diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index dd46162..8dc7000 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@
     </dependencies>
 
     <properties>
-        <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
-        <maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
+        <maven.compiler.source>21</maven.compiler.source>
+        <maven.compiler.target>21</maven.compiler.target>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
     </properties>
 
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 968fbda..5cccd36 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ this is currently the only supported database backend.
 ## building  
 ### required tools  
    
- - java 17+ sdk  
+ - java 21+ sdk  
  - git  
  - maven