diff --git a/docs/js/templateData.js b/docs/js/templateData.js
index 2f44698d253..3c4f480b130 100644
--- a/docs/js/templateData.js
+++ b/docs/js/templateData.js
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 // Define variables for doc templates
 var context={
-    "version": "25",
-    "dotVersion": "2.5",
-    "fullDotVersion": "2.5.0",
+    "version": "26",
+    "dotVersion": "2.6",
+    "fullDotVersion": "2.6.0",
     "scalaVersion": "2.12"
 };
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index a063f5c5b64..1ea73bab63b 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ group=org.apache.kafka
 #  - tests/kafkatest/__init__.py
 #  - tests/kafkatest/version.py (variable DEV_VERSION)
 #  - kafka-merge-pr.py
-version=2.5.0-SNAPSHOT
+version=2.6.0-SNAPSHOT
 scalaVersion=2.12.10
 task=build
 org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx1024m -Xss2m
diff --git a/kafka-merge-pr.py b/kafka-merge-pr.py
index 56ed68c9d2a..39f3daf64f5 100755
--- a/kafka-merge-pr.py
+++ b/kafka-merge-pr.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ TEMP_BRANCH_PREFIX = "PR_TOOL"
 
 DEV_BRANCH_NAME = "trunk"
 
-DEFAULT_FIX_VERSION = os.environ.get("DEFAULT_FIX_VERSION", "2.5.0")
+DEFAULT_FIX_VERSION = os.environ.get("DEFAULT_FIX_VERSION", "2.6.0")
 
 def get_json(url):
     try:
diff --git a/streams/quickstart/java/pom.xml b/streams/quickstart/java/pom.xml
index 96e7f6ba3f0..d61d4afb6ce 100644
--- a/streams/quickstart/java/pom.xml
+++ b/streams/quickstart/java/pom.xml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
     <parent>
         <groupId>org.apache.kafka</groupId>
         <artifactId>streams-quickstart</artifactId>
-        <version>2.5.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <version>2.6.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
         <relativePath>..</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
diff --git a/streams/quickstart/java/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml b/streams/quickstart/java/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml
index c2f34422e78..e376e8a9dc3 100644
--- a/streams/quickstart/java/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml
+++ b/streams/quickstart/java/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 
     <properties>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-        <kafka.version>2.5.0-SNAPSHOT</kafka.version>
+        <kafka.version>2.6.0-SNAPSHOT</kafka.version>
         <slf4j.version>1.7.7</slf4j.version>
         <log4j.version>1.2.17</log4j.version>
     </properties>
diff --git a/streams/quickstart/pom.xml b/streams/quickstart/pom.xml
index 8701e3ed8d9..c307b93b059 100644
--- a/streams/quickstart/pom.xml
+++ b/streams/quickstart/pom.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     <groupId>org.apache.kafka</groupId>
     <artifactId>streams-quickstart</artifactId>
     <packaging>pom</packaging>
-    <version>2.5.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>2.6.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
 
     <name>Kafka Streams :: Quickstart</name>
 
diff --git a/tests/kafkatest/__init__.py b/tests/kafkatest/__init__.py
index 77e2bd1bf1e..cc2dc9ffe80 100644
--- a/tests/kafkatest/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/kafkatest/__init__.py
@@ -22,4 +22,4 @@
 # Instead, in development branches, the version should have a suffix of the form ".devN"
 #
 # For example, when Kafka is at version 1.0.0-SNAPSHOT, this should be something like "1.0.0.dev0"
-__version__ = '2.5.0.dev0'
+__version__ = '2.6.0.dev0'
diff --git a/tests/kafkatest/version.py b/tests/kafkatest/version.py
index c90c8538e50..be0e533cde0 100644
--- a/tests/kafkatest/version.py
+++ b/tests/kafkatest/version.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def get_version(node=None):
         return DEV_BRANCH
 
 DEV_BRANCH = KafkaVersion("dev")
-DEV_VERSION = KafkaVersion("2.5.0-SNAPSHOT")
+DEV_VERSION = KafkaVersion("2.6.0-SNAPSHOT")
 
 # 0.8.2.x versions
 V_0_8_2_1 = KafkaVersion("0.8.2.1")