diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index ccbfaf1ee..232e0ab18 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ import org.opensearch.gradle.test.RestIntegTestTask
 buildscript {
     ext {
         isSnapshot = "true" == System.getProperty("build.snapshot", "true")
-        opensearch_version = System.getProperty("opensearch.version", "2.8.0-SNAPSHOT")
+        opensearch_version = System.getProperty("opensearch.version", "2.8.1-SNAPSHOT")
         buildVersionQualifier = System.getProperty("build.version_qualifier", "")
         // e.g. 2.0.0-rc1-SNAPSHOT -> 2.0.0.0-rc1-SNAPSHOT
         version_tokens = opensearch_version.tokenize('-')