diff --git a/.env b/.env
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..491f1304
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+REACT_APP_COMMIT_REF=$COMMIT_REF
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 302574d9..d32530b1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# scripts/deploy.sh env
+.deploy-env
+
 # electron builder binaries
 /bin
 
diff --git a/scripts/deploy.sh b/scripts/deploy.sh
index 23744f9f..d7748218 100755
--- a/scripts/deploy.sh
+++ b/scripts/deploy.sh
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
 cd "$(dirname "$0")"
 
 # add env vars
-if [ -f ../.env ]; then
-  export $(echo $(cat ../.env | sed 's/#.*//g'| xargs) | envsubst)
+if [ -f ../.deploy-env ]; then
+  export $(echo $(cat ../.deploy-env | sed 's/#.*//g'| xargs) | envsubst)
 fi
 
 # check creds
diff --git a/src/components/views/Home.jsx b/src/components/views/Home.jsx
index cd676aba..3e6d7374 100644
--- a/src/components/views/Home.jsx
+++ b/src/components/views/Home.jsx
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ import OfflineIndicator from '../OfflineIndicator';
 import packageJson from '../../../package.json'
 import { Tooltip } from 'react-tooltip';
 const {version} = packageJson
+// show commit ref on netlify to know which commit is being served for debugging
+const commitRef = process?.env?.REACT_APP_COMMIT_REF ? ` ${process.env.REACT_APP_COMMIT_REF.slice(0, 7)}` : ''
 
 
 const Home = () => {
@@ -184,7 +186,7 @@ const Home = () => {
           fontSize: "11px",
           marginBottom: "2em",
         }}>
-          plebchan v{version}. GPL-2.0
+          plebchan v{version}{commitRef}. GPL-2.0
         </div>
       </Container>
     </>