diff --git a/mesop/BUILD b/mesop/BUILD
index 8e8fa9306..e663222c0 100644
--- a/mesop/BUILD
+++ b/mesop/BUILD
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ py_library(
     ],
     visibility = ["//build_defs:mesop_users"],
     deps = [
-        "//mesop/pip_package:version",
+        ":version",
         # REF(//scripts/scaffold_component.py):insert_component_import
         "//mesop/components/embed:py",
         "//mesop/components/table:py",
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ py_library(
     ],
 )
 
+py_library(
+    name = "version",
+    srcs = ["version.py"],
+    visibility = ["//build_defs:mesop_internal"],
+)
+
 py_library(
     name = "example_index",
     srcs = ["example_index.py"],
diff --git a/mesop/__init__.py b/mesop/__init__.py
index 3d3d34fb5..bbc73c279 100644
--- a/mesop/__init__.py
+++ b/mesop/__init__.py
@@ -129,10 +129,10 @@
 )
 from mesop.features import page as page
 from mesop.key import Key as Key
-from mesop.pip_package.version import VERSION
 from mesop.runtime import runtime
 from mesop.server.colab_run import colab_run as colab_run
 from mesop.server.wsgi_app import wsgi_app
+from mesop.version import VERSION
 
 __version__ = VERSION
 
diff --git a/mesop/pip_package/BUILD b/mesop/pip_package/BUILD
index 2078afb93..3fe81b628 100644
--- a/mesop/pip_package/BUILD
+++ b/mesop/pip_package/BUILD
@@ -1,19 +1,9 @@
-# Description:
-#  Tools for building the Mesop pip package.
-load("//build_defs:defaults.bzl", "py_binary", "py_library")
-
 package(
     default_visibility = ["//build_defs:mesop_internal"],
 )
 
 licenses(["notice"])
 
-py_library(
-    name = "version",
-    srcs = ["version.py"],
-    visibility = ["//build_defs:mesop_internal"],
-)
-
 sh_binary(
     name = "build_pip_package",
     srcs = ["build_pip_package.sh"],
@@ -24,9 +14,9 @@ sh_binary(
         "requirements.txt",
         "setup.cfg",
         "setup.py",
-        "version.py",
         ":deterministic_tar_gz",
         "//mesop",  # Main Mesop target
+        "//mesop:version.py",
         "//mesop/bin",  # CLI binary
         "//mesop/labs",  # Mesop labs target
     ],
diff --git a/mesop/pip_package/build_pip_package.sh b/mesop/pip_package/build_pip_package.sh
index 65a4d75c5..f4e4e7879 100755
--- a/mesop/pip_package/build_pip_package.sh
+++ b/mesop/pip_package/build_pip_package.sh
@@ -79,7 +79,11 @@ build() (
   mv -f "mesop/pip_package/requirements.txt" .
   mv -f "mesop/pip_package/setup.cfg" .
   mv -f "mesop/pip_package/setup.py" .
-  mv -f "mesop/pip_package/version.py" .
+  # version.py is copied because it's used in two ways:
+  # 1) used by ./setup.py (see note how it must be imported without
+  # depending on the rest of mesop package)
+  # 2) used by mesop/__init__.py as a constant in the public API
+  cp "mesop/version.py" .
   rm -rf "mesop/pip_package"
 
   rm -f mesop/mesop  # bazel py_binary sh wrapper
diff --git a/mesop/pip_package/version.py b/mesop/version.py
similarity index 100%
rename from mesop/pip_package/version.py
rename to mesop/version.py