diff --git a/cmd/litestream/mcp.go b/cmd/litestream/mcp.go
index fb5f8bdeb..86149558e 100644
--- a/cmd/litestream/mcp.go
+++ b/cmd/litestream/mcp.go
@@ -243,16 +243,11 @@ func RestoreTool(configPath string) (mcp.Tool, server.ToolHandlerFunc) {
 
 func VersionTool() (mcp.Tool, server.ToolHandlerFunc) {
 	tool := mcp.NewTool("litestream_version",
-		mcp.WithDescription("Print the Litestream binary version."),
+		mcp.WithDescription("Print the running Litestream daemon version."),
 	)
 
 	return tool, func(ctx context.Context, req mcp.CallToolRequest) (*mcp.CallToolResult, error) {
-		cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "litestream", "version")
-		output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
-		if err != nil {
-			return mcp.NewToolResultError(strings.TrimSpace(string(output)) + ": " + err.Error()), nil
-		}
-		return mcp.NewToolResultText(string(output)), nil
+		return mcp.NewToolResultText(Version + "\n"), nil
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/litestream/mcp_test.go b/cmd/litestream/mcp_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..36b7d9eea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/litestream/mcp_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/mark3labs/mcp-go/mcp"
+)
+
+func TestVersionTool(t *testing.T) {
+	prevVersion := Version
+	t.Cleanup(func() { Version = prevVersion })
+	Version = resolveVersion("v0.5.14-running", nil)
+	t.Setenv("PATH", t.TempDir())
+
+	_, handler := VersionTool()
+	result, err := handler(t.Context(), mcp.CallToolRequest{})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if result.IsError {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected tool error: %#v", result.Content)
+	}
+	if got, want := len(result.Content), 1; got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("content length=%d, want %d", got, want)
+	}
+	content, ok := result.Content[0].(mcp.TextContent)
+	if !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("content type=%T, want mcp.TextContent", result.Content[0])
+	}
+	if got, want := content.Text, Version+"\n"; got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("content=%q, want %q", got, want)
+	}
+}