diff --git a/crates/paralegal-spdg/Cargo.toml b/crates/paralegal-spdg/Cargo.toml
index 2642af828b..3b542ed572 100644
--- a/crates/paralegal-spdg/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/paralegal-spdg/Cargo.toml
@@ -30,3 +30,6 @@ dot = { git = "https://github.com/JustusAdam/dot-rust", rev = "ff2b42ceda98c639c
 serde_json = { version = "1" }
 bincode = { version = "1.1.3", optional = true }
 anyhow = { workspace = true }
+
+[build-dependencies]
+anyhow = "1"
diff --git a/crates/paralegal-spdg/build.rs b/crates/paralegal-spdg/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a5a93b4836
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/paralegal-spdg/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+use anyhow::Context;
+use anyhow::Result;
+use std::collections::hash_map::DefaultHasher;
+use std::env;
+use std::fs;
+use std::hash::{Hash, Hasher};
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::time::SystemTime;
+
+fn rustup_toolchain_path() -> PathBuf {
+    let rustup_home = env::var("RUSTUP_HOME").unwrap();
+    let rustup_tc = env::var("RUSTUP_TOOLCHAIN").unwrap();
+    [&rustup_home, "toolchains", &rustup_tc]
+        .into_iter()
+        .collect()
+}
+
+fn get_rustup_lib_path() -> PathBuf {
+    let mut rustup_lib = rustup_toolchain_path();
+    rustup_lib.push("lib");
+    rustup_lib
+}
+
+/// Helper for calculating a hash of all (modification dates of) Rust files in this crate.
+fn visit_dirs(dir: &Path, hasher: &mut DefaultHasher) -> Result<()> {
+    if !dir.is_dir() {
+        return Ok(());
+    }
+    for entry in fs::read_dir(dir)? {
+        let entry = entry?;
+        let path = entry.path();
+        if path.is_dir() {
+            visit_dirs(&path, hasher)?;
+        } else if path.extension().map_or(false, |ext| ext == "rs") {
+            let metadata = entry.metadata()?;
+            let modified = metadata.modified()?;
+
+            let duration = modified.duration_since(SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH)?;
+            duration.as_secs().hash(hasher);
+            // Tell Cargo to rerun if this source file changes
+            println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed={}", path.display());
+        }
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Calculate a hash of all (modification dates of) Rust files in this crate.
+fn calculate_source_hash() -> u64 {
+    let mut hasher = DefaultHasher::new();
+
+    // Start from the src directory
+    visit_dirs(Path::new("src"), &mut hasher)
+        .with_context(|| "Calculating source hash")
+        .unwrap();
+
+    hasher.finish()
+}
+
+fn main() {
+    let magic = calculate_source_hash();
+
+    // Emit the hash as an environment variable
+    println!("cargo:rustc-env=SER_MAGIC={:0}", magic);
+
+    // Original linux-specific code
+    if cfg!(target_os = "linux") {
+        let rustup_lib = get_rustup_lib_path();
+        println!("cargo:rustc-link-search=native={}", rustup_lib.display());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/paralegal-spdg/src/ser.rs b/crates/paralegal-spdg/src/ser.rs
index 59ff56be98..9ec25f57b4 100644
--- a/crates/paralegal-spdg/src/ser.rs
+++ b/crates/paralegal-spdg/src/ser.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,11 @@
 //!
 use anyhow::{Context, Ok, Result};
 use cfg_if::cfg_if;
-use std::{fs::File, path::Path};
+use std::{
+    fs::File,
+    io::{Read, Write},
+    path::Path,
+};
 
 use crate::ProgramDescription;
 
@@ -15,11 +19,20 @@ cfg_if! {
     }
 }
 
+/// A magic hash number used to verify version compatibility of output
+/// artifacts. Used in reading and writing the [`ProgramDescription`] See
+/// build.rs for how this number is created.
+fn ser_magic() -> u64 {
+    const SER_MAGIC: &str = env!("SER_MAGIC");
+    SER_MAGIC.parse().unwrap()
+}
+
 impl ProgramDescription {
     /// Write `self` using the configured serialization format
     pub fn canonical_write(&self, path: impl AsRef<Path>) -> Result<()> {
         let path = path.as_ref();
         let mut out_file = File::create(path)?;
+        out_file.write_all(&ser_magic().to_le_bytes())?;
         cfg_if! {
             if #[cfg(feature = "binenc")] {
                 let write = bincode::serialize_into(
@@ -47,7 +60,16 @@ impl ProgramDescription {
     /// Read `self` using the configured serialization format
     pub fn canonical_read(path: impl AsRef<Path>) -> Result<Self> {
         let path = path.as_ref();
-        let in_file = File::open(path)?;
+        let mut in_file = File::open(path)?;
+        let magic = {
+            let mut buf = [0u8; 8];
+            in_file.read_exact(&mut buf).context("Reading magic")?;
+            u64::from_le_bytes(buf)
+        };
+        let ser_magic = ser_magic();
+        if magic != ser_magic {
+            anyhow::bail!("Magic number mismatch: Expected {ser_magic:x}, got {magic:x}. Likely this application was compiled against a different version of the paralegal-spdg library then used by the flow analyzer.");
+        }
         cfg_if! {
             if #[cfg(feature = "binenc")] {
                 let read = bincode::deserialize_from(