diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 28009144..8b55e9af 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ name: CI
 on: push
 
 env:
-  PYTHON_VERSIONS: '[ "3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12", "3.13.3" ]'
+  PYTHON_VERSIONS: '[ "3.10", "3.11", "3.12", "3.13.3" ]'
 
 jobs:
 
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ jobs:
         python-version: ${{ fromJSON(needs.set-python-matrix.outputs.python_versions) }}
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
       - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
 
@@ -48,10 +48,10 @@ jobs:
          python-version: ${{ fromJSON(needs.set-python-matrix.outputs.python_versions) }}
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
       - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
 
@@ -103,11 +103,11 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
-      - uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
-          python-version: 3.9
+          python-version: '3.10'
 
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: pip install -U setuptools wheel build
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
       - name: Build
         run: make docs
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8b8478a7..9eaf17fd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,19 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [2.1.0] - 2026-01-15
+### Dependency
+- Upgraded internal dependency `redis` to version `redis >=7.1.0, <8.0.0`
+- Bumped a supported SDK runtime version to minimum `3.10` since new redis lib drops support for `3.9`
+
+
+## [2.0.4] - 2026-01-14
+### Security
+- Upgraded internal dependency `urllib3` to version `urllib3 >= 2.6.3, <3.0.0` since `2.5.0` has [these](https://security.snyk.io/package/pip/urllib3/2.5.0) vulnerabilities
+### Fixed
+- Fixed issue with `MAX_RETRY_COUNT` 
+
+
 ## [2.0.3] - 2025-12-08
 ### Fixed
 - Fix some deprecation warnings raised by Pydantic V2
diff --git a/docs/antora-playbook.yml b/docs/antora-playbook.yml
index 88fcfc86..f4c95352 100644
--- a/docs/antora-playbook.yml
+++ b/docs/antora-playbook.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ content:
       start_path: docs
       branches: []
 #      branches: HEAD  # Use this for local development
-      tags: [v2.0.3]
+      tags: [v2.1.0]
 asciidoc:
   attributes:
     page-toclevels: 5
diff --git a/docs/antora.yml b/docs/antora.yml
index da9cec15..29f1b0f3 100644
--- a/docs/antora.yml
+++ b/docs/antora.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 name: corva-sdk
-version: ~
+version: 2.1.0
 nav: [modules/ROOT/nav.adoc]
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index bed1b888..81d4fca0 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,20 +6,20 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 name = "corva-sdk"
 description = "SDK for building Corva DevCenter Python apps."
 readme = "README.md"
-version = "2.0.3"
+version = "2.1.0"
 license = { text = "The Unlicense" }
 authors = [
   { name = "Jordan Ambra", email = "jordan.ambra@corva.ai" }
 ]
 keywords = ["corva", "sdk"]
-requires-python = ">=3.9,<4.0"
+requires-python = ">=3.10,<4.0"
 dependencies = [
   "fakeredis >= 2.30.0, <2.32.0",
   "pydantic >= 2.0, <3.0",
   "pydantic-settings >= 2.0, <3.0",
-  "redis == 6.4.0",
+  "redis >=7.1.0, <8.0.0",
   "requests >= 2.32.3, <3.0.0",
-  "urllib3 == 2.5.0",
+  "urllib3 >= 2.6.3, <3.0.0",
   "semver == 3.0.4"
 ]
 classifiers = [
diff --git a/src/corva/configuration.py b/src/corva/configuration.py
index 6d9e11a3..c4eb8c9c 100644
--- a/src/corva/configuration.py
+++ b/src/corva/configuration.py
@@ -1,16 +1,44 @@
 import datetime
+import logging
 
 import pydantic_settings
 from pydantic import AnyHttpUrl, BeforeValidator, TypeAdapter
 from typing_extensions import Annotated
 
+logger = logging.getLogger("corva")
+
 
 def validate_http_url_to_str(v: str) -> str:
     TypeAdapter(AnyHttpUrl).validate_python(v)
     return v
 
 
+def _parse_max_retry_count(value) -> int:
+
+    if value is None or value == "":
+        return DEFAULT_MAX_RETRY_COUNT
+    try:
+        if isinstance(value, bool):
+            raise TypeError
+        if isinstance(value, int):
+            return value
+        if isinstance(value, str):
+            return int(value.strip())
+    except (TypeError, ValueError):
+        pass
+
+    logger.warning(
+        "Invalid MAX_RETRY_COUNT value %r; using default %d.",
+        value,
+        DEFAULT_MAX_RETRY_COUNT,
+    )
+    return DEFAULT_MAX_RETRY_COUNT
+
+
 HttpUrlStr = Annotated[str, BeforeValidator(validate_http_url_to_str)]
+MaxRetryValidator = Annotated[int, BeforeValidator(lambda v: _parse_max_retry_count(v))]
+
+DEFAULT_MAX_RETRY_COUNT = 3
 
 
 class Settings(pydantic_settings.BaseSettings):
@@ -39,8 +67,8 @@ class Settings(pydantic_settings.BaseSettings):
     POOL_MAX_SIZE: int = 20  # Max connections count per pool/host
     POOL_BLOCK: bool = True  # Wait until connection released
 
-    # retry
-    MAX_RETRY_COUNT: int = 3  # If `0` then retries will be disabled
+    # retry. If `0` then retries will be disabled
+    MAX_RETRY_COUNT: MaxRetryValidator = DEFAULT_MAX_RETRY_COUNT
     BACKOFF_FACTOR: float = 1.0
 
     # OTEL
diff --git a/src/version.py b/src/version.py
index c129f683..127c148a 100644
--- a/src/version.py
+++ b/src/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-VERSION = "2.0.3"
+VERSION = "2.1.0"