diff --git a/.env.test b/.env.test
index 83167bf..16c2218 100644
--- a/.env.test
+++ b/.env.test
@@ -14,8 +14,11 @@
 # DO NOT put real secrets in this file. .env (production) and .env.local
 # (developer) stay gitignored.
 
-# Container images
-POSTGRES_IMAGE=postgres:16-alpine
+# Container images — pinned to match production majors (Postgres 17, RabbitMQ 4,
+# MinIO latest, Elasticsearch 9.x). Bumping postgres 16 -> 17 closes the parity
+# gap with the production compose stack so integration tests exercise the same
+# migration / dialect surface the deployed REST + Services see.
+POSTGRES_IMAGE=postgres:17-alpine
 RABBITMQ_IMAGE=rabbitmq:4.1.4-management
 MINIO_IMAGE=minio/minio:RELEASE.2025-07-23T15-54-02Z
 ELASTIC_IMAGE=docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:9.1.3