diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1108a0894..eabebcdef 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -31,7 +31,10 @@ classifiers = [
 #   pip install nemo-switchyard[cli]            # Add prompt-toolkit for CLI
 #   pip install nemo-switchyard[all]            # Everything
 dependencies = [
-    "openai>=2.34.0,<3.0",
+    # openai: request/response schema types, plus the async client in lib/llm_client.py.
+    # Keep this floor low enough for downstream consumers to co-install us; NeMo Gym pins
+    # openai<=2.7.2. The suite passes unchanged from 2.7.0 through 2.48.0.
+    "openai>=2.7,<3.0",
     "anthropic>=0.99.0,<1.0",
     "httpx>=0.28.1,<1.0",
     "pydantic>=2.13.3,<3.0",
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 8c69827da..1e8ba088e 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -2255,7 +2255,7 @@ requires-dist = [
     { name = "httpx", specifier = ">=0.28.1,<1.0" },
     { name = "nemo-platform", marker = "extra == 'intake'", specifier = ">=0.1.0,<1.0" },
     { name = "nemo-switchyard", extras = ["server", "cli", "tracing", "intake", "affinity-redis"], marker = "extra == 'all'" },
-    { name = "openai", specifier = ">=2.34.0,<3.0" },
+    { name = "openai", specifier = ">=2.7,<3.0" },
     { name = "prompt-toolkit", marker = "extra == 'cli'", specifier = ">=3.0.52,<4.0" },
     { name = "pydantic", specifier = ">=2.13.3,<3.0" },
     { name = "redis", marker = "extra == 'affinity-redis'", specifier = ">=5.0.1,<6" },