diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 86095a8..ce3765e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@ on:
     tags: ["v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+*"]
 
 permissions:
-  contents: read
+  # write rather than read: the job creates the GitHub Release the update notice
+  # reads. packages: write is for pushing the image.
+  contents: write
   packages: write
 
 jobs:
@@ -50,3 +52,15 @@ jobs:
             VERSION=${{ github.ref_name }}
           cache-from: type=gha
           cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
+
+      # A tag is not a release. The in-app update notice reads GitHub's
+      # releases/latest, which answers 404 for a repository that only has tags —
+      # so without this step the check can never find anything, however correctly
+      # it is switched on.
+      #
+      # Created after the image, so a release never announces a version that
+      # failed to build.
+      - uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        with:
+          generate_release_notes: true
+          make_latest: true
diff --git a/cmd/verdande/main.go b/cmd/verdande/main.go
index c3cc72b..ebb587f 100644
--- a/cmd/verdande/main.go
+++ b/cmd/verdande/main.go
@@ -77,7 +77,11 @@ func run() error {
 
 	errc := make(chan error, 1)
 	go func() {
-		log.Info("listening", "addr", cfg.Addr)
+		// The version is repeated here rather than only on the "starting" line
+		// above: this is the line the Rune's done_regex matches, so it is the one
+		// sitting at the bottom of the panel console after a deploy — which is
+		// exactly when somebody wants to know what actually started.
+		log.Info("listening", "addr", cfg.Addr, "version", version)
 		if err := srv.ListenAndServe(); err != nil && !errors.Is(err, http.ErrServerClosed) {
 			errc <- err
 		}
diff --git a/docs/openapi.yaml b/docs/openapi.yaml
index 5b46c37..0bd9b8f 100644
--- a/docs/openapi.yaml
+++ b/docs/openapi.yaml
@@ -1718,7 +1718,15 @@ paths:
         broken volume reports unhealthy instead of pretending to work.
       security: []
       responses:
-        "200": { description: Healthy. }
+        "200":
+          description: Healthy. Carries the running version — the one thing you can ask without a session.
+          content:
+            application/json:
+              schema:
+                type: object
+                properties:
+                  status: { type: string, const: ok }
+                  version: { type: string, example: v0.3.1 }
         "503": { description: Unhealthy. }
 
   /ics/{token}:
diff --git a/internal/httpapi/server.go b/internal/httpapi/server.go
index e8c2951..0fbbd80 100644
--- a/internal/httpapi/server.go
+++ b/internal/httpapi/server.go
@@ -348,7 +348,11 @@ func (s *Server) handleHealth(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		})
 		return
 	}
-	writeJSON(w, http.StatusOK, map[string]string{"status": "ok"})
+	// The version travels with the health check because this is the one endpoint
+	// that answers without a session. "Which version is actually running?" is
+	// otherwise a question you cannot ask from outside — and after a deploy it is
+	// the first question there is.
+	writeJSON(w, http.StatusOK, map[string]string{"status": "ok", "version": Version})
 }
 
 // serveWeb serves the PWA, falling back to index.html so that client-side routes
diff --git a/rune/verdande.yaml b/rune/verdande.yaml
index 4d09d15..699b192 100644
--- a/rune/verdande.yaml
+++ b/rune/verdande.yaml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ gameskill:
     invites and reminders, then start it and open the URL to create the first
     admin account.
   author: "kristianwind"
-  version: 1
+  version: 2
   icon: "app"
 
   # The image is distroless — no shell — so keep_entrypoint runs the binary the
@@ -70,6 +70,14 @@ gameskill:
       pattern: '^[0-9]+(ns|us|ms|s|m|h)$'
       hint: "must be a duration like 720h, 30m or 45s"
 
+    # Off by default because it is an outbound request nobody asked for. It sends
+    # no identifier and reads one public URL — GitHub's releases API — but that is
+    # a choice to make rather than a default to inherit.
+    - key: VERDANDE_UPDATE_CHECK
+      name: "Look for new releases (asks GitHub once a day; sends nothing about you)"
+      type: bool
+      default: false
+
   install:
     # The image has no shell, so the install step borrows one. It only has to make
     # the directory layout exist; verdande creates and migrates its own database on