diff --git a/api/common.go b/api/common.go
index 866ad8f676..b11c2fe02b 100644
--- a/api/common.go
+++ b/api/common.go
@@ -2,9 +2,18 @@ package api // import "github.com/docker/docker/api"
 
 // Common constants for daemon and client.
 const (
-	// DefaultVersion of Current REST API
+	// DefaultVersion of the current REST API.
 	DefaultVersion = "1.45"
 
+	// MinSupportedAPIVersion is the minimum API version that can be supported
+	// by the API server, specified as "major.minor". Note that the daemon
+	// may be configured with a different minimum API version, as returned
+	// in [github.com/docker/docker/api/types.Version.MinAPIVersion].
+	//
+	// API requests for API versions lower than the configured version produce
+	// an error.
+	MinSupportedAPIVersion = "1.24"
+
 	// NoBaseImageSpecifier is the symbol used by the FROM
 	// command to specify that no base image is to be used.
 	NoBaseImageSpecifier = "scratch"
diff --git a/daemon/config/config.go b/daemon/config/config.go
index 8b867b953a..a72fba044d 100644
--- a/daemon/config/config.go
+++ b/daemon/config/config.go
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ const (
 	// This version can be overridden through the "DOCKER_MIN_API_VERSION"
 	// environment variable. It currently defaults to the minimum API version
 	// supported by the API server.
-	defaultMinAPIVersion = "1.24"
+	defaultMinAPIVersion = api.MinSupportedAPIVersion
 	// SeccompProfileDefault is the built-in default seccomp profile.
 	SeccompProfileDefault = "builtin"
 	// SeccompProfileUnconfined is a special profile name for seccomp to use an