diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index d771d5d..13bd617 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ matrix:
     - sudo service mysql stop || true
     - sudo service postgresql stop || true
     - cd $ROOT/docker
-    - docker-compose -f docker-compose.build.yml build
+    - docker-compose -f docker-compose.build.yml build --build-arg GIT_COMMIT=$TRAVIS_COMMIT
     - dcfile_mysql=docker-compose.mysql.yml
     - dcfile_postgres=docker-compose.postgresql.yml
     - BACKEND=mysql WEB_ENTRYPOINT="''" sh create-docker-compose.sh $dcfile_mysql
diff --git a/.travis/before_deploy.sh b/.travis/before_deploy.sh
index f882dc5..e72a970 100755
--- a/.travis/before_deploy.sh
+++ b/.travis/before_deploy.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ cd tmp
 git clone "https://${GIT_TOKEN}@github.com/${GIT_ORG}/${GIT_REPO}"
 cd $GIT_REPO
 cp $ROOT/docker/install.sh $WEB/requirements.txt .
-docker-compose -f docker-compose.build.yml build
+git_commit=`git log --format="%H" -n 1`
+docker-compose -f docker-compose.build.yml build --build-arg GIT_COMMIT="$git_commit"
 
 docker tag ottertune-base "${DOCKER_REPO}:base"
 docker tag ottertune-web "${DOCKER_REPO}:web"
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile.base b/docker/Dockerfile.base
index b42dce2..1c80a64 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile.base
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile.base
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 FROM ubuntu:18.04
 
 ARG DEBUG=true
+ARG GIT_COMMIT=
 
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 
@@ -8,6 +9,7 @@ COPY ./docker/install.sh ./server/website/requirements.txt /
 WORKDIR /
 
 RUN mkdir -p /app \
+    && ([ -n "$GIT_COMMIT" ] && echo "base=$GIT_COMMIT" > /app/.git_commit || :) \
     && chmod +x install.sh \
     && ./install.sh base