diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2d4f8a9a..1bfb48db 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 IMAGE_BUILDER?=podman
 IMAGE_REPO?=quay.io/redhat-certification
 COMMIT_ID=$(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD)
+COMMIT_ID_LONG=$(shell git rev-parse HEAD)
 
 default: bin
 
@@ -47,6 +48,10 @@ bin_win:
 test:
 	go test -v ./...
 
+.PHONY: build
+build:
+	go build -ldflags "-X 'github.com/redhat-certification/chart-verifier/cmd.CommitIdLong=$(COMMIT_ID_LONG)'"
+
 .PHONY: build-image
 build-image:
 	$(IMAGE_BUILDER) build -t $(IMAGE_REPO)/chart-verifier:$(COMMIT_ID) .
diff --git a/cmd/version.go b/cmd/version.go
index 5368c3f0..11afa431 100644
--- a/cmd/version.go
+++ b/cmd/version.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package cmd
 
 import (
 	_ "embed"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
@@ -11,23 +12,50 @@ import (
 	apiversion "github.com/redhat-certification/chart-verifier/pkg/chartverifier/version"
 )
 
+// Print version and commit ID as json blob
+var asData bool
+
 func init() {
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(NewVersionCmd())
 }
 
+// This variable is populated at build time by ldflags.
+// If you're running from a local debugger it will show an empty commit ID.
+var CommitIdLong string
+
+type VersionContext struct {
+	Version string `json:"version"`
+	Commit  string `json:"commit"`
+}
+
+var Version = VersionContext{
+	Version: apiversion.GetVersion(),
+	Commit:  CommitIdLong,
+}
+
 func NewVersionCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "version",
 		Short: "print the chart-verifier version information",
+		Long:  "git commit information for this particular binary build is included at build time and can be accessed by this command",
 		Args:  cobra.NoArgs,
 		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 			return runVersion(os.Stdout)
 		},
 	}
+	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&asData, "as-data", false, "output the version and commit ID information in JSON format")
 	return cmd
 }
 
 func runVersion(out io.Writer) error {
-	fmt.Fprintf(out, "v%s\n", apiversion.GetVersion())
+	if asData {
+		marshalledVersion, err := json.Marshal(Version)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		fmt.Fprintf(out, string(marshalledVersion))
+	} else {
+		fmt.Fprintf(out, "chart-verifier v%s <commit: %s>\n", apiversion.GetVersion(), CommitIdLong)
+	}
 	return nil
 }