diff --git a/backend/src/ref_backend/builder.py b/backend/src/ref_backend/builder.py
index 8333baa3..28dd723a 100644
--- a/backend/src/ref_backend/builder.py
+++ b/backend/src/ref_backend/builder.py
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ def build_app(settings: Settings, ref_config: Config, database: Database) -> Fas
     if settings.SENTRY_DSN and settings.ENVIRONMENT != "local":
         sentry_sdk.init(
             dsn=str(settings.SENTRY_DSN),
+            release=settings.GIT_COMMIT,
             enable_tracing=True,
         )
 
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_builder.py b/backend/tests/test_builder.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e8e3d6bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/test_builder.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+from ref_backend import builder
+from ref_backend.api import deps
+from ref_backend.testing import test_ref_config, test_settings
+
+
+def test_sentry_release_is_the_git_commit(monkeypatch):
+    calls = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(builder.sentry_sdk, "init", lambda **kwargs: calls.append(kwargs))
+    settings = test_settings().model_copy(
+        update={
+            "SENTRY_DSN": "https://key@sentry.example.com/1",
+            "ENVIRONMENT": "staging",
+            "GIT_COMMIT": "e145da768b1725ce708150597a565df09c923dc3",
+        }
+    )
+    config = test_ref_config()
+
+    builder.build_app(settings, config, deps._get_database_dependency(settings, config))
+
+    assert calls[0]["release"] == "e145da768b1725ce708150597a565df09c923dc3"
diff --git a/changelog/140.fix.md b/changelog/140.fix.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0b7d9dd6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/140.fix.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Backend errors reported to Sentry now carry the release they came from.