diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 988c9cad5..63e424b84 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 BUILD_FILES = $(shell go list -f '{{range .GoFiles}}{{$$.Dir}}/{{.}}\
 {{end}}' ./...)
 
-# export GOFLAGS := -mod=vendor $GOFLAGS
+GH_VERSION = $(shell go describe --tags 2>/dev/null || git rev-parse --short HEAD)
+LDFLAGS := -X github.com/github/gh-cli/command.Version=$(GH_VERSION) $(LDFLAGS)
+LDFLAGS := -X github.com/github/gh-cli/command.BuildDate=$(shell date +%Y-%m-%d) $(LDFLAGS)
 
 bin/gh: $(BUILD_FILES)
-	go build -o "$@"
+	@go build -ldflags "$(LDFLAGS)" -o "$@"
 
 test:
 	go test ./...
diff --git a/command/root.go b/command/root.go
index c0b676c86..1e9c449b6 100644
--- a/command/root.go
+++ b/command/root.go
@@ -6,16 +6,31 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/github/gh-cli/api"
 	"github.com/github/gh-cli/context"
-	"github.com/github/gh-cli/version"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
+// Version is dynamically set at build time in the Makefile
+var Version = "DEV"
+
+// BuildDate is dynamically set at build time in the Makefile
+var BuildDate = "YYYY-MM-DD"
+
 func init() {
+	RootCmd.Version = fmt.Sprintf("%s (%s)", Version, BuildDate)
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringP("repo", "R", "", "current GitHub repository")
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringP("current-branch", "B", "", "current git branch")
 	// TODO:
 	// RootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolP("verbose", "V", false, "enable verbose output")
+
+	RootCmd.SetFlagErrorFunc(func(cmd *cobra.Command, err error) error {
+		return FlagError{err}
+	})
+}
+
+// FlagError is the kind of error raised in flag processing
+type FlagError struct {
+	error
 }
 
 // RootCmd is the entry point of command-line execution
@@ -23,10 +38,9 @@ var RootCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:   "gh",
 	Short: "GitHub CLI",
 	Long:  `Do things with GitHub from your terminal`,
-	Args:  cobra.MinimumNArgs(1),
-	Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
-		fmt.Println("root")
-	},
+
+	SilenceErrors: true,
+	SilenceUsage:  true,
 }
 
 // overriden in tests
@@ -57,7 +71,7 @@ var apiClientForContext = func(ctx context.Context) (*api.Client, error) {
 	}
 	opts := []api.ClientOption{
 		api.AddHeader("Authorization", fmt.Sprintf("token %s", token)),
-		api.AddHeader("User-Agent", fmt.Sprintf("GitHub CLI %s", version.Version)),
+		api.AddHeader("User-Agent", fmt.Sprintf("GitHub CLI %s", Version)),
 	}
 	if verbose := os.Getenv("DEBUG"); verbose != "" {
 		opts = append(opts, api.VerboseLog(os.Stderr))
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index f954ae933..e7f94a5d0 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -3,13 +3,18 @@ package main
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/github/gh-cli/command"
 )
 
 func main() {
-	if err := command.RootCmd.Execute(); err != nil {
-		fmt.Println(err)
+	if cmd, err := command.RootCmd.ExecuteC(); err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
+		_, isFlagError := err.(command.FlagError)
+		if isFlagError || strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "unknown command ") {
+			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, cmd.UsageString())
+		}
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/version/version.go b/version/version.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 7314c51e6..000000000
--- a/version/version.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-package version
-
-import (
-	"fmt"
-)
-
-var Version = "0.0.0"
-
-func FullVersion() (string, error) {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("gh version %s", Version), nil
-}