diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e077366d1e..17184b1912 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# vllm commit id, generated by setup.py
+vllm/commit_id.py
+
 # Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
 __pycache__/
 *.py[cod]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 067ad13fed..485cfe36b1 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import os
 import re
 import subprocess
 import sys
+import warnings
 from shutil import which
 from typing import Dict, List
 
@@ -26,6 +27,29 @@ def load_module_from_path(module_name, path):
 ROOT_DIR = os.path.dirname(__file__)
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+
+def embed_commit_hash():
+    try:
+        commit_id = subprocess.check_output(["git", "rev-parse", "HEAD"],
+                                            encoding="utf-8").strip()
+        commit_contents = f'__commit__ = "{commit_id}"\n'
+
+        version_file = os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, "vllm", "commit_id.py")
+        with open(version_file, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+            f.write(commit_contents)
+
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+        warnings.warn(f"Failed to get commit hash:\n{e}",
+                      RuntimeWarning,
+                      stacklevel=2)
+    except Exception as e:
+        warnings.warn(f"Failed to embed commit hash:\n{e}",
+                      RuntimeWarning,
+                      stacklevel=2)
+
+
+embed_commit_hash()
+
 # cannot import envs directly because it depends on vllm,
 #  which is not installed yet
 envs = load_module_from_path('envs', os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, 'vllm', 'envs.py'))
diff --git a/tests/test_embedded_commit.py b/tests/test_embedded_commit.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..17b01651e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_embedded_commit.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+import vllm
+
+
+def test_embedded_commit_defined():
+    assert vllm.__commit__ != "COMMIT_HASH_PLACEHOLDER"
+    # 7 characters is the length of a short commit hash
+    assert len(vllm.__commit__) >= 7
diff --git a/vllm/__init__.py b/vllm/__init__.py
index e217059873..318f078fdb 100644
--- a/vllm/__init__.py
+++ b/vllm/__init__.py
@@ -12,9 +12,10 @@ from vllm.outputs import (CompletionOutput, EmbeddingOutput,
 from vllm.pooling_params import PoolingParams
 from vllm.sampling_params import SamplingParams
 
-from .version import __version__
+from .version import __commit__, __version__
 
 __all__ = [
+    "__commit__",
     "__version__",
     "LLM",
     "ModelRegistry",
diff --git a/vllm/version.py b/vllm/version.py
index dd9b22cccc..309f979541 100644
--- a/vllm/version.py
+++ b/vllm/version.py
@@ -1 +1,12 @@
+import warnings
+
+try:
+    import vllm.commit_id
+    __commit__ = vllm.commit_id.__commit__
+except Exception as e:
+    warnings.warn(f"Failed to read commit hash:\n{e}",
+                  RuntimeWarning,
+                  stacklevel=2)
+    __commit__ = "COMMIT_HASH_PLACEHOLDER"
+
 __version__ = "0.5.1"