diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3a6b208..6d46bdc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - URL parameter to points.json to allow returning only the JSON for a single
   team by its team id (e.g., points.json?id=abc123).
 - A CONTRIBUTING.md to describe expectations when contributing to MOTH
+- Include basic metadata in mothballs
 ### Fixed
 - Handle cases where non-legacy puzzles don't have an `author` attribute
 - Handle YAML-formatted file and script lists as expected
diff --git a/Dockerfile.moth-devel b/Dockerfile.moth-devel
index 9bdbd23..c1ca075 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.moth-devel
+++ b/Dockerfile.moth-devel
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ COPY devel /app/
 COPY example-puzzles /puzzles/
 COPY theme /theme/
 COPY LICENSE.md /LICENSE
+COPY VERSION /VERSION
 
 ENTRYPOINT [ "python3", "/app/devel-server.py" ]
 CMD [ "--bind", "0.0.0.0:8080", "--puzzles", "/puzzles", "--theme", "/theme" ]
diff --git a/devel/devel-server.py b/devel/devel-server.py
index 7d7b505..e1e6cae 100755
--- a/devel/devel-server.py
+++ b/devel/devel-server.py
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ class MothRequestHandler(http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
         obj["hint"] = puzzle.hint
         obj["summary"] = puzzle.summary
         obj["logs"] = puzzle.logs
+        obj["format"] = puzzle._source_format
 
         self.send_response(200)
         self.send_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
diff --git a/devel/moth.py b/devel/moth.py
index 3f4374c..95c2c5a 100644
--- a/devel/moth.py
+++ b/devel/moth.py
@@ -123,6 +123,8 @@ class Puzzle:
 
         super().__init__()
 
+        self._source_format = "py"
+
         self.points = points
         self.summary = None
         self.authors = []
@@ -153,8 +155,10 @@ class Puzzle:
         line = ""
         if stream.read(3) == "---":
             header = "yaml"
+            self._source_format = "yaml"
         else:
             header = "moth"
+            self._source_format = "moth"
 
         stream.seek(0)
 
diff --git a/devel/mothballer.py b/devel/mothballer.py
index 19bd46d..e6afbd9 100755
--- a/devel/mothballer.py
+++ b/devel/mothballer.py
@@ -2,12 +2,14 @@
 
 import argparse
 import binascii
+import datetime
 import hashlib
 import io
 import json
 import logging
 import moth
 import os
+import platform
 import shutil
 import tempfile
 import zipfile
@@ -61,6 +63,24 @@ def build_category(categorydir, outdir):
     zipfileraw.close()
     shutil.move(zipfileraw.name, zipfilename)
 
+def write_metadata(ziphandle, category):
+    metadata = {"platform": {}, "moth": {}, "category": {}}
+    
+    try:
+        with open("../VERSION", "r") as infile:
+            version = infile.read().strip()
+            metadata["moth"]["version"] = version
+    except IOError:
+        pass
+
+    metadata["category"]["build_time"] = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%c")
+    metadata["category"]["type"] = "catmod" if category.catmod is not None else "traditional"
+    metadata["platform"]["arch"] = platform.machine()
+    metadata["platform"]["os"] = platform.system()
+    metadata["platform"]["version"] = platform.platform()
+    metadata["platform"]["python_version"] = platform.python_version()
+
+    ziphandle.writestr("meta.json", json.dumps(metadata))
 
 # Returns a file-like object containing the contents of the new zip file
 def package(categoryname, categorydir, seed):
@@ -94,6 +114,7 @@ def package(categoryname, categorydir, seed):
     write_kv_pairs(zf, 'map.txt', mapping)
     write_kv_pairs(zf, 'answers.txt', answers)
     write_kv_pairs(zf, 'summaries.txt', summary)
+    write_metadata(zf, cat)
 
     # clean up
     zf.close()