diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-test-gate.yml b/.github/workflows/pr-test-gate.yml
index 49c97b09..8260659d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-test-gate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-test-gate.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     services:
       postgres:
-        image: postgres:15
+        # Pinned to match the version used in ci.yml and docker-compose.yml
+        # (production target). Keep these in sync — see issue #1282.
+        image: postgres:16-alpine@sha256:e013e867e712fec275706a6c51c966f0bb0c93cfa8f51000f85a15f9865a28cb
         env:
           POSTGRES_USER: postgres
           POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
diff --git a/docs/DEVELOPMENT.md b/docs/DEVELOPMENT.md
index 10c39a4a..c6b39c43 100644
--- a/docs/DEVELOPMENT.md
+++ b/docs/DEVELOPMENT.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Required:
 - Rust toolchain (stable via rustup)
 - Node.js 20+
 - npm
-- PostgreSQL 14+
+- PostgreSQL 16 (matches the version pinned in `docker-compose.yml` and CI)
 - Docker & Docker Compose (recommended for local infra)
 - Stellar CLI / Soroban CLI (https://github.com/stellar/stellar-cli)