diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index d2666de..76e3aa1 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@
 !bin/
 !crates/
 !LICENSE
+!.git/
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 7cc43ec..d2344af 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ ENV FEATURES=$FEATURES
 RUN cargo chef cook --profile $BUILD_PROFILE --features "$FEATURES" --recipe-path recipe.json
 
 # Build application
-COPY --exclude=.git --exclude=target . .
+# Include .git so vergen-git2 can extract version info (branch, commit SHA)
+COPY --exclude=target . .
 RUN cargo build --profile $BUILD_PROFILE --features "$FEATURES" --locked --bin ethlambda
 
 # ARG is not resolved in COPY so we have to hack around it by copying the
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1dbd445..e28ce6d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -13,12 +13,13 @@ test: leanSpec/fixtures ## 🧪 Run all tests, then forkchoice tests with skip-s
 
 GIT_COMMIT=$(shell git rev-parse HEAD)
 GIT_BRANCH=$(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
+DOCKER_TAG?=local
 
 docker-build: ## 🐳 Build the Docker image
 	docker build \
 		--build-arg GIT_COMMIT=$(GIT_COMMIT) \
 		--build-arg GIT_BRANCH=$(GIT_BRANCH) \
-		-t ghcr.io/lambdaclass/ethlambda:local .
+		-t ghcr.io/lambdaclass/ethlambda:$(DOCKER_TAG) .
 
 LEAN_SPEC_COMMIT_HASH:=4edcf7bc9271e6a70ded8aff17710d68beac4266
 
diff --git a/bin/ethlambda/src/main.rs b/bin/ethlambda/src/main.rs
index c4fa991..aa438dc 100644
--- a/bin/ethlambda/src/main.rs
+++ b/bin/ethlambda/src/main.rs
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ async fn main() {
 
     println!("{ASCII_ART}");
 
+    info!(version = version::CLIENT_VERSION, "Starting ethlambda");
+
     info!(node_key=?options.node_key, "got node key");
 
     let genesis_path = options.custom_network_config_dir.join("genesis.json");