diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index e0768b36a0ac27b35f6096fefb4e1498b64c4ad6..28f9ce98960d245e00730dd6ea03356c8c2e7136 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -13,9 +13,10 @@ flatpak:
         MANIFEST_PATH: "flatpak/org.gnome.Polari.json"
         RUNTIME_REPO: "https://sdk.gnome.org/gnome-nightly.flatpakrepo"
         FLATPAK_MODULE: "polari"
+        BRANCH: "snapshot"
         # Make sure to keep this in sync with the Flatpak manifest, all arguments
         # are passed except the config-args because we build it ourselves
-        MESON_ARGS: ""
+        MESON_ARGS: "-Dsnapshot=true"
         DBUS_ID: "org.gnome.Polari"
 
     before_script:
@@ -26,11 +27,11 @@ flatpak:
         # are passed except the config-args because we build it ourselves
         - flatpak build app meson --prefix=/app ${MESON_ARGS} _build
         - flatpak build app ninja -C _build install
-        - flatpak-builder --finish-only --repo=repo app ${MANIFEST_PATH}
+        - flatpak-builder --finish-only --repo=repo --default-branch=${BRANCH} app ${MANIFEST_PATH}
         # Run automatic tests inside the Flatpak env
         - flatpak build app ninja -C _build test
         # Generate a Flatpak bundle
-        - flatpak build-bundle repo ${BUNDLE} --runtime-repo=${RUNTIME_REPO} ${DBUS_ID}
+        - flatpak build-bundle repo ${BUNDLE} --runtime-repo=${RUNTIME_REPO} ${DBUS_ID} ${BRANCH}
     after_script:
         - tar -czf cache.tar.gz .flatpak-builder/cache
 
diff --git a/data/resources/application.css b/data/resources/application.css
index 6c0f72fbe9b379b00ded7d6a993cef1e03d74268..3af920da4cb89b38c94170b066b464be08c10d41 100644
--- a/data/resources/application.css
+++ b/data/resources/application.css
@@ -209,9 +209,17 @@ treeview.polari-server-room-list {
 
 /* Differentiate test instance from "normal" ones */
 window.test-instance headerbar:last-child {
-    background-image: -gtk-icontheme('system-run-symbolic');
-    background-blend-mode: color-burn;
+    background-image: cross-fade(25% -gtk-icontheme('system-run-symbolic'));
     background-repeat: no-repeat;
     background-position: 1em center;
     background-size: 4em;
 }
+
+/* Differentiate snapshot builds from regular ones */
+window.snapshot headerbar { background: none; }
+window.snapshot .titlebar {
+    background: linear-gradient(to left, #a5b1bd 0%, #a5b1bd 8%, @theme_bg_color 25%);
+    box-shadow: inset 0 1px #f1f3f5;
+    border-color: #909fae;
+    color: alpha(@theme_fg_color, 0.4);
+}
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 6089d55ce4416896126dda94bff92ec88c8308c4..9f913f46dfc969f82e03d59b57a4f23783acaea0 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -39,10 +39,29 @@ telepathy_glib = dependency('telepathy-glib')
 girepository = dependency('gobject-introspection-1.0')
 gjs = dependency('gjs-1.0')
 
+conf = configuration_data()
+
+conf.set_quoted('PACKAGE_NAME', meson.project_name())
+conf.set_quoted('PACKAGE_VERSION', '@VCS_TAG@')
+conf.set_quoted('PREFIX', prefix)
+conf.set_quoted('LIBDIR', libdir)
+conf.set_quoted('PKGLIBDIR', pkglibdir)
+
 cc = meson.get_compiler('c')
-if (cc.has_function('strcasestr'))
-  add_project_arguments('-DHAVE_STRCASECSTR', language: 'c')
-endif
+conf.set10('HAVE_STRCASESTR', cc.has_function('strcasestr'))
+conf.set10('SNAPSHOT', get_option('snapshot'))
+
+config_h = declare_dependency(
+  sources: vcs_tag(
+    command: ['git', 'describe'],
+    input: configure_file(
+      configuration: conf,
+      output: 'config.h.in'
+    ),
+    output: 'config.h'
+  ),
+  include_directories: include_directories('.')
+)
 
 subdir('src')
 subdir('data')
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..74573004911ea93f7793951053402dd82b4f1dbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+option('snapshot',
+  type: 'boolean',
+  value: false,
+  description: 'Build development snapshot'
+)
diff --git a/src/application.js b/src/application.js
index dc07080dfc0aa6bd9bbd82b343dac9ac7c2532f1..65f04ae3694afaf34342c9a7c375da08ce34ac81 100644
--- a/src/application.js
+++ b/src/application.js
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ var Application = GObject.registerClass({
         super._init({ application_id: 'org.gnome.Polari',
                       flags: Gio.ApplicationFlags.HANDLES_OPEN });
 
-        GLib.set_application_name('Polari');
         GLib.set_prgname('polari');
         this._retryData = new Map();
         this._nickTrackData = new Map();
diff --git a/src/mainWindow.js b/src/mainWindow.js
index f5d87975e7dd297204b5ee2b0c579050bfb6f82e..b5a803615a600f7e28672566be9958006784118f 100644
--- a/src/mainWindow.js
+++ b/src/mainWindow.js
@@ -134,6 +134,8 @@ var MainWindow = GObject.registerClass({
 
         if (app.isTestInstance)
             this.get_style_context().add_class('test-instance');
+        if (GLib.get_application_name().toLowerCase().includes('snapshot'))
+            this.get_style_context().add_class('snapshot');
 
         // command output notifications should not pop up over
         // the input area, but appear to emerge from it, so
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 45e95f281468fca48ec1acacf3186b02cce58ee0..32df375e0f0f49c7bea35d34541de3e3d18017fb 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -59,16 +59,8 @@ src_resources = gnome.compile_resources(
   c_name: 'src_resources'
 )
 
-exeargs = [
-  '-DPACKAGE_NAME="polari"',
-  '-DPACKAGE_VERSION="@0@"'.format(meson.project_version()),
-  '-DPREFIX="@0@"'.format(prefix),
-  '-DLIBDIR="@0@"'.format(libdir),
-  '-DPKGLIBDIR="@0@"'.format(pkglibdir)
-]
 polari = executable('polari', ['polari.c', src_resources, data_resources],
-  dependencies: [gio, girepository, gjs],
-  c_args: exeargs,
+  dependencies: [config_h, gio, girepository, gjs],
   install: true
 )
 
diff --git a/src/polari.c b/src/polari.c
index 30f43675ab4f43cd6208d82d9fa687c723738840..9804f5e871cdb7fa0f479c967f648a17ed039f58 100644
--- a/src/polari.c
+++ b/src/polari.c
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #include <girepository.h>
 #include <gjs/gjs.h>
 
+#include "config.h"
+
 G_DEFINE_AUTOPTR_CLEANUP_FUNC (GjsContext, g_object_unref)
 
 const char *src =
@@ -9,6 +11,27 @@ const char *src =
   "                        prefix: '" PREFIX "',"
   "                        libdir: '" LIBDIR "' });";
 
+static char **
+get_js_argv (int argc, const char * const *argv)
+{
+  char * injected_args[] = {
+#ifdef SNAPSHOT
+    "--test-instance",
+#endif
+    NULL
+  };
+  char **strv;
+  int js_argc = argc - 1; // gjs doesn't do argv[0]
+  int i;
+
+  strv = g_new0 (char *, js_argc + G_N_ELEMENTS (injected_args) + 1);
+  for (i = 0; i < js_argc; i++)
+    strv[i] = g_strdup (argv[i + 1]);
+  for (i = 0; i < G_N_ELEMENTS (injected_args); i++)
+    strv[js_argc + i] = g_strdup (injected_args[i]);
+  return strv;
+}
+
 int
 main (int argc, char *argv[])
 {
@@ -16,6 +39,7 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   g_autoptr (GOptionContext) option_context = NULL;
   g_autoptr (GError) error = NULL;
   g_autoptr (GjsContext) context = NULL;
+  g_auto (GStrv) js_argv = NULL;
   gboolean debugger = FALSE;
   int status;
 
@@ -25,6 +49,12 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
       { NULL }
     };
 
+#ifdef SNAPSHOT
+  g_set_application_name ("Polari Development Snapshot");
+#else
+  g_set_application_name ("Polari");
+#endif
+
   g_irepository_prepend_search_path (PKGLIBDIR);
 
   context = g_object_new (GJS_TYPE_CONTEXT,
@@ -41,8 +71,10 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
   if (debugger)
     gjs_context_setup_debugger_console (context);
 
+  js_argv = get_js_argv (argc, (const char * const *)argv);
+
   if (!gjs_context_define_string_array (context, "ARGV",
-                                        argc - 1, (const char **)argv + 1,
+                                        -1, (const char **)js_argv,
                                         &error))
     {
       g_message ("Failed to define ARGV: %s", error->message);