diff --git a/src/backend/Dockerfile b/src/backend/Dockerfile
index d2ee178..bd9e65d 100644
--- a/src/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/src/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ COPY --chown=app:app alembic alembic
 COPY --chown=app:app app app
 COPY --chown=app:app scripts scripts
 COPY --chown=app:app alembic.ini alembic.ini
+# The project itself isn't installed as a distribution above (--no-install-project),
+# so no dist-info exists for importlib.metadata to read. Ship pyproject.toml so
+# app.main can fall back to parsing the version straight from it.
+COPY --chown=app:app pyproject.toml pyproject.toml
 
 EXPOSE 8000
 
diff --git a/src/backend/app/main.py b/src/backend/app/main.py
index e41327b..c580575 100644
--- a/src/backend/app/main.py
+++ b/src/backend/app/main.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import logging
 import os
+import tomllib
 from collections.abc import AsyncIterator
 from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
 from importlib.metadata import PackageNotFoundError
@@ -42,15 +43,26 @@
 
 
 def _resolve_app_version() -> str:
-    """Return the installed package version, the single source of truth.
+    """Return the app version, reading from a single source of truth.
 
-    Falls back gracefully when the app runs from a source tree that has not
-    been installed as a distribution (e.g. some local dev setups).
+    Prefers installed package metadata (present in dev venvs where the
+    project is installed editable). The production Docker image installs
+    only dependencies as a distinct layer and copies app source on top
+    without installing the project itself, so no dist-info exists there —
+    fall back to parsing `pyproject.toml` directly in that case.
     """
     try:
         return _package_version("guard-proxy-backend")
-    except PackageNotFoundError:  # pragma: no cover - dev-only fallback
-        return "0.0.0+unknown"
+    except PackageNotFoundError:
+        pyproject_path = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "pyproject.toml"
+        try:
+            with pyproject_path.open("rb") as f:
+                version = tomllib.load(f)["project"]["version"]
+            if not isinstance(version, str):
+                raise KeyError("project.version is not a string")
+            return version
+        except (OSError, KeyError):  # pragma: no cover - defensive fallback
+            return "0.0.0+unknown"
 
 
 APP_VERSION = _resolve_app_version()
diff --git a/src/backend/tests/unit/test_app_version.py b/src/backend/tests/unit/test_app_version.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b042c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/tests/unit/test_app_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import tomllib
+from collections.abc import Iterator
+from importlib.metadata import PackageNotFoundError
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+import app.main as main_module
+
+_PYPROJECT_VERSION = tomllib.loads(
+    (Path(main_module.__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "pyproject.toml").read_text()
+)["project"]["version"]
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def package_metadata_missing() -> Iterator[None]:
+    """Simulate the production Docker image, where the project itself is
+    never installed as a distribution (only its dependencies are), so
+    importlib.metadata has no dist-info to read.
+    """
+
+    def _raise(name: str) -> str:
+        raise PackageNotFoundError(name)
+
+    original = main_module._package_version
+    main_module._package_version = _raise
+    try:
+        yield
+    finally:
+        main_module._package_version = original
+
+
+def test_resolves_from_installed_package_metadata_when_present() -> None:
+    assert main_module._resolve_app_version() == main_module._package_version(
+        "guard-proxy-backend"
+    )
+
+
+def test_falls_back_to_pyproject_toml_when_package_metadata_missing(
+    package_metadata_missing: None,
+) -> None:
+    assert main_module._resolve_app_version() == _PYPROJECT_VERSION