diff --git a/.claude/CLAUDE.md b/.claude/CLAUDE.md
index 083318b57..307376f8e 100644
--- a/.claude/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/.claude/CLAUDE.md
@@ -89,8 +89,6 @@ mulga/
 └── viperblock/   # Block storage
 ```
 
-Build flag: `GOEXPERIMENT=greenteagc` is used for the GC experiment.
-
 ### Testing with AWS CLI
 
 ```bash
diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index f1d7cd23f..b08516d69 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ sudo add-apt-repository universe
 sudo apt install nbdkit nbdkit-plugin-dev pkg-config qemu-system qemu-utils qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients libvirt-dev make gcc unzip xz-utils file
 ```
 
-Ensure the Go toolkit is installed for version 1.25.7 or higher. Recommended to install the latest directly from [https://go.dev/dl/](https://go.dev/dl/).
+Ensure the Go toolkit is installed for version 1.26.0 or higher. Recommended to install the latest directly from [https://go.dev/dl/](https://go.dev/dl/).
 
 Confirm Go is correctly installed, and set in your $PATH.
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0a946373d..58277ae4d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ build-ui:
 # GO commands
 go_build:
 	@echo "\n....Building $(GO_PROJECT_NAME)"
-	GOEXPERIMENT=greenteagc go build $(GO_BUILD_MOD) -ldflags "-s -w" -o ./bin/$(GO_PROJECT_NAME) cmd/hive/main.go
+	go build $(GO_BUILD_MOD) -ldflags "-s -w" -o ./bin/$(GO_PROJECT_NAME) cmd/hive/main.go
 
 go_run:
 	@echo "\n....Running $(GO_PROJECT_NAME)...."
@@ -75,9 +75,9 @@ install-system:
 		iproute2 netcat-openbsd openssh-client wget git unzip sudo xz-utils file
 
 install-go:
-	@echo "\n....Installing Go 1.25.7 for $(ARCH) ($(GO_ARCH))...."
+	@echo "\n....Installing Go 1.26.0 for $(ARCH) ($(GO_ARCH))...."
 	@if [ ! -d "/usr/local/go" ]; then \
-		curl -L https://go.dev/dl/go1.25.7.linux-$(GO_ARCH).tar.gz | tar -C /usr/local -xz; \
+		curl -L https://go.dev/dl/go1.26.0.linux-$(GO_ARCH).tar.gz | tar -C /usr/local -xz; \
 	else \
 		echo "Go already installed in /usr/local/go"; \
 	fi
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 424ed8ce6..486f6cb67 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 module github.com/mulgadc/hive
 
-go 1.25.7
+go 1.26.0
 
 require (
 	github.com/NYTimes/gziphandler v1.1.1
diff --git a/hive/daemon/main_test.go b/hive/daemon/main_test.go
index 538b165d8..bcb6f0df9 100644
--- a/hive/daemon/main_test.go
+++ b/hive/daemon/main_test.go
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ import (
 
 // Shared NATS servers for all daemon tests — started once in TestMain.
 var (
-	sharedNATSServer   *server.Server
-	sharedNATSURL      string
-	sharedJSServer     *server.Server
-	sharedJSNATSURL    string
+	sharedNATSServer *server.Server
+	sharedNATSURL    string
+	sharedJSServer   *server.Server
+	sharedJSNATSURL  string
 )
 
 func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
diff --git a/scripts/benchmark-gc.sh b/scripts/benchmark-gc.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 29c1fb23c..000000000
--- a/scripts/benchmark-gc.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,119 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-# scripts/benchmark-gc.sh
-# Benchmark script to compare Go GC performance (Standard vs GreenteaGC)
-
-set -e
-
-PROJECT_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
-BIN_PATH="$PROJECT_ROOT/bin/hive"
-DATA_DIR="$HOME/hive"
-LOGS_DIR="$DATA_DIR/logs"
-ITERATIONS=500
-CONCURRENCY=12
-
-# Ensure AWS profile is set
-export AWS_PROFILE=hive
-# Skip SSL verification for local testing
-export AWS_CA_BUNDLE="$DATA_DIR/config/server.pem"
-
-# Function to build the binary
-build_binary() {
-    local experiment="$1"
-    echo "🔨 Building with GOEXPERIMENT=$experiment..."
-    cd "$PROJECT_ROOT"
-    # Clean build to ensure no stale artifacts
-    rm -f "$BIN_PATH"
-    if [ "$experiment" == "none" ]; then
-        go build -ldflags "-s -w" -o "$BIN_PATH" cmd/hive/main.go
-    else
-        GOEXPERIMENT="$experiment" go build -ldflags "-s -w" -o "$BIN_PATH" cmd/hive/main.go
-    fi
-}
-
-# Function to start services with GC tracing
-start_services_traced() {
-    echo "🚀 Starting services with GODEBUG=gctrace=1..."
-    export GODEBUG=gctrace=1
-    "$PROJECT_ROOT/scripts/start-dev.sh" "$DATA_DIR"
-    sleep 10 # More time for services to stabilize
-}
-
-# Function to run load test
-run_load() {
-    echo "🔥 Warming up (20 requests)..."
-    seq 20 | xargs -I{} -P $CONCURRENCY aws ec2 describe-instances > /dev/null
-
-    echo "🏃 Running load test ($ITERATIONS requests)..."
-    local start_time=$(date +%s%N)
-
-    seq $ITERATIONS | xargs -I{} -P $CONCURRENCY aws ec2 describe-instances > /dev/null
-
-    local end_time=$(date +%s%N)
-    local duration=$(( (end_time - start_time) / 1000000 ))
-    echo "⏱️  Load test completed in ${duration}ms"
-    echo "$duration" > "$LOGS_DIR/last_duration.txt"
-}
-
-# Function to analyze GC logs
-analyze_logs() {
-    local label="$1"
-    echo "📊 Analyzing logs for $label..."
-
-    # Analyze the AWS Gateway log (usually the most active)
-    local log_file="$LOGS_DIR/awsgw.log"
-
-    if [ ! -f "$log_file" ]; then
-        echo "❌ Log file $log_file not found"
-        return
-    fi
-
-    # Extract GC stats: gc N @T ... total_time ...
-    # Format: gc 1 @0.012s 5%: 0.016+0.45+0.003 ms clock, 0.25+0.45/0.70/1.2+0.054 ms cpu, 4->4->0 MB, 5 MB goal, 8 P
-    local gc_count=$(grep -c "^gc " "$log_file" || echo 0)
-    local total_gc_ms=$(grep "^gc " "$log_file" | awk -F'ms clock' '{print $1}' | awk '{print $NF}' | awk -F'+' '{sum += $1+$2+$3} END {print sum}')
-
-    # Memory usage (max RSS of the process)
-    local max_rss=$(ps aux | grep "hive service awsgw start" | grep -v grep | awk '{print $6}' | sort -nr | head -n1)
-
-    local duration=$(cat "$LOGS_DIR/last_duration.txt")
-
-    echo "----------------------------------------"
-    echo "Results for $label:"
-    echo "Requests:     $ITERATIONS"
-    echo "Concurrency:  $CONCURRENCY"
-    echo "Total Time:   ${duration}ms"
-    echo "Avg Latency:  $(( duration / ITERATIONS ))ms"
-    echo "GC Cycles:    $gc_count"
-    echo "Total GC Time: ${total_gc_ms}ms"
-    echo "Max RSS:      ${max_rss} KB"
-    echo "----------------------------------------"
-
-    # Save to a summary file
-    echo "$label,$duration,$gc_count,$total_gc_ms,$max_rss" >> "$PROJECT_ROOT/gc_benchmark_summary.csv"
-}
-
-# Cleanup
-echo "Cleaning up previous runs..."
-"$PROJECT_ROOT/scripts/stop-dev.sh" || true
-rm -f "$PROJECT_ROOT/gc_benchmark_summary.csv"
-echo "Label,TotalTime_ms,GCCycles,TotalGCTime_ms,MaxRSS_KB" > "$PROJECT_ROOT/gc_benchmark_summary.csv"
-
-# 1. Standard GC Benchmark
-echo "🔵 PHASE 1: Standard GC"
-build_binary "none"
-start_services_traced
-run_load
-analyze_logs "Standard"
-"$PROJECT_ROOT/scripts/stop-dev.sh"
-sleep 5
-
-# 2. GreenteaGC Benchmark
-echo "🟢 PHASE 2: GreenteaGC"
-build_binary "greenteagc"
-start_services_traced
-run_load
-analyze_logs "GreenteaGC"
-"$PROJECT_ROOT/scripts/stop-dev.sh"
-
-echo "✅ Benchmarking complete! Summary saved to gc_benchmark_summary.csv"
-cat "$PROJECT_ROOT/gc_benchmark_summary.csv" | column -t -s,