diff --git a/cli/app/new.go b/cli/app/new.go
index ecd231c8..00c21bf5 100644
--- a/cli/app/new.go
+++ b/cli/app/new.go
@@ -81,35 +81,8 @@ var AppNewCommand = &cobra.Command{
 				log.Fatal(err)
 			}
 
-			// NOTE(d1): rely on tags as there is no recipe.EnvVersion yet because
-			// the app has not been fully created. we rely on the local git state of
-			// the repository
-			tags, err := recipe.Tags()
-			if err != nil {
-				log.Fatal(err)
-			}
-
-			internal.SortVersionsDesc(tags)
-
-			if len(tags) == 0 {
-				// NOTE(d1): this is a new recipe with no released versions
-				recipeVersion = config.UNKNOWN_DEFAULT
-			} else {
-				recipeVersion = tags[len(tags)-1]
-			}
-
-			if err := recipe.IsDirty(); err != nil {
-				log.Fatal(err)
-			}
-
-			if !internal.Offline && !recipe.Dirty {
-				if err := recipe.EnsureUpToDate(); err != nil {
-					log.Fatal(err)
-				}
-			}
-		}
-
-		if !internal.Chaos {
+			recipeVersion = chaosVersion
+		} else {
 			if err := recipe.EnsureIsClean(); err != nil {
 				log.Fatal(err)
 			}
diff --git a/tests/integration/app_new.bats b/tests/integration/app_new.bats
index 463071e9..bc43b4f4 100644
--- a/tests/integration/app_new.bats
+++ b/tests/integration/app_new.bats
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ teardown(){
   assert_success
 }
 
-@test "create new app with chaos commit" {
+@test "create new app with version commit" {
   tagHash=$(_get_tag_hash "0.3.0+1.21.0")
 
   run $ABRA app new "$TEST_RECIPE" "$tagHash" \
@@ -129,6 +129,10 @@ teardown(){
   assert_exists "$ABRA_DIR/recipes/$TEST_RECIPE/foo"
   assert_equal "$(_git_status)" "?? foo"
 
+  run git -C "$ABRA_DIR/recipes/$TEST_RECIPE" status
+  assert_success
+  assert_output --partial 'foo'
+
   run rm -rf "$ABRA_DIR/recipes/$TEST_RECIPE/foo"
   assert_not_exists "$ABRA_DIR/recipes/$TEST_RECIPE/foo"
 }
@@ -210,7 +214,7 @@ teardown(){
     --chaos
   assert_success
   assert_exists "$ABRA_DIR/servers/$TEST_SERVER/$TEST_APP_DOMAIN.env"
-  assert_output --partial "version: $latestRelease"
+  assert_output --partial "version: ${currentHash:0:8}"
   assert_output --partial "chaos: ${currentHash:0:8}"
 
   assert_exists "$ABRA_DIR/recipes/$TEST_RECIPE/foo"
@@ -238,7 +242,7 @@ teardown(){
     --chaos
   assert_success
   assert_exists "$ABRA_DIR/servers/$TEST_SERVER/$TEST_APP_DOMAIN.env"
-  assert_output --partial "version: unknown"
+  assert_output --partial "version: ${currentHash:0:8}"
   assert_output --partial "chaos: ${currentHash:0:8}"
 
   assert_exists "$ABRA_DIR/recipes/$TEST_RECIPE/foo"