diff --git a/bin/node_cmd b/bin/node_cmd
index 26499cba632b35624d6fb4de80ebba4be1fe068d..25715f1b7ffb6811dd21d45b8fc481d92920e7b1 100755
--- a/bin/node_cmd
+++ b/bin/node_cmd
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 set -e
 
 if [[ -z "$NODE_VERSION" ]]; then
-  NODE_VERSION=12-stretch-slim
+  NODE_VERSION=16-stretch-slim
 fi
 NAME=${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}_l3d_node
 ID=$(docker container ls --all -q -f name=^${NAME}$)