PACKAGE = 'gitnexus';
 
 export interface UpdateCommandDependencies {
@@ -30,7 +27,7 @@ export interface UpdateCommandDependencies {
 }
 
 function defaultInstalledVersion(): string {
-  return typeof pkg.version === 'string' ? pkg.version : '';
+  return packageVersion();
 }
 
 export function updateInstallArgs(version: string): string[] {
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/core/package-version.ts b/gitnexus/src/core/package-version.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c4e9ab170
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gitnexus/src/core/package-version.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
+
+const _require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
+const pkg = _require('../../package.json') as { version?: unknown };
+
+/**
+ * Published version from this package's `package.json`.
+ * Empty string if the field is missing or not a string.
+ */
+export function packageVersion(): string {
+  return typeof pkg.version === 'string' ? pkg.version : '';
+}
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/core/update-check.ts b/gitnexus/src/core/update-check.ts
index fa2364490..265bf912b 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/core/update-check.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/core/update-check.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 import fs from 'node:fs/promises';
-import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
 import { getGlobalDir } from '../storage/global-dir.js';
 import { writeFileAtomic } from '../storage/fs-atomic.js';
 import { acquireFileLock, FileLockBusyError } from '../storage/file-lock.js';
 import { validateGitUrl } from './net/url-guard.js';
 import { updateEligibleInstall } from './install-context.js';
 import { createLogger } from './logger.js';
+import { packageVersion } from './package-version.js';
 import {
   isNewerVersion,
   isUpdateCacheFresh,
@@ -19,9 +19,6 @@ import {
   type UpdateCacheEntry,
 } from './update-cache.js';
 
-const _require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
-const pkg = _require('../../package.json') as { version?: unknown };
-
 const FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS = 3_000;
 const MAX_RESPONSE_BYTES = 64 * 1024;
 const MAX_REDIRECTS = 5;
@@ -31,7 +28,7 @@ const LOCK_BUSY_RETRY_JITTER_MS = 30_000;
 const updateLogger = createLogger('update-check');
 
 function defaultInstalledVersion(): string {
-  return typeof pkg.version === 'string' ? pkg.version : '';
+  return packageVersion();
 }
 
 function nextSchedulerDelay(entry: UpdateCacheEntry | null, now: number): number {
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/mcp/server.ts b/gitnexus/src/mcp/server.ts
index a3df48b4c..118f28fa1 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/mcp/server.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/mcp/server.ts
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
  * Resources: repos, repo/{name}/context, repo/{name}/clusters, ...
  */
 
-import { createRequire } from 'module';
 import { Server } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/index.js';
+import { packageVersion } from '../core/package-version.js';
 import { CompatibleStdioServerTransport } from './compatible-stdio-transport.js';
 import {
   CallToolRequestSchema,
@@ -106,12 +106,10 @@ export function createMCPServer(
   }
   const repositoryPolicy = options.repositoryPolicy ?? McpRepositoryPolicy.unrestricted();
   const scopedBackend = repositoryPolicy.scopeBackend(backend);
-  const require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
-  const pkgVersion: string = require('../../package.json').version;
   const server = new Server(
     {
       name: 'gitnexus',
-      version: pkgVersion,
+      version: packageVersion(),
     },
     {
       capabilities: {
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/server/update-controller.ts b/gitnexus/src/server/update-controller.ts
index fdc0ed70c..81b91f911 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/server/update-controller.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/server/update-controller.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
-import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
+import { packageVersion } from '../core/package-version.js';
 import { armUpdateRefreshScheduler, evaluate, type UpdateState } from '../core/update-check.js';
 
-const _require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
-const pkg = _require('../../package.json');
-
 export interface ServerInfoResponse {
   version: string;
   launchContext: 'npx' | 'global' | 'local';
@@ -92,7 +89,7 @@ export const buildServerInfo = (updateState: UpdateState | null): ServerInfoResp
   }
 
   return {
-    version: pkg.version,
+    version: packageVersion(),
     launchContext,
     nodeVersion: process.version,
     ...(updateState?.updateAvailable && updateState.latestVersion
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/integration/cli/update-notice.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/integration/cli/update-notice.test.ts
index ed49d3204..abebfbd28 100644
--- a/gitnexus/test/integration/cli/update-notice.test.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/test/integration/cli/update-notice.test.ts
@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@ import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 
 import { CLI_SPAWN_PREFIX, tsxLoaderUrl } from '../../helpers/cli-entry.js';
 import { cleanupTempDirSync } from '../../helpers/test-db.js';
+import { packageVersion } from '../../../src/core/package-version.js';
 
 const repoRoot = path.resolve(import.meta.dirname, '../../..');
+const installedVersion = packageVersion();
 const tempDirs: string[] = [];
 
 function tempHome(): string {
@@ -218,7 +220,9 @@ globalThis.fetch = async () => {
       },
     );
 
-    expect(result.stderr).toContain('GitNexus 99.0.0 is available (you are running 1.6.10).');
+    expect(result.stderr).toContain(
+      `GitNexus 99.0.0 is available (you are running ${installedVersion}).`,
+    );
     expect(result.stdout).not.toContain('99.0.0 is available');
   });
 });
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/unit/package-version.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/unit/package-version.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a38e5cd32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gitnexus/test/unit/package-version.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { packageVersion } from '../../src/core/package-version.js';
+
+const fromManifest = (createRequire(import.meta.url)('../../package.json') as { version: string })
+  .version;
+
+describe('packageVersion', () => {
+  it('returns the same string as gitnexus/package.json#version', () => {
+    expect(packageVersion()).toBe(fromManifest);
+    expect(packageVersion()).toMatch(/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+/);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/unit/server-info.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/unit/server-info.test.ts
index 9e46baf76..ea395c089 100644
--- a/gitnexus/test/unit/server-info.test.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/test/unit/server-info.test.ts
@@ -8,9 +8,11 @@ import {
   buildServerInfo,
   createServeUpdateController,
 } from '../../src/server/update-controller.js';
+import { packageVersion } from '../../src/core/package-version.js';
 import { evaluate } from '../../src/core/update-check.js';
 import type { UpdateState } from '../../src/core/update-check.js';
 
+const PKG_VERSION = packageVersion();
 const baseKeys = ['version', 'launchContext', 'nodeVersion'];
 const tempDirs: string[] = [];
 
@@ -27,7 +29,7 @@ describe('GET /api/info update state', () => {
 
     expect(Object.keys(response)).toEqual(baseKeys);
     expect(response).toEqual({
-      version: '1.6.10',
+      version: PKG_VERSION,
       launchContext: expect.stringMatching(/^(npx|global|local)$/),
       nodeVersion: process.version,
     });
@@ -35,7 +37,7 @@ describe('GET /api/info update state', () => {
 
   it('adds optional update fields only for an available version', () => {
     expect(buildServerInfo({ updateAvailable: true, latestVersion: '9.8.7' })).toEqual({
-      version: '1.6.10',
+      version: PKG_VERSION,
       launchContext: expect.stringMatching(/^(npx|global|local)$/),
       nodeVersion: process.version,
       latestVersion: '9.8.7',
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ describe('GET /api/info update state', () => {
     });
 
     expect(
-      Object.keys(buildServerInfo({ updateAvailable: false, latestVersion: '1.6.10' })),
+      Object.keys(buildServerInfo({ updateAvailable: false, latestVersion: PKG_VERSION })),
     ).toEqual(baseKeys);
   });
 
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-antigravity.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-antigravity.test.ts
index 338b75806..4f817c89e 100644
--- a/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-antigravity.test.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-antigravity.test.ts
@@ -20,11 +20,10 @@ import fs from 'fs/promises';
 import os from 'os';
 import path from 'path';
 import { spawnSync } from 'child_process';
-import { createRequire } from 'module';
 import { commitAll, initGitRepo } from '../helpers/temp-git-repo.js';
+import { packageVersion } from '../../src/core/package-version.js';
 
-const PKG_VERSION = (createRequire(import.meta.url)('../../package.json') as { version: string })
-  .version;
+const PKG_VERSION = packageVersion();
 const NPX_REF = `gitnexus@${PKG_VERSION}`;
 
 // vi.hoisted lets the mock factory below (which is hoisted by Vitest) see
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-codex.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-codex.test.ts
index 9ede4a67b..10a19e38c 100644
--- a/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-codex.test.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-codex.test.ts
@@ -2,10 +2,9 @@ import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
 import fs from 'fs/promises';
 import os from 'os';
 import path from 'path';
-import { createRequire } from 'module';
+import { packageVersion } from '../../src/core/package-version.js';
 
-const PKG_VERSION = (createRequire(import.meta.url)('../../package.json') as { version: string })
-  .version;
+const PKG_VERSION = packageVersion();
 const NPX_REF = `gitnexus@${PKG_VERSION}`;
 
 const execFileMock = vi.fn((...args: any[]) => {
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-jsonc.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-jsonc.test.ts
index 1bd8dd267..d84b9a41b 100644
--- a/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-jsonc.test.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/test/unit/setup-jsonc.test.ts
@@ -3,10 +3,9 @@ import fs from 'fs/promises';
 import os from 'os';
 import path from 'path';
 import { parse as parseJsonc } from 'jsonc-parser';
-import { createRequire } from 'module';
+import { packageVersion } from '../../src/core/package-version.js';
 
-const PKG_VERSION = (createRequire(import.meta.url)('../../package.json') as { version: string })
-  .version;
+const PKG_VERSION = packageVersion();
 const NPX_REF = `gitnexus@${PKG_VERSION}`;
 
 const execFileMock = vi.fn((...args: any[]) => {
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/unit/setup.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/unit/setup.test.ts
index 448074669..97744511d 100644
--- a/gitnexus/test/unit/setup.test.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/test/unit/setup.test.ts
@@ -2,12 +2,9 @@ import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
 import fs from 'fs/promises';
 import os from 'os';
 import path from 'path';
-import { createRequire } from 'module';
+import { packageVersion } from '../../src/core/package-version.js';
 
-// Match what setup.ts emits — read the version from the same package.json
-// so the test never goes stale on a release bump.
-const PKG_VERSION = (createRequire(import.meta.url)('../../package.json') as { version: string })
-  .version;
+const PKG_VERSION = packageVersion();
 const MCP_PINNED_REF = `gitnexus@${PKG_VERSION}`;
 
 /** Flatten the spied console.log calls into one searchable string. */