diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ccc752d1..1d621ad2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ This file is the canonical source for unreleased changes and published release n
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Internal
+
+- The `codework tui` E2E artifact now records the CLI version as `<version>`, so it no longer goes stale on every version bump.
+
 ## [@codeworksh/cli@0.2.0] - 2026-10-12
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/packages/codework/test/__artifacts__/tui.managed.json b/packages/codework/test/__artifacts__/tui.managed.json
index 7d3020d6..6ebdf723 100644
--- a/packages/codework/test/__artifacts__/tui.managed.json
+++ b/packages/codework/test/__artifacts__/tui.managed.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
 	"serviceJson": {
 		"pid": "<pid>",
-		"version": "0.1.0",
+		"version": "<version>",
 		"url": "ws://127.0.0.1:7601/rpc/v1",
 		"port": 7601
 	},
diff --git a/packages/codework/test/tui.test.ts b/packages/codework/test/tui.test.ts
index 92181b78..7cabe764 100644
--- a/packages/codework/test/tui.test.ts
+++ b/packages/codework/test/tui.test.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vite-plus/test";
 
 const cli = fileURLToPath(new URL("../src/index.ts", import.meta.url));
 const models = fileURLToPath(new URL("../../../models.gen.json", import.meta.url));
+const { version } = JSON.parse(readFileSync(new URL("../package.json", import.meta.url), "utf8")) as {
+	version: string;
+};
 
 /**
  * A stand-in for the Rust TUI. It writes what the launcher gave it to its own
@@ -192,7 +195,7 @@ describe("codework tui", () => {
 		await expect(
 			JSON.stringify(
 				{
-					serviceJson: { ...info, pid: "<pid>" },
+					serviceJson: { ...info, pid: "<pid>", version: info.version === version ? "<version>" : info.version },
 					tui: {
 						...message,
 						home: message.home === dir ? "<home>" : message.home,