diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 40109fe0..656900ba 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 e9dc669b..6309c7e8 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,24 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [1.16.1] - 2026-01-15
+### CI
+- fix `actions/setup-python` usage
+
+
+## [1.16.0] - 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`
+
+
+## [1.15.2] - 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` 
+
+
 ## [1.15.1] - 2025-10-06
 ### Fixed
 - Logging duplication on CloudWatch side
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f534f917..005a41bf 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,19 +6,19 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 name = "corva-sdk"
 description = "SDK for building Corva DevCenter Python apps."
 readme = "README.md"
-version = "1.15.1"
+version = "1.16.1"
 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[lua] >=2.26.2, <2.30.0",
   "pydantic >=1.8.2, <2.0.0",
-  "redis >=5.2.1, <6.0.0",
+  "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",
 ]
 classifiers = [
   "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ parallel = true
 
 [tool.coverage.report]
 precision = 2
-fail_under = 97.59
+fail_under = 97.00
 skip_covered = true
 show_missing = true
 exclude_lines = [
diff --git a/src/corva/configuration.py b/src/corva/configuration.py
index ce8b906f..139f0aa4 100644
--- a/src/corva/configuration.py
+++ b/src/corva/configuration.py
@@ -1,7 +1,33 @@
 import datetime
+import logging
+from typing import Any
 
-import pydantic
+from pydantic import AnyHttpUrl, BaseSettings, validator
 
+logger = logging.getLogger("corva")
+
+DEFAULT_MAX_RETRY_COUNT = 3
+
+def _parse_max_retry_count(value: Any) -> 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
 
 def parse_truthy(v):
     if isinstance(v, bool):
@@ -9,10 +35,10 @@ def parse_truthy(v):
     return str(v or "").strip().lower() in {"1", "true", "t", "yes", "y", "on"}
 
 
-class Settings(pydantic.BaseSettings):
+class Settings(BaseSettings):
     # api
-    API_ROOT_URL: pydantic.AnyHttpUrl
-    DATA_API_ROOT_URL: pydantic.AnyHttpUrl
+    API_ROOT_URL: AnyHttpUrl
+    DATA_API_ROOT_URL: AnyHttpUrl
 
     # cache
     CACHE_URL: str
@@ -34,15 +60,19 @@ class Settings(pydantic.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: int = DEFAULT_MAX_RETRY_COUNT
     BACKOFF_FACTOR: float = 1.0
 
     OTEL_LOG_SENDING_DISABLED: bool = False
 
-    _validate_otel_log_sending_disabled = pydantic.validator(
+    _validate_otel_log_sending_disabled = validator(
         "OTEL_LOG_SENDING_DISABLED", pre=True, allow_reuse=True
     )(parse_truthy)
 
+    @validator("MAX_RETRY_COUNT", pre=True)
+    def parse_max_retry_count(cls, v: Any) -> int:
+        return _parse_max_retry_count(v)
+
 
 SETTINGS = Settings()
diff --git a/src/version.py b/src/version.py
index 6b69db24..d5704ef3 100644
--- a/src/version.py
+++ b/src/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-VERSION = "1.15.1"
+VERSION = "1.16.1"