diff --git a/R/buildtools.R b/R/buildtools.R
index 762faf7..b4bde43 100644
--- a/R/buildtools.R
+++ b/R/buildtools.R
@@ -910,6 +910,7 @@ generate_metadata_files <- function(package, repo, subdir, outdir, pkgdir, git_u
     contents$topics <- unique(c(contents$topics, sysdeps$name))
     contents$topics <- sub('c++', 'cpp', contents$topics, fixed = TRUE)
   }
+  contents$buildversion <- jsonlite::unbox(as.character(getRversion()))
   contents$assets <- assets
   contents$homeurl <- jsonlite::unbox(homeurl)
   contents$realowner <- jsonlite::unbox(realowner)