diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index c277559..b3d74f8 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 .git
-!.git/HEAD
-!.git/refs/
 .gitignore
 .gitattributes
 __pycache__
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4775b35..ebc53c9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -24,4 +24,5 @@ playwright-report/
 desktop/target/
 desktop/python-embed/
 desktop/frontend-static/
+backend/VERSION
 
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 49d412e..19bcd10 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -31,21 +31,8 @@ RUN apt-get update \
 COPY backend/ ./backend/
 COPY frontend/ ./frontend/
 
-# Generate VERSION file from git (fallback for version.py when .git is not available)
-COPY .git/HEAD .git/refs/ /tmp/git-refs/
-RUN cd /tmp/git-refs && \
-    if [ -f HEAD ]; then \
-      REF=$(cat HEAD | awk '{print $2}'); \
-      if [ -f "$REF" ]; then \
-        HASH=$(cat "$REF" | head -c 8); \
-        echo "1.8.0-0-g${HASH}" > /app/backend/VERSION; \
-      else \
-        echo "1.8.0-dev" > /app/backend/VERSION; \
-      fi; \
-    else \
-      echo "1.8.0-dev" > /app/backend/VERSION; \
-    fi && \
-    rm -rf /tmp/git-refs
+# Copy pre-generated VERSION file (generated by build.sh before docker build)
+COPY backend/VERSION ./backend/VERSION
 
 # Create non-root user for security + data directory for auth persistence
 # Using explicit UID/GID 1000 to match common host user and docker-compose settings
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 03cfee4..c072845 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -193,6 +193,11 @@ else
   info "Construction de l'image Docker (avec cache)..."
 fi
 
+# Generate VERSION file from git before Docker build
+VERSION=$(git describe --tags --dirty 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^v//' || echo "0.0.0-dev")
+echo "$VERSION" > backend/VERSION
+info "Version: $VERSION"
+
 $COMPOSE_CMD -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" build "${BUILD_FLAGS[@]}" "${BUILD_ARGS[@]}"
 ok "Image construite avec succès"