diff --git a/.npmrc b/.npmrc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b6f27f13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.npmrc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+engine-strict=true
diff --git a/checkNodeVersion.js b/checkNodeVersion.js
deleted file mode 100644
index d8029d25..00000000
--- a/checkNodeVersion.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-const result = process.versions;
-if (result && result.node) {
-    const nodeVersion = parseFloat(result.node).toFixed(2);
-    if (nodeVersion >= 16.14) {
-        console.log('-------******* Good to Go with your Node Version: ' + result.node + ' *******-------');
-    } else {
-        console.log('-------******* Package installation(npm install) or Project startup command(npm start) failed due to Node Version, Please install and use Node Version >=16.14 *******-------');
-        console.log('-------******* Your current Node Version is: ' + result.node + ' *******-------');
-        process.exit(1);
-    }
-} else {
-    console.log('-------******* Something went wrong while checking Node version *******-------');
-    process.exit(1);
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 3de77f41..6908b1cd 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "marklogic",
-  "version": "3.7.1",
+  "version": "4.0.0",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "marklogic",
-      "version": "3.7.1",
-      "hasInstallScript": true,
+      "version": "4.0.0",
       "license": "Apache-2.0",
       "dependencies": {
         "@fastify/busboy": "3.2.0",
@@ -43,7 +42,7 @@
         "stream-to-array": "^2.3.0"
       },
       "engines": {
-        "node": ">=16.14.0"
+        "node": ">=22.0.0"
       },
       "optionalDependencies": {
         "kerberos": "^2.0.1",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 25ec8534..3ec9ad26 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -3,14 +3,11 @@
   "name": "marklogic",
   "description": "The official MarkLogic Node.js client API.",
   "homepage": "https://github.com/marklogic/node-client-api",
-  "version": "3.7.1",
+  "version": "4.0.0",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "main": "./lib/marklogic.js",
   "scripts": {
     "doc": "gulp doc",
-    "preinstall": "node checkNodeVersion",
-    "prestart": "node checkNodeVersion",
-    "pretest": "node checkNodeVersion",
     "test:setup": "node etc/test-setup.js",
     "test:teardown": "node etc/test-teardown.js",
     "test": "gulp test"
@@ -44,7 +41,7 @@
     "url": "https://github.com/marklogic/node-client-api.git"
   },
   "engines": {
-    "node": ">=16.14.0"
+    "node": ">=22.0.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@jsdoc/salty": "0.2.3",