diff --git a/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.csproj b/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.csproj
index 3912596c..b109db37 100644
--- a/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.csproj
+++ b/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.csproj
@@ -13,12 +13,15 @@
     <!-- Build counter file location -->
     <BuildCounterFile>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\buildcounter.txt</BuildCounterFile>
 
-    <!-- Build number: Priority order:
-         1. Use BUILD_NUMBER from CI/CD environment (GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, etc.)
-         2. Use build counter from file (incremented on each build)
-         3. Fallback to date-based build number (yyyyMMdd) -->
+    <!-- Build number: CI/CD environment takes priority -->
     <BuildNumber Condition="'$(BUILD_NUMBER)' != ''">$(BUILD_NUMBER)</BuildNumber>
-    <BuildNumber Condition="'$(BUILD_NUMBER)' == ''">0</BuildNumber> <!-- Placeholder, will be set by target -->
+
+    <!-- Local build: read counter from file and increment during PROPERTY EVALUATION
+         (static property functions run before all targets, preventing timing issues
+         with _GenerateAssemblyInfo which can miss properties set in targets) -->
+    <_CounterFromFile Condition="'$(BUILD_NUMBER)' == '' and Exists('$(BuildCounterFile)')">$([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('$(BuildCounterFile)').Trim())</_CounterFromFile>
+    <_CounterFromFile Condition="'$(BUILD_NUMBER)' == '' and !Exists('$(BuildCounterFile)')">0</_CounterFromFile>
+    <BuildNumber Condition="'$(BUILD_NUMBER)' == ''">$([MSBuild]::Add($(_CounterFromFile), 1))</BuildNumber>
 
     <!-- Combine to full version: 1.0.BuildNumber -->
     <Version>$(VersionPrefix).$(BuildNumber)</Version>
@@ -30,30 +33,10 @@
     <GenerateAssemblyInfo>true</GenerateAssemblyInfo>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
-  <!-- Auto-increment build number if not from CI/CD -->
-  <Target Name="IncrementBuildNumber" BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild" Condition="'$(BUILD_NUMBER)' == ''">
-    <PropertyGroup>
-      <!-- Read current build number from file, or start at 1 if file doesn't exist -->
-      <CurrentBuildNumber Condition="Exists('$(BuildCounterFile)')">$([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('$(BuildCounterFile)').Trim())</CurrentBuildNumber>
-      <CurrentBuildNumber Condition="!Exists('$(BuildCounterFile)')">0</CurrentBuildNumber>
-
-      <!-- Increment build number -->
-      <NewBuildNumber>$([MSBuild]::Add($(CurrentBuildNumber), 1))</NewBuildNumber>
-    </PropertyGroup>
-
-    <!-- Write new build number to file -->
-    <WriteLinesToFile File="$(BuildCounterFile)" Lines="$(NewBuildNumber)" Overwrite="true" />
-
-    <!-- Update the BuildNumber property -->
-    <PropertyGroup>
-      <BuildNumber>$(NewBuildNumber)</BuildNumber>
-      <Version>$(VersionPrefix).$(BuildNumber)</Version>
-      <AssemblyVersion>$(VersionPrefix).$(BuildNumber)</AssemblyVersion>
-      <FileVersion>$(VersionPrefix).$(BuildNumber)</FileVersion>
-      <InformationalVersion>$(Version)</InformationalVersion>
-    </PropertyGroup>
-
-    <Message Text="Auto-incremented build version to: $(Version)" Importance="high" />
+  <!-- Persist incremented counter to file for next build (write-back only, version already set above) -->
+  <Target Name="PersistBuildCounter" BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild" Condition="'$(BUILD_NUMBER)' == ''">
+    <WriteLinesToFile File="$(BuildCounterFile)" Lines="$(BuildNumber)" Overwrite="true" />
+    <Message Text="Build version: $(Version) (counter persisted)" Importance="high" />
   </Target>
 
   <!-- Generate version.json into build output for self-update and deployment upload -->
diff --git a/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent/buildcounter.txt b/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent/buildcounter.txt
index c8b655e5..a01f8275 100644
--- a/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent/buildcounter.txt
+++ b/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent/buildcounter.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-764
+771