diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e66f212fb..a5b311999 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -34,18 +34,9 @@ else (SEQUANT_PRERELEASE_ID)
     set(SEQUANT_EXT_VERSION "${SEQUANT_VERSION}")
 endif (SEQUANT_PRERELEASE_ID)
 
-# extract git revision
-if (EXISTS ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/.git)
-    find_package(Git REQUIRED)
-    execute_process(
-            COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} rev-parse -q HEAD
-            WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
-            OUTPUT_VARIABLE SEQUANT_REVISION)
-    string(REGEX MATCH "[0-9a-f]*"
-            SEQUANT_REVISION "${SEQUANT_REVISION}")
-else ()
-    set(SEQUANT_REVISION "unknown")
-endif ()
+# extract git metadata
+include(GetGitMetadata)
+vgkit_cmake_git_metadata()
 
 # make SeQuant project
 project(SeQuant LANGUAGES CXX VERSION "${SEQUANT_VERSION}" DESCRIPTION "SEcond QUANTization toolkit")
@@ -81,7 +72,6 @@ include(FetchContent)
 include(AddCustomTargetSubproject)
 include(FeatureSummary)
 include(CMakePackageConfigHelpers)
-include(external/versions.cmake)
 
 ##########################
 # Standard build variables
@@ -261,11 +251,11 @@ add_library(SeQuant
         SeQuant/domain/mbpt/antisymmetrizer.hpp
         SeQuant/domain/mbpt/rdm.hpp
         )
-# feed SEQUANT_REVISION to SeQuant/version.cpp only to avoid recompiling everything
-set_property(
-        SOURCE SeQuant/version.cpp
-        PROPERTY COMPILE_DEFINITIONS
-        SEQUANT_REVISION=\"${SEQUANT_REVISION}\"
+# feed SEQUANT_GIT_REVISION and SEQUANT_GIT_DESCRIPTION to SeQuant/version.cpp only to avoid recompiling everything
+set_source_files_properties(
+        SeQuant/version.cpp
+        PROPERTIES COMPILE_DEFINITIONS
+        "SEQUANT_GIT_REVISION=\"${SEQUANT_GIT_REVISION}\";SEQUANT_GIT_DESCRIPTION=\"${SEQUANT_GIT_DESCRIPTION}\""
 )
 
 target_link_libraries(SeQuant PUBLIC range-v3::range-v3 Boost::regex Boost::boost SeQuant-bliss Threads::Threads)
diff --git a/SeQuant/version.cpp b/SeQuant/version.cpp
index c412c8007..742ff4502 100644
--- a/SeQuant/version.cpp
+++ b/SeQuant/version.cpp
@@ -7,8 +7,13 @@
 namespace sequant {
 
 const char* revision() noexcept {
-  static const char revision[] = SEQUANT_REVISION;
+  static const char revision[] = SEQUANT_GIT_REVISION;
   return revision;
 }
 
+const char* git_description() noexcept {
+  static const char description[] = SEQUANT_GIT_DESCRIPTION;
+  return description;
+}
+
 }  // namespace sequant
diff --git a/SeQuant/version.hpp.in b/SeQuant/version.hpp.in
index 189bf238a..e52962ee5 100644
--- a/SeQuant/version.hpp.in
+++ b/SeQuant/version.hpp.in
@@ -21,8 +21,17 @@
 #define SEQUANT_PRERELEASE_ID "@SEQUANT_PRERELEASE_ID@"
 
 namespace sequant {
+
 /** \return a string with the Git SHA1 revision hash tag of SeQuant */
-const char* revision() noexcept;
+const char* git_revision() noexcept;
+
+/**
+ * \return a string with the human-readable description of the current source
+ *   tree of SeQuant
+ * \note see `git describe --dirty` for the format description
+ * */
+const char* git_description() noexcept;
+
 }  // namespace sequant
 
 #endif  // SEQUANT_SRC_SEQUANT_VERSION_H_IN_H