diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 0c2779fcf5..2d968a4622 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ repos:
       - id: shellcheck
         args: ["--severity=warning"]
   - repo: https://github.com/rapidsai/pre-commit-hooks
-    rev: v1.3.3
+    rev: v1.4.3
     hooks:
       - id: verify-copyright
         args: [--fix, --spdx]
@@ -81,6 +81,21 @@ repos:
         exclude: |
           (?x)
             ^pyproject[.]toml$
+      - id: verify-hardcoded-version
+        exclude: |
+          (?x)
+            (^|/)devcontainer[.]json$|
+            (^|/)dependencies[.]yaml$|
+            ^[.]github/(workflows|ISSUE_TEMPLATE)/|
+            (^|/)pom[.]xml$|
+            ^[.]pre-commit-config[.]yaml$|
+            ^conda/environments/|
+            (^|/)VERSION$|
+            (^|/)RAPIDS_BRANCH$|
+            [.](md|rst|avro|parquet|png|orc|gz|pkl|sas7bdat|msgpack|pickle|jpg|bz2|zlib)$|
+            ^docs/cuopt/source/cuopt-python/routing/routing-example[.]ipynb$|
+            ^docs/cuopt/source/versions1[.]json$|
+            ^helmchart/cuopt-server/(Chart[.]yaml|values[.]yaml)$
   - repo: local
     hooks:
       - id: update-versions
diff --git a/ci/release/update-version.sh b/ci/release/update-version.sh
index ba1bc066f8..3d6c356b3d 100755
--- a/ci/release/update-version.sh
+++ b/ci/release/update-version.sh
@@ -125,10 +125,6 @@ for DEP in "${DEPENDENCIES[@]}"; do
   done
 done
 
-# Update project.json
-PROJECT_FILE="docs/cuopt/source/project.json"
-sed_runner 's/\("version": "\)[0-9][0-9]\.[0-9][0-9]\.[0-9][0-9]"/\1'${NEXT_FULL_TAG}'"/g' "${PROJECT_FILE}"
-
 # Update README.md version badge
 sed_runner 's/badge\/version-[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+-blue/badge\/version-'${NEXT_FULL_TAG}'-blue/g' README.md
 
diff --git a/docs/cuopt/source/conf.py b/docs/cuopt/source/conf.py
index 8ecabc4d89..919567fb88 100644
--- a/docs/cuopt/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/cuopt/source/conf.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import os
+import tempfile
+import json
+from sphinx.util.fileutil import copy_asset_file
+from pathlib import Path
 
 # Run cuopt server help command and save output
 subprocess.run(
@@ -166,7 +170,7 @@
 # so a file named "default.css" will overwrite the builtin "default.css".
 html_static_path = ["_static"]
 html_css_files = ["swagger-nvidia.css"]
-html_extra_path = ["project.json", "versions1.json"]
+html_extra_path = ["versions1.json"]
 
 
 # -- Options for Breathe (Doxygen) ----------------------------------------
@@ -330,6 +334,20 @@ def skip_unwanted_inherited_members(app, what, name, obj, skip, options):
     return skip
 
 
+def write_project_json(app, _builder):
+    json_data = {
+        "name": "cuopt",
+        "version": cuopt.__version__,
+        "url": "https://github.com/nvidia/cuopt",
+        "description": "NVIDIA cuOpt is an optimization engine",
+    }
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d:
+        path = Path(d) / "project.json"
+        with open(path, "w") as f:
+            json.dump(json_data, f)
+        copy_asset_file(path, app.outdir / "project.json")
+
+
 intersphinx_mapping = {
     "python": ("https://docs.python.org/3", None),
 }
@@ -363,3 +381,4 @@ def skip_unwanted_inherited_members(app, what, name, obj, skip, options):
 def setup(app):
     app.setup_extension("sphinx.ext.autodoc")
     app.connect("autodoc-skip-member", skip_unwanted_inherited_members)
+    app.connect("write-started", write_project_json)
diff --git a/docs/cuopt/source/project.json b/docs/cuopt/source/project.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 9b30480261..0000000000
--- a/docs/cuopt/source/project.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-{"name": "cuopt", "version": "26.04.00", "url": "https://github.com/nvidia/cuopt", "description": "NVIDIA cuOpt is a optimization engine"}