diff --git a/scripts/version.sh b/scripts/version.sh
index 9574e47..4d082b9 100755
--- a/scripts/version.sh
+++ b/scripts/version.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-# this script updateds version information
+# this script updates version information
 
 # version details
 export BUILD_DATE=`date -u +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%:z'`
@@ -9,13 +9,18 @@ export GIT_SHA=`git rev-parse HEAD`
 export GIT_SHA_SHORT=`git rev-parse --short HEAD`
 export VERSION_PKG="github.com/mycontroller-org/esphome_api/cli/version"
 
-# update tag, if available
-if [ ${GIT_BRANCH} = "HEAD" ]; then
+# update tag, if available (detached HEAD on a release tag, e.g. v1.4.0)
+if [ "${GIT_BRANCH}" = "HEAD" ]; then
   export GIT_BRANCH=`git describe --abbrev=0 --tags`
 fi
 
-# update version number
-export VERSION=`echo ${GIT_BRANCH} |  awk 'match($0, /([0-9]*\.[0-9]*)$/) { print substr($0, RSTART, RLENGTH) }'`
+# Prefer full semver X.Y.Z (e.g. v1.4.0 -> 1.4.0).
+# Do not use X.Y at end of string: that turns v1.4.0 into 4.0.
+export VERSION=`echo "${GIT_BRANCH}" | awk 'match($0, /[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/) { print substr($0, RSTART, RLENGTH); exit }'`
+if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then
+  # fallback: major.minor only (e.g. branch release/1.4)
+  export VERSION=`echo "${GIT_BRANCH}" | awk 'match($0, /[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/) { print substr($0, RSTART, RLENGTH); exit }'`
+fi
 if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then
   # takes version from versions file and adds devel suffix with that
   STATIC_VERSION=`grep esphomectl= versions.txt | awk -F= '{print $2}'`
diff --git a/versions.txt b/versions.txt
index 3570c54..f4abd71 100644
--- a/versions.txt
+++ b/versions.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # this version number will be used for development builds
-esphomectl=1.4
\ No newline at end of file
+esphomectl=1.4.0
\ No newline at end of file