diff --git a/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/development.yaml b/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/development.yaml
index b5cd05f..f015882 100644
--- a/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/development.yaml
+++ b/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/development.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ image:
   tag: "fe613cc832bc53753274fb6e1a178dd8d00d2c33" # {"$imagepolicy": "development:openfilter-pipelines-controller:tag"}
 claimerImage:
   repository: plainsightai/openfilter-pipelines-claimer
-  tag: "fe613cc832bc53753274fb6e1a178dd8d00d2c33" # {"$imagepolicy": "development:openfilter-pipelines-controller:tag"}
 telemetry:
   exporterType: otlp
   # Scheme prefix is load-bearing. openfilter ≥ 0.2.1 infers OTLP gRPC TLS
diff --git a/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/lab.yaml b/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/lab.yaml
index 70bb54d..12a5f6e 100644
--- a/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/lab.yaml
+++ b/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/lab.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ image:
   tag: "fe613cc832bc53753274fb6e1a178dd8d00d2c33" # {"$imagepolicy": "lab:openfilter-pipelines-controller:tag"}
 claimerImage:
   repository: plainsightai/openfilter-pipelines-claimer
-  tag: "fe613cc832bc53753274fb6e1a178dd8d00d2c33" # {"$imagepolicy": "lab:openfilter-pipelines-controller:tag"}
 telemetry:
   # Lab has no monitoring overlay (no controllers/monitoring/overrides/lab.yaml),
   # so opt out of the base.yaml OTLP export to avoid filter pods retrying
diff --git a/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/production.yaml b/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/production.yaml
index a2bfb2b..6d1c515 100644
--- a/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/production.yaml
+++ b/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/production.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ image:
   tag: "fe613cc832bc53753274fb6e1a178dd8d00d2c33" # {"$imagepolicy": "production:openfilter-pipelines-controller:tag"}
 claimerImage:
   repository: plainsightai/openfilter-pipelines-claimer
-  tag: "fe613cc832bc53753274fb6e1a178dd8d00d2c33" # {"$imagepolicy": "production:openfilter-pipelines-controller:tag"}
 resources:
   requests:
     cpu: "100m"
diff --git a/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/staging.yaml b/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/staging.yaml
index 740074d..89ab427 100644
--- a/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/staging.yaml
+++ b/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/overrides/staging.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ image:
   tag: "fe613cc832bc53753274fb6e1a178dd8d00d2c33" # {"$imagepolicy": "staging:openfilter-pipelines-controller:tag"}
 claimerImage:
   repository: plainsightai/openfilter-pipelines-claimer
-  tag: "fe613cc832bc53753274fb6e1a178dd8d00d2c33" # {"$imagepolicy": "staging:openfilter-pipelines-controller:tag"}
 telemetry:
   exporterType: otlp
   # Scheme prefix is load-bearing. openfilter ≥ 0.2.1 infers OTLP gRPC TLS
diff --git a/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/templates/deployment.yaml b/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/templates/deployment.yaml
index d8d2a83..1058237 100644
--- a/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/deployment/openfilter-pipelines-controller/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -118,7 +118,12 @@ spec:
             {{- end }}
             {{- end }}
             - name: CLAIMER_IMAGE
-              value: "{{ .Values.claimerImage.repository }}:{{ .Values.claimerImage.tag | default .Chart.AppVersion }}"
+              # Fall through to image.tag when claimerImage.tag is unset so
+              # ArgoCD Image Updater (which only rewrites image.tag from the
+              # gitops `image-list` annotation) keeps the controller + claimer
+              # in lockstep. AppVersion is the last-resort floor for fresh
+              # installs that haven't been bumped yet.
+              value: "{{ .Values.claimerImage.repository }}:{{ .Values.claimerImage.tag | default .Values.image.tag | default .Chart.AppVersion }}"
             {{- if .Values.gpuNodeSelector }}
             - name: GPU_NODE_SELECTOR
               value: {{ .Values.gpuNodeSelector | quote }}