diff --git a/.nvmrc b/.nvmrc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a45fd52c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.nvmrc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+24
diff --git a/INSTALLATION.md b/INSTALLATION.md
index 7751f991..5e200e98 100644
--- a/INSTALLATION.md
+++ b/INSTALLATION.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Open SWE has two runnable pieces:
 - [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) package manager
 - [LangGraph CLI](https://docs.langchain.com/langsmith/cli)
 - [ngrok](https://ngrok.com/) (for local development — exposes webhook endpoints to the internet)
-- [pnpm](https://pnpm.io/) (only if you want to run the dashboard UI locally — see step 8). Node 24 is the recommended standard; older Node may work but is unsupported. `ui/pnpm-lock.yaml` is the canonical lockfile.
+- [pnpm](https://pnpm.io/) (only if you want to run the dashboard UI locally — see step 8). Node 24 is required; `ui/pnpm-lock.yaml` is the canonical lockfile.
 
 ## 1. Clone and install
 
diff --git a/ui/package.json b/ui/package.json
index e9b1fdb3..5dd3727d 100644
--- a/ui/package.json
+++ b/ui/package.json
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
     "@tanstack/eslint-config": "^0.4.0",
     "@testing-library/dom": "^10.4.1",
     "@testing-library/react": "^16.3.2",
-    "@types/node": "^26.0.1",
+    "@types/node": "^24.0.0",
     "@types/react": "^19.2.14",
     "@types/react-dom": "^19.2.3",
     "@vitejs/plugin-react": "^6.0.3",