diff --git a/board/SConscript b/board/SConscript
index 4570bf1a5..2fcdfeeba 100644
--- a/board/SConscript
+++ b/board/SConscript
@@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ def objcopy(source, target, env, for_signature):
 with open("obj/gitversion.h", "w") as f:
   f.write(f'const uint8_t gitversion[] = "{get_version(BUILDER, BUILD_TYPE)}";\n')
 
+with open("obj/version", "w") as f:
+  f.write(f'{get_version(BUILDER, BUILD_TYPE)}')
+
 certs = [get_key_header(n) for n in ["debug", "release"]]
 with open("obj/cert.h", "w") as f:
   for cert in certs:
diff --git a/release/make_release.sh b/release/make_release.sh
index 5aec1a794..833342834 100755
--- a/release/make_release.sh
+++ b/release/make_release.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-if [ ! -d "../../pandaextra" ]; then
+if [ ! -d "../../xx/pandaextra" ]; then
   echo "No release cert found, cannot build release."
   echo "You probably aren't looking to do this anyway."
   exit
@@ -8,34 +8,15 @@ fi
 
 export RELEASE=1
 export BUILDER=DEV
+export CERT=~/xx/pandaextra/certs/release
 
-# make ST + bootstub
-pushd .
 cd ../board
-make clean
-make obj/panda.bin
-make obj/bootstub.panda.bin
-popd
-
-# make ESP
-pushd .
-cd ../boardesp
-make clean
-make user1.bin
-make user2.bin
-popd
-
-# make release
-mkdir obj
-make -f ../common/version.mk
-make obj/gitversion.h
-RELEASE_NAME=$(python -c "import sys;sys.stdout.write(open('obj/gitversion.h').read().split('\"')[1])")
-echo -en $RELEASE_NAME > /tmp/version
-rm -rf obj
-
-# make zip file
-pushd .
-cd ..
-zip -j release/panda-$RELEASE_NAME.zip ~/one/panda/board/obj/bootstub.panda.bin ~/one/panda/board/obj/panda.bin ~/one/panda/boardesp/user?.bin ~/one/panda/boardesp/esp-open-sdk/ESP8266_NONOS_SDK_V1.5.4_16_05_20/bin/boot_v1.5.bin /tmp/version
-popd
-
+scons -u -c
+rm obj/*
+scons -u
+cd obj
+RELEASE_NAME=$(awk '{print $1}' version)
+rm panda.bin panda_h7.bin
+mv panda.bin.signed panda.bin
+mv panda_h7.bin.signed panda_h7.bin
+zip -j ../../release/panda-$RELEASE_NAME.zip version panda.bin bootstub.panda.bin panda_h7.bin bootstub.panda_h7.bin