diff --git a/scripts/generate-merge-commit-message.js b/scripts/generate-merge-commit-message.js
index 957d36c000fe..4b0976cc16f3 100755
--- a/scripts/generate-merge-commit-message.js
+++ b/scripts/generate-merge-commit-message.js
@@ -1,12 +1,19 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
-const { execSync } = require('child_process');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
 
 try {
-  // Get the current version of @teambit/bit from npm
-  const version = execSync('npm show @teambit/bit version', { encoding: 'utf8' }).trim();
+  // Read the version of teambit.harmony/bit from .bitmap - at commit time it already
+  // holds the version that was just tagged (and published to npm) by `bit ci merge`.
+  // Querying npm here instead is racy: the registry read endpoints may lag the publish
+  // by seconds to minutes, which used to produce commit messages one release behind.
+  const bitmapRaw = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, '..', '.bitmap'), 'utf8');
+  const bitmapJson = bitmapRaw.replace(/\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\//g, '');
+  const bitmap = JSON.parse(bitmapJson);
+  const version = bitmap.bit.version;
+  if (!version) throw new Error('bit entry has no version');
 
-  // Generate the commit message with the version
   console.log(`bump teambit version to ${version} [skip ci]`);
 } catch {
   // Fallback to default message if version lookup fails