diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 376fe5aea..1471c638e 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ import org.opensearch.gradle.testclusters.StandaloneRestIntegTestTask
 buildscript {
     ext {
         isSnapshot = "true" == System.getProperty("build.snapshot", "true")
-        opensearch_version = System.getProperty("opensearch.version", "3.0.0-SNAPSHOT")
-        buildVersionQualifier = System.getProperty("build.version_qualifier", "")
+        opensearch_version = System.getProperty("opensearch.version", "3.0.0-alpha1-SNAPSHOT")
+        buildVersionQualifier = System.getProperty("build.version_qualifier", "alpha1")
         version_tokens = opensearch_version.tokenize('-')
         opensearch_build = version_tokens[0] + '.0'
         if (buildVersionQualifier) {