diff --git a/.github/workflows/actions.yml b/.github/workflows/actions.yml
index 666caf62..0a4936db 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/actions.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/actions.yml
@@ -76,8 +76,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build conda libraray
         shell: bash -l {0}
         run: |
+          # set up environment
+          export VERSION=$(versioningit)
           conda install -y anaconda-client conda-build conda-verify boa
           cd conda.recipe
+          # build the package
           conda mambabuild --output-folder . . -c neutrons -c mantid/label/nightly
           conda verify noarch/addie*.tar.bz2
 
diff --git a/conda.recipe/meta.yaml b/conda.recipe/meta.yaml
index de65fcea..524dbcbd 100644
--- a/conda.recipe/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda.recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
+# load information from setup.cfg/setup.py
+{% set data = load_setup_py_data() %}
+{% set license = data.get('license') %}
+{% set description = data.get('description') %}
+{% set url = data.get('url') %}
 # this will reproduce the version from tags to match versioningit
-{% set version = environ.get('GIT_DESCRIBE_TAG', '0.0.0') %}
+{% set version = environ.get('VERSION') %}
 {% set version_number = environ.get('GIT_DESCRIBE_NUMBER', '0') | string %}
 
 package:
@@ -47,11 +52,11 @@ test:
     - addie
 
 about:
-  home: https://github.com/neutrons/addie
-  license: GPL (version 3)
-  license_family: GPL3
+  home: {{ url }}
+  license: {{ license }}
+  license_family: MIT
   license_file: ../LICENSE
-  summary: ADvanced DIffraction Environment
+  summary: {{ description }}
 
 extra:
   recipe-maintainers:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..789e35d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# this file is necessary so conda can read the contents of setup.cfg using
+# its load_setup_py_data function
+from setuptools import setup
+from versioningit import get_cmdclasses
+
+setup(cmdclass=get_cmdclasses())