diff --git a/crates/taurus-core/src/lib.rs b/crates/taurus-core/src/lib.rs
index 96efe78..e487ab7 100644
--- a/crates/taurus-core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/taurus-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -20,3 +20,4 @@ pub mod runtime;
 pub mod time;
 pub mod types;
 pub mod value;
+pub mod version;
diff --git a/crates/taurus-core/src/types/errors/runtime_error.rs b/crates/taurus-core/src/types/errors/runtime_error.rs
index bfe6503..5bc8cb9 100644
--- a/crates/taurus-core/src/types/errors/runtime_error.rs
+++ b/crates/taurus-core/src/types/errors/runtime_error.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ use tucana::shared::{
 };
 
 use crate::time::now_unix_micros;
+use crate::version::runtime_version;
 
 /// Runtime execution failure representation.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ impl RuntimeError {
             category: category.into(),
             message: message.into(),
             timestamp_unix_micros: now_unix_micros() as u64,
-            version: env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION").to_string(),
+            version: runtime_version().to_string(),
             dependencies: HashMap::new(),
             details: HashMap::new(),
         }
diff --git a/crates/taurus-core/src/version.rs b/crates/taurus-core/src/version.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..785bfeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/taurus-core/src/version.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+//! Runtime version resolution.
+//!
+//! `env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION")` is a compile-time constant, so stamping a
+//! per-pipeline release version into `Cargo.toml` before `cargo build` (as
+//! CI used to) invalidates the build cache for every crate that reads it on
+//! every single build. Reading `TAURUS_VERSION` at runtime instead lets the
+//! image's final Docker layer stamp the release version without touching
+//! anything upstream of it. Falls back to the compiled-in crate version when
+//! the env var isn't set (local dev, tests).
+
+use std::sync::OnceLock;
+
+static VERSION: OnceLock<String> = OnceLock::new();
+
+pub fn runtime_version() -> &'static str {
+    VERSION.get_or_init(|| {
+        std::env::var("TAURUS_VERSION").unwrap_or_else(|_| env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION").to_string())
+    })
+}
diff --git a/crates/taurus/src/app/mod.rs b/crates/taurus/src/app/mod.rs
index 4e81e18..4164fd4 100644
--- a/crates/taurus/src/app/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/taurus/src/app/mod.rs
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ fn init_telemetry(config: &Config) -> telemetry::Telemetry {
         TelemetrySettings {
             environment: environment_label(&config.environment),
             default_log_level: "debug",
-            service_version: env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION"),
+            service_version: taurus_core::version::runtime_version(),
             instrumentation_name: env!("CARGO_PKG_NAME"),
             initialize_metrics: Some(telemetry::metrics::initialize),
         },