diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f70e14d..0b1dfe5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ classifiers = [
 ]
 
 [tool.poetry.dependencies]
-python = "^3.8"
+python = "^3.9"
 # Pinning jsonschema because its dependencies introduced
 # a dependency of rustc, which we don't want to have installed
 # in charms that use SDI
@@ -29,14 +29,29 @@ python = "^3.8"
 # For more reference go to:
 # https://github.com/python-jsonschema/jsonschema/issues/1117
 # https://github.com/python-jsonschema/jsonschema/issues/1114
-jsonschema = ">4, <4.18"
+#
+# Current state (2024–2025):
+# jsonschema >= 4.18 ships pure-Python wheels (py3-none-any)
+# rpds-py provides pre-built wheels for common platforms (manylinux, macOS, Windows, ARM)
+# Rust is only required when building rpds-py from source
+#
+# NOTE:
+# While rpds-py ships prebuilt wheels, Rust may still be required if pip falls
+# back to source builds (e.g., unsupported platforms, outdated pip,or
+# --no-binary usage). Build environments SHOULD prefer
+# wheels (e.g., --only-binary=:all:) to avoid reintroducing this dependency.
+#
+# The constraint is therefore relaxed to align with current ecosystem behavior
+# and downstream requirements (e.g., litellm >= 1.82.3 requires jsonschema >= 4.23),
+# while preserving API stability (<5.0.0).
+jsonschema = ">4.23, <5.0"
 ops = "*"
 pyyaml = "*"
 requests = "*"
 
 [tool.poetry.dev-dependencies]
 black = "^23.1"
-flake8 = "^3.8"
+flake8 = "^7.0"
 flake8-builtins = "^1.5.3"
 flake8-copyright = "^0.2.4"
 flake8-docstrings = "^1.6.0"
@@ -46,7 +61,7 @@ isort = "^5.9"
 mdformat = "^0.7"
 mdformat-gfm = "^0.3"
 mypy = "^1.4"
-pytest = "^6.2"
+pytest = "^8.0"
 pytest-mock = "^3.6"
 types-jsonschema = "^3.2"
 types-pyyaml = "^5.4"
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 64233e7..d6542a1 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -3,15 +3,25 @@ max-line-length = 100
 max-doc-length = 100
 max-complexity = 11
 docstring-convention = google
+
+# IGNORE RULES EXPLANATION:
+# W503: line break before binary operator
+# W504: line break after binary operator
+# D100: module-level docstring
+# D104: package-level docstring
+# D105: magic method docstring
+# D107: __init__ docstring
+# D401: "imperative mood" in docstrings
+# N818: exceptions must have Error suffix
 ignore =
-    W503, # line break before binary operator
-    W504, # line break after binary operator
-    D100, # module-level docstring
-    D104, # package-level docstring
-    D105, # magic method docstring
-    D107, # __init__ docstring
-    D401, # "imperative mood" in docstrings
-    N818  # exceptions must have Error suffix
+    W503,
+    W504,
+    D100,
+    D104,
+    D105,
+    D107,
+    D401,
+    N818
 builtins = FileNotFoundError
 exclude = 
     juju/client/_*