diff --git a/doc/changes/dev/14048.dependency.rst b/doc/changes/dev/14048.dependency.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3ce732db981
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/changes/dev/14048.dependency.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Updated minimum for:
+
+- Optional dependency ``pyvista >= 0.44``
+
+Changes implemented via CI action created by `Thomas Binns`_.
diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index 420489ffd09..d9dd9a4a72d 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ dependencies:
   - PySide6 ==6.11.1
   - python-neo
   - python-picard >=0.4
-  - pyvista >=0.43
+  - pyvista >=0.44
   - pyvistaqt >=0.11
   - qdarkstyle !=3.2.2
   - qtpy
diff --git a/mne/viz/backends/_pyvista.py b/mne/viz/backends/_pyvista.py
index d020f468e5a..e688595c7a8 100644
--- a/mne/viz/backends/_pyvista.py
+++ b/mne/viz/backends/_pyvista.py
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ def __init__(
         from .._3d import _get_3d_option
 
         # TODO VERSION change whenever PyVista min gets updated:
-        _require_version("pyvista", "use 3D rendering", "0.43")
+        _require_version("pyvista", "use 3D rendering", "0.44")
         multi_samples = _get_3d_option("multi_samples")
         # multi_samples > 1 is broken on macOS + Intel Iris + volume rendering
         if platform.system() == "Darwin":
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 598d9e1b19b..f98d74d5fdf 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ doc = [
   "pyvistaqt >= 0.11",  # released 2023-06-30, will become 0.12 on 2028-07-01
   "pyxdf",
   "pyzmq != 24.0.0",
-  "refleak >=0.2.1",
+  "refleak >= 0.2.1",
   "scikit-learn >= 1.5",  # released 2024-05-21, will become 1.6 on 2026-12-09
   "seaborn >= 0.5, != 0.11.2",
   "selenium >= 4.27.1",
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ test = [
   "pytest-qt >= 4.3",
   "pytest-rerunfailures",
   "pytest-timeout >= 2.2",
-  "refleak >=0.2.1",
+  "refleak >= 0.2.1",
   "ruff >= 0.1",
   "twine",
   "vulture",
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ full-no-qt = [
   "pymef",
   "pyobjc-framework-Cocoa >= 5.2.0; platform_system == 'Darwin'",
   "python-picard >= 0.4",
-  "pyvista >= 0.43",  # released 2023-12-07, will become 0.44 on 2026-07-07
+  "pyvista >= 0.44",  # released 2024-07-07, will become 0.45 on 2027-04-19
   "pyvistaqt >= 0.11",  # released 2023-06-30, will become 0.12 on 2028-07-01
   "qdarkstyle != 3.2.2",
   "qtpy",
diff --git a/tools/pylock.ci-old.toml b/tools/pylock.ci-old.toml
index 0477b2a3542..89ba3b7657f 100644
--- a/tools/pylock.ci-old.toml
+++ b/tools/pylock.ci-old.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # This file was autogenerated by uv via the following command:
-#    uv pip compile pyproject.toml --python 3.10 --python-platform x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --group test --group lockfile_extras --resolution lowest-direct --format pylock.toml --output-file tools/pylock.ci-old.toml --no-cache
+#    uv pip compile pyproject.toml --python 3.10 --python-platform x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu --group test --group lockfile_extras --resolution lowest-direct --format pylock.toml --output-file tools/pylock.ci-old.toml
 lock-version = "1.0"
 created-by = "uv"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"