diff --git a/app/Console/Commands/Version.php b/app/Console/Commands/Version.php
index 34a0850e7..9740b2167 100644
--- a/app/Console/Commands/Version.php
+++ b/app/Console/Commands/Version.php
@@ -9,6 +9,22 @@ class Version extends BaseCommand
 {
     protected $signature = 'phpvms:version {--write}';
 
+    /**
+     * Create the version number that gets written out
+     */
+    protected function createVersionNumber($cfg)
+    {
+        exec($cfg['git']['git-local'], $version);
+        $version = substr($version[0], 0, $cfg['build']['length']);
+
+        # prefix with the date in YYMMDD format
+        $date = date('ymd');
+
+        $version = $date.'-'.$version;
+
+        return $version;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Run dev related commands
      * @throws \Symfony\Component\Yaml\Exception\ParseException
@@ -19,8 +35,8 @@ public function handle()
             $version_file = config_path('version.yml');
 
             $cfg = Yaml::parse(file_get_contents($version_file));
-            exec($cfg['git']['git-local'], $version);
-            $version = substr($version[0], 0, $cfg['build']['length']);
+
+            $version = $this->createVersionNumber($cfg);
             $cfg['build']['number'] = $version;
 
             file_put_contents($version_file, Yaml::dump($cfg, 4, 2));
diff --git a/config/version.yml b/config/version.yml
index a57e17248..5070bcc28 100644
--- a/config/version.yml
+++ b/config/version.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ build:
   mode: number
   length: 6
   increment_by: 1
-  number: 5e097e
+  number: 180119-6e12c0
   git_absorb: git-local
 git:
   git-local: 'git rev-parse --verify HEAD'