diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index f3ad4af..1fd739f 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ labeled [`good first issue`](https://github.com/prashar32/riskkernel/labels/good
 
 ## Getting started
 
-Requires **Go 1.23+** (the daemon is pure-Go, no cgo) and, for SDK work, Python
-3.9+.
+Requires **Go 1.25+** (matches the `go` directive in `go.mod`; the daemon is
+pure-Go, no cgo) and, for SDK work, Python 3.9+.
 
 ```bash
 git clone https://github.com/prashar32/riskkernel
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 9ac51e2..33f9c7f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 # --- build: pure-Go static binary (no cgo, thanks to modernc.org/sqlite) ---
 # Runs on the builder's native platform and cross-compiles to the target, so
 # multi-arch builds don't pay the QEMU tax for the Go compile.
-FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM golang:1.23 AS build
+# NOTE: keep this >= the `go` directive in go.mod (currently 1.25.x), or the build
+# fails with "go.mod requires go >= ..." (the image pins GOTOOLCHAIN=local).
+FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM golang:1.25 AS build
 WORKDIR /src
 
 # Cache deps first.