diff --git a/lib/src/blackfish/cli/__main__.py b/lib/src/blackfish/cli/__main__.py
index b7e7a435..d3268b6f 100644
--- a/lib/src/blackfish/cli/__main__.py
+++ b/lib/src/blackfish/cli/__main__.py
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ async def check_tigerflow_images() -> None:
     type=str,
     default=None,
     help=(
-        "Pin the container image, e.g. 'vllm/vllm-openai:v0.20.0'. Defaults to"
+        "Pin the container image, e.g. 'vllm/vllm-openai:v0.26.0'. Defaults to"
         " the configured image. See `blackfish ls` for the version in use."
     ),
 )
diff --git a/lib/src/blackfish/client.py b/lib/src/blackfish/client.py
index f8de6e4a..d9461c24 100644
--- a/lib/src/blackfish/client.py
+++ b/lib/src/blackfish/client.py
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ async def async_launch_service(
             mount: Optional directory to mount
             grace_period: Time in seconds to wait before marking unhealthy
             image_ref: Pin the container image as "repo:tag" (e.g.
-                "vllm/vllm-openai:v0.20.0"). None uses the configured image,
+                "vllm/vllm-openai:v0.26.0"). None uses the configured image,
                 which is then recorded on the service so restarts reuse it.
             auto_cleanup: If True, automatically stop and delete this service when the
                 Python script exits (default: True)
diff --git a/lib/src/blackfish/server/images.py b/lib/src/blackfish/server/images.py
index dcc58c54..5e7f2d23 100644
--- a/lib/src/blackfish/server/images.py
+++ b/lib/src/blackfish/server/images.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ def resolve_image(image_ref: str | None, default: ImageSpec) -> ImageSpec:
 
 
 DEFAULT_IMAGES: dict[str, ImageSpec] = {
-    "text_generation": ImageSpec(repo="vllm/vllm-openai", tag="v0.20.0"),
+    "text_generation": ImageSpec(repo="vllm/vllm-openai", tag="v0.26.0"),
     "speech_recognition": ImageSpec(
         repo="ghcr.io/princeton-ddss/speech-recognition-inference",
         tag="0.2.1",
diff --git a/lib/tests/cli/test_cli_run.py b/lib/tests/cli/test_cli_run.py
index 3051e790..9ec0598a 100644
--- a/lib/tests/cli/test_cli_run.py
+++ b/lib/tests/cli/test_cli_run.py
@@ -1286,4 +1286,6 @@ def test_dry_run_renders_the_pinned_image(
         # The script itself, not the echo line above it.
         script = result.output.split("> image_ref:")[-1]
         assert "vllm-openai_v9.9.9" in script
-        assert "vllm-openai_v0.20.0" not in script
+        from blackfish.server.images import DEFAULT_IMAGES
+
+        assert DEFAULT_IMAGES["text_generation"].sif not in script