diff --git a/packages/react-devtools-extensions/utils.js b/packages/react-devtools-extensions/utils.js
index a096b39b2283c..0cbf23fc68f2a 100644
--- a/packages/react-devtools-extensions/utils.js
+++ b/packages/react-devtools-extensions/utils.js
@@ -30,12 +30,14 @@ function getGitCommit() {
   }
 }
 
-function getVersionString() {
-  const packageVersion = JSON.parse(
-    readFileSync(
-      resolve(__dirname, '..', 'react-devtools-core', './package.json'),
-    ),
-  ).version;
+function getVersionString(packageVersion = null) {
+  if (packageVersion == null) {
+    packageVersion = JSON.parse(
+      readFileSync(
+        resolve(__dirname, '..', 'react-devtools-core', './package.json'),
+      ),
+    ).version;
+  }
 
   const commit = getGitCommit();
 
diff --git a/packages/react-devtools-extensions/webpack.backend.js b/packages/react-devtools-extensions/webpack.backend.js
index e8c3bded6310e..80198868f1876 100644
--- a/packages/react-devtools-extensions/webpack.backend.js
+++ b/packages/react-devtools-extensions/webpack.backend.js
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ const builtModulesDir = resolve(
 
 const __DEV__ = NODE_ENV === 'development';
 
-const DEVTOOLS_VERSION = getVersionString();
+const DEVTOOLS_VERSION = getVersionString(process.env.DEVTOOLS_VERSION);
 
 const featureFlagTarget = process.env.FEATURE_FLAG_TARGET || 'extension-oss';
 
diff --git a/packages/react-devtools-extensions/webpack.config.js b/packages/react-devtools-extensions/webpack.config.js
index f7ba2f2e76241..99b1d18d3a999 100644
--- a/packages/react-devtools-extensions/webpack.config.js
+++ b/packages/react-devtools-extensions/webpack.config.js
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ const builtModulesDir = resolve(
 
 const __DEV__ = NODE_ENV === 'development';
 
-const DEVTOOLS_VERSION = getVersionString();
+const DEVTOOLS_VERSION = getVersionString(process.env.DEVTOOLS_VERSION);
 
 const LOGGING_URL = process.env.LOGGING_URL || null;