diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ad068af..1bf9707 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -25,11 +25,8 @@ export TF_VAR_MATURITY=${MATURITY}
 export TF_VAR_DEPLOY_NAME=${DEPLOY_NAME}
 PYTHON_VER ?= python3
 
-
-CIRRUS_DAAC_BRANCH := $(shell git -C $(DAAC_DIR) rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
-CIRRUS_CORE_BRANCH := $(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
-CIRRUS_DAAC_TAG := $(shell git -C $(DAAC_DIR) describe --tags --abbrev=0)
-CIRRUS_CORE_TAG := $(shell git describe --tags --abbrev=0)
+CIRRUS_CORE_VERSION := $(or $(shell git tag --points-at HEAD | head -n1),$(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD))
+CIRRUS_DAAC_VERSION := $(or $(shell git -C $(DAAC_DIR) tag --points-at HEAD | head -n1),$(shell git -C $(DAAC_DIR) rev-parse --short HEAD))
 
 # ---------------------------
 SELF_DIR := $(dir $(realpath $(firstword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
@@ -65,10 +62,8 @@ container-shell:
 		--env AWS_CONFIG_DIR="/" \
 		--env PS1='\s-\v:\w\$$ ' \
 		--env HISTFILE="/CIRRUS-core/.container_bash_history" \
-		--env TF_VAR_CIRRUS_CORE_BRANCH=${CIRRUS_CORE_BRANCH} \
-		--env TF_VAR_CIRRUS_DAAC_BRANCH=${CIRRUS_DAAC_BRANCH} \
-		--env TF_VAR_CIRRUS_CORE_TAG=${CIRRUS_CORE_TAG} \
-		--env TF_VAR_CIRRUS_DAAC_TAG=${CIRRUS_DAAC_TAG} \
+		--env TF_VAR_CIRRUS_CORE_VERSION=${CIRRUS_CORE_VERSION} \
+		--env TF_VAR_CIRRUS_DAAC_VERSION=${CIRRUS_DAAC_VERSION} \
 		-v ${PWD}:/CIRRUS-core \
 		-v ${DAAC_DIR}:/CIRRUS-DAAC \
 		-v ${HOME}/.aws:/.aws \
diff --git a/cumulus/outputs.tf b/cumulus/outputs.tf
index 17b77a5..6144941 100644
--- a/cumulus/outputs.tf
+++ b/cumulus/outputs.tf
@@ -143,3 +143,11 @@ output "background_job_queue_url" {
 output "vpc" {
   value = data.aws_vpc.application_vpcs.id
 }
+
+output "cirrus_core_version" {
+  value = var.CIRRUS_CORE_VERSION
+}
+
+output "cirrus_daac_version" {
+  value = var.CIRRUS_DAAC_VERSION
+}
diff --git a/cumulus/variables.tf b/cumulus/variables.tf
index 0e131dd..de23110 100644
--- a/cumulus/variables.tf
+++ b/cumulus/variables.tf
@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ variable "MATURITY" {
   default = "dev"
 }
 
+variable "CIRRUS_CORE_VERSION" {
+  type    = string
+}
+
+variable "CIRRUS_DAAC_VERSION" {
+  type    = string
+}
+
 variable "cmr_environment" {
   type = string
 }
diff --git a/data-persistence/outputs.tf b/data-persistence/outputs.tf
index c58365c..c80ca45 100644
--- a/data-persistence/outputs.tf
+++ b/data-persistence/outputs.tf
@@ -25,3 +25,11 @@ output "rds_security_group_id" {
 output "rds_user_access_secret_arn" {
   value = data.terraform_remote_state.rds.outputs.rds_user_access_secret_arn
 }
+
+output "cirrus_core_version" {
+  value = var.CIRRUS_CORE_VERSION
+}
+
+output "cirrus_daac_version" {
+  value = var.CIRRUS_DAAC_VERSION
+}
diff --git a/data-persistence/variables.tf b/data-persistence/variables.tf
index 46c64f1..bf59290 100644
--- a/data-persistence/variables.tf
+++ b/data-persistence/variables.tf
@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ variable "MATURITY" {
   default = "dev"
 }
 
+variable "CIRRUS_CORE_VERSION" {
+  type    = string
+}
+
+variable "CIRRUS_DAAC_VERSION" {
+  type    = string
+}
+
 variable "include_elasticsearch" {
   type    = bool
   default = true
diff --git a/tf/locals.tf b/tf/locals.tf
index a885fbb..0ae79ff 100644
--- a/tf/locals.tf
+++ b/tf/locals.tf
@@ -3,9 +3,6 @@ locals {
   aws_account_id       = data.aws_caller_identity.current.account_id
   aws_account_id_last4 = substr(data.aws_caller_identity.current.account_id, -4, 4)
 
-  cirrus_core_version  = var.CIRRUS_CORE_BRANCH == "HEAD" ? var.CIRRUS_CORE_TAG: var.CIRRUS_CORE_BRANCH
-  cirrus_daac_version  = var.CIRRUS_DAAC_BRANCH == "HEAD" ? var.CIRRUS_DAAC_TAG: var.CIRRUS_DAAC_BRANCH
-
   default_tags = {
     Deployment = local.prefix
   }
diff --git a/tf/main.tf b/tf/main.tf
index 82f0840..b96c888 100644
--- a/tf/main.tf
+++ b/tf/main.tf
@@ -26,18 +26,3 @@ resource "aws_dynamodb_table" "backend-tf-locks-table" {
   }
   tags = local.default_tags
 }
-
-resource "aws_s3_object" "cirrus-versions" {
-  bucket = aws_s3_bucket.backend-tf-state-bucket.id
-  key    = "cirrus-versions.json"
-  content_type = "application/json"
-
-  content = <<JSON
-    {
-      "CIRRUS-core-version": "${local.cirrus_core_version}",
-      "CIRRUS-DAAC-version": "${local.cirrus_daac_version}",
-    }
-  JSON
-
-  tags = local.default_tags
-}
diff --git a/tf/outputs.tf b/tf/outputs.tf
index e69de29..0dec2fd 100644
--- a/tf/outputs.tf
+++ b/tf/outputs.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+output "cirrus_core_version" {
+  value = var.CIRRUS_CORE_VERSION
+}
+
+output "cirrus_daac_version" {
+  value = var.CIRRUS_DAAC_VERSION
+}
diff --git a/tf/variables.tf b/tf/variables.tf
index 81903b2..cdecd81 100644
--- a/tf/variables.tf
+++ b/tf/variables.tf
@@ -7,18 +7,10 @@ variable "MATURITY" {
   default = "dev"
 }
 
-variable "CIRRUS_CORE_BRANCH" {
+variable "CIRRUS_CORE_VERSION" {
   type    = string
 }
 
-variable "CIRRUS_DAAC_BRANCH" {
-  type    = string
-}
-
-variable "CIRRUS_CORE_TAG" {
-  type    = string
-}
-
-variable "CIRRUS_DAAC_TAG" {
+variable "CIRRUS_DAAC_VERSION" {
   type    = string
 }