diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 6488bb7d2..1fcc42ba0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -163,7 +163,6 @@ jobs:
         INTEGRATION_TEST_AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET: ${{ secrets.azure_client_secret }}
         INTEGRATION_TEST_AZURE_CLIENT_ID: ${{ secrets.azure_client_id }}
         KOSLI_SONAR_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.sonarqube_token }}
-        DOCKER_API_VERSION: "1.45"
         KOSLI_API_TOKEN_PROD: ${{ secrets.kosli_querying_api_token }}
       run: |
         # some tests use git operations, therefore the git author on the CI VM needs to be set
@@ -273,4 +272,3 @@ jobs:
            --trail ${{ inputs.TRAIL_NAME }}
            --scan-results  snyk-dependency.json
            --org ${{ inputs.KOSLI_ORG }}
-
diff --git a/cmd/kosli/snapshotDocker.go b/cmd/kosli/snapshotDocker.go
index 125224d7e..4ad545cb7 100644
--- a/cmd/kosli/snapshotDocker.go
+++ b/cmd/kosli/snapshotDocker.go
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ func (o *snapshotDockerOptions) run(args []string) error {
 
 func CreateDockerArtifactsData() ([]*server.ServerData, error) {
 	result := []*server.ServerData{}
-	cli, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv)
+	cli, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv, client.WithAPIVersionNegotiation())
 	if err != nil {
 		return result, err
 	}
diff --git a/internal/digest/digest.go b/internal/digest/digest.go
index d8581d69d..d534ee94c 100644
--- a/internal/digest/digest.go
+++ b/internal/digest/digest.go
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ func FileSha256(filepath string, logger *logger.Logger) (string, error) {
 // It requires the docker daemon to be accessible and the docker image to be locally present.
 // The docker image must have been pushed into a registry to have a digest.
 func DockerImageSha256(imageID string) (string, error) {
-	cli, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv)
+	cli, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv, client.WithAPIVersionNegotiation())
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@ func requestManifestFromRegistry(registryEndPoint, imageName, imageTag, registry
 // RemoteDockerImageSha256 returns a sha256 digest of a docker image by reading it from
 // remote docker registry
 func RemoteDockerImageSha256(imageName, imageTag, registryEndPoint, registryToken string, logger *logger.Logger) (string, error) {
-	// Some docker images have Manifest list, aka “fat manifest” which combines
+	// Some docker images have Manifest list, aka "fat manifest" which combines
 	// image manifests for one or more platforms. Other images don't have such manifest.
 	// The response Content-Type header specifies whether an image has it or not.
 	// More details here: https://docs.docker.com/registry/spec/manifest-v2-2/
diff --git a/internal/docker/docker.go b/internal/docker/docker.go
index cd1f3a70d..bc348d392 100644
--- a/internal/docker/docker.go
+++ b/internal/docker/docker.go
@@ -14,9 +14,17 @@ import (
 	"github.com/docker/docker/client"
 )
 
+// newDockerClient creates a Docker client with API version negotiation enabled.
+// This ensures the client automatically downgrades its API version to match
+// the daemon, preventing "client version X is too new" errors when the SDK
+// is newer than the Docker Engine.
+func newDockerClient() (*client.Client, error) {
+	return client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv, client.WithAPIVersionNegotiation())
+}
+
 // PullDockerImage pulls a docker image or returns an error
 func PullDockerImage(imageName string) error {
-	cli, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv)
+	cli, err := newDockerClient()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -41,7 +49,7 @@ func PullDockerImage(imageName string) error {
 
 // PushDockerImage pushes a docker image to the local registry or returns an error
 func PushDockerImage(imageName string) error {
-	cli, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv)
+	cli, err := newDockerClient()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -73,7 +81,7 @@ func PushDockerImage(imageName string) error {
 
 // TagDockerImage tags a docker image or returns an error
 func TagDockerImage(sourceName, targetName string) error {
-	cli, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv)
+	cli, err := newDockerClient()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -83,7 +91,7 @@ func TagDockerImage(sourceName, targetName string) error {
 
 // RemoveDockerImage deletes a docker image or return an error
 func RemoveDockerImage(imageName string) error {
-	cli, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv)
+	cli, err := newDockerClient()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -98,7 +106,7 @@ func RemoveDockerImage(imageName string) error {
 
 // RunDockerContainer runs a docker container that sleeps for 6 minutes and returns its ID or returns an error
 func RunDockerContainer(imageName string) (string, error) {
-	cli, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv)
+	cli, err := newDockerClient()
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
@@ -117,7 +125,7 @@ func RunDockerContainer(imageName string) (string, error) {
 
 // RemoveDockerContainer remove a docker container or returns an error
 func RemoveDockerContainer(containerID string) error {
-	cli, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.FromEnv)
+	cli, err := newDockerClient()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}