diff --git a/tools/before-test.cmd b/tools/before-test.cmd
index 4926189..f663bc1 100644
--- a/tools/before-test.cmd
+++ b/tools/before-test.cmd
@@ -80,9 +80,11 @@ curl -fsSL -o examples.zip %TESTFILES_URL%
 curl -fsSL -o benchmark.zip %BENCHFILES_URL%
 
 
-:: extract tests and benchmarks
+:: extract tests, benchmarks, and manifest
 7z x examples.zip *\epanet-tests\* > nul
 7z x benchmark.zip -obenchmark\ > nul
+7z e benchmark.zip -o. manifest.json -r
+
 
 :: set up symlink for tests directory
 mklink /D .\tests .\epanet-example-networks-%LATEST_TAG:~1%\epanet-tests > nul
diff --git a/tools/before-test.sh b/tools/before-test.sh
index 5e3d805..0fa4c51 100755
--- a/tools/before-test.sh
+++ b/tools/before-test.sh
@@ -82,12 +82,13 @@ curl -fsSL -o examples.tar.gz ${TEST_URL}
 curl -fsSL -o benchmark.tar.gz ${BENCH_URL}
 
 
-# extract tests and benchmarks
+# extract tests, benchmarks, and manifest
 tar xzf examples.tar.gz
 ln -s epanet-example-networks-${LATEST_TAG:1}/epanet-tests tests
 
 mkdir benchmark
 tar xzf benchmark.tar.gz -C benchmark
+tar xzf benchmark.tar.gz --wildcards --no-anchored --strip-components=1 '*/manifest.json' -C .
 
 
 # generate json configuration file for software under test
diff --git a/tools/run-nrtest.sh b/tools/run-nrtest.sh
index 9b093b4..077dd24 100755
--- a/tools/run-nrtest.sh
+++ b/tools/run-nrtest.sh
@@ -69,10 +69,9 @@ print_usage() {
 
 # Default option values
 compare='true'
-ref_build_id=''
+ref_build_id=
 sut_build_id='local'
 test_path='nrtestsuite'
-version='vXXX'
 
 while getopts "cr:s:t:" flag; do
   case "${flag}" in
@@ -87,9 +86,10 @@ done
 shift $(($OPTIND - 1))
 
 
+# determine ref_build_id from manifest file
 if [ -z $ref_build_id ]; then
-  echo "ERROR: REF_BUILD_ID must be defined"
-  exit 1;
+  description=(`cat ${test_path}/manifest.json | jq '.Application.description | splits(" ")'`)
+  ref_build_id=${description[1]//\"/}
 fi
 
 # Invoke command