diff --git a/facterdb.gemspec b/facterdb.gemspec
index b4e2eaf2..f536df50 100644
--- a/facterdb.gemspec
+++ b/facterdb.gemspec
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.test_files  = `git ls-files -- {test,spec,features}/*`.split("\n")
   s.executables = `git ls-files -- bin/*`.split("\n").map{ |f| File.basename(f) }
 
+  # we have that configured in our CI file
+  s.required_ruby_version = Gem::Requirement.new('>= 2.5.0')
+
   s.add_development_dependency 'coveralls'
   s.add_development_dependency 'rake'
   s.add_development_dependency 'pry'