diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 1789237..ed193b2 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -124,6 +124,16 @@
          </resource>
       </resources>
       <plugins>
+         <!-- the artifact version, for the help bundle version test -->
+         <plugin>
+            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+            <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
+            <configuration>
+               <systemPropertyVariables combine.children="append">
+                  <qbit.artifactVersion>${project.version}</qbit.artifactVersion>
+               </systemPropertyVariables>
+            </configuration>
+         </plugin>
          <plugin>
             <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
             <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qbits/cdn/CdnHelpBundleTest.java b/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qbits/cdn/CdnHelpBundleTest.java
index 6d4915e..d4466b1 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qbits/cdn/CdnHelpBundleTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/kingsrook/qbits/cdn/CdnHelpBundleTest.java
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class CdnHelpBundleTest
       assertThat(instance.getTable("helpContent")).isNull();
       var bundle = HelpBundles.of(instance).getBundles().get(0);
       assertThat(bundle.getId()).isEqualTo("qbit-cdn");
-      assertThat(bundle.getVersion()).isEqualTo("0.1.0-SNAPSHOT");
+      assertThat(bundle.getVersion()).as("the help bundle carries the artifact version").isEqualTo(System.getProperty("qbit.artifactVersion"));
       assertThat(bundle.getLayer()).isEqualTo(HelpBundleLayer.QBIT);
       assertThat(bundle.getEntries()).extracting(entry -> entry.getKey()).doesNotHaveDuplicates();
       // Core's gate does not require widgets or possible-value sources yet.