diff --git a/.githash b/.githash
deleted file mode 100644
index f2d1e6df..00000000
--- a/.githash
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-3713a2acb6579891706b08f970e99f9ae5e6472f
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 3d381f5f..3fc64c8d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -73,6 +73,37 @@ jobs:
 
       - uses: julia-actions/cache@v2
 
+      - name: Detect Legate branch override
+        id: legate-branch
+        run: |
+          MSG=$(printf '%s\n%s' \
+            "${{ github.event.head_commit.message }}" \
+            "${{ github.event.pull_request.body }}")
+          BRANCH=$(echo "$MSG" | grep -oiP 'legate[-_]branch:\s*\K\S+' | head -1 | tr -d '[]' || true)
+          echo "branch=${BRANCH}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          if [[ -n "$BRANCH" ]]; then
+            echo "Using Legate.jl branch override: $BRANCH"
+          else
+            echo "No Legate.jl branch override — using JLL"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Checkout Legate.jl branch override
+        if: steps.legate-branch.outputs.branch != ''
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          repository: ${{ github.repository_owner }}/Legate.jl
+          ref: ${{ steps.legate-branch.outputs.branch }}
+          path: Legate.jl
+
+      - name: Develop Legate.jl branch override
+        if: steps.legate-branch.outputs.branch != ''
+        run: |
+          julia --color=yes -e '
+              using Pkg;
+              Pkg.develop(PackageSpec(path = "Legate.jl/lib/LegatePreferences"))
+              Pkg.develop(PackageSpec(path = "Legate.jl"))
+          '
+
       - name: Run tests
         env:
           GPUTESTS: "0" # parsed by runtests.jl
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0046a57e..8a7dd6c8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -82,3 +82,4 @@ node_modules
 *.exe
 *.out
 *.app
+.githash
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 37b95947..03d02289 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -22,12 +22,3 @@ repos:
         entry: julia --project=. -e 'using JuliaFormatter; format(ARGS, verbose=true)'
         language: system
         types: [julia]
-
-      - id: update-githash
-        name: Update .githash
-        description: "Write the current git commit hash to .githash"
-        entry: bash -c 'git rev-parse HEAD > .githash'
-        language: system
-        always_run: true
-        pass_filenames: false
-        stages: [post-commit]
diff --git a/src/utilities/preference.jl b/src/utilities/preference.jl
index bb2effb9..1b2852d2 100644
--- a/src/utilities/preference.jl
+++ b/src/utilities/preference.jl
@@ -140,5 +140,10 @@ function find_dependency_paths(::Type{CNPreferences.JLL})
     return results
 end
 
-find_dependency_paths(::Type{CNPreferences.Developer}) = Dict{String,String}()
+function find_dependency_paths(::Type{CNPreferences.Developer})
+    isdefined(@__MODULE__, :cupynumeric_jll) || return Dict{String,String}()
+    paths = getfield(@__MODULE__, :cupynumeric_jll).LIBPATH_list
+    return Dict(name => dirname(Libdl.find_library(lib, paths)) for (name, lib) in DEPS_MAP)
+end
+
 find_dependency_paths(::Type{CNPreferences.Conda}) = Dict{String,String}()
diff --git a/src/utilities/version.jl b/src/utilities/version.jl
index b2cf79fa..5dabd527 100644
--- a/src/utilities/version.jl
+++ b/src/utilities/version.jl
@@ -15,8 +15,13 @@ function get_cxx_version(libpath::AbstractString)
 end
 
 function read_githash()
-    githash_path = joinpath(@__DIR__, "../", "../", ".githash")
-    return isfile(githash_path) ? readchomp(githash_path) : "unknown"
+    try
+        pkg_root = joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "..")
+        hash = readchomp(`git -C $pkg_root rev-parse HEAD`)
+        isempty(hash) || return hash
+    catch
+    end
+    return "unknown"
 end
 
 @doc"""