diff --git a/.github/workflows/alembic.yml b/.github/workflows/alembic.yml
index a2478cb..860422c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/alembic.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/alembic.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ jobs:
           POSTGRES_HOST_AUTH_METHOD: trust
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 1
 
       - name: Wait for PostgreSQL to be ready
         run: |
@@ -32,7 +34,6 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
-          # for python3.11 (dear internet gods: we'll update to 3.13 or something in a year, i promise)
           sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
           sudo apt install python3.13 python3.13-venv
           python3.13 -m pip install --upgrade pip
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pytest_unit.yml b/.github/workflows/pytest_unit.yml
index 5582723..41dc376 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pytest_unit.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pytest_unit.yml
@@ -7,13 +7,13 @@ jobs:
     timeout-minutes: 5
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
-      - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
           python-version: '3.13'
 
-      - uses: actions/cache@v4
+      - uses: actions/cache@v5
         id: cache
         with:
           path: ~/.cache/pip
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ruff.yml b/.github/workflows/ruff.yml
index 9c57160..b213240 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ruff.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ruff.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,5 @@ jobs:
   ruff:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: chartboost/ruff-action@v1
-        with:
-          version: 0.15.12
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+      - uses: astral-sh/ruff-action@v3
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f8e3637..f8a5c73 100755
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,8 +14,7 @@ If you're planning to read through the source code, please check out this projec
 
 ### Quickstart
 
-1. Install [Python 3.11](https://www.python.org/downloads/), [git](https://git-scm.com/install/), and (optionally) [Docker](https://www.docker.com/get-started/)
-    Note: This may fail if you're using Python 3.12+
+1. Install [Python 3.13](https://www.python.org/downloads/), [git](https://git-scm.com/install/), and (optionally) [Docker](https://www.docker.com/get-started/)
 2. Clone this repository
 3. Create and activate a virtual environment for this project. This has been tested with `pip` and `uv`
 4. Install developer dependencies
@@ -57,5 +56,5 @@ export LOCAL=true # Should be true if you're running this locally
 
 ## Developer Tools
 
-We use `ruff 0.6.9` as our linter, which you can run with `ruff check --fix`. If you use a different version, it may be inconsistent with our CI checks.
+We use `ruff` as our linter, which you can run with `ruff check --fix`. If you use a different version, it may be inconsistent with our CI checks.
 We use `pyright/basedpyright` for typechecking. Language services have been left enabled and will be changed if it becomes an issue.
diff --git a/src/auth/urls.py b/src/auth/urls.py
index 8516769..635f2c6 100644
--- a/src/auth/urls.py
+++ b/src/auth/urls.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import os
 import urllib.parse
 
-import requests  # TODO: make this async
+import httpx
 import xmltodict
 from fastapi import APIRouter, BackgroundTasks, HTTPException, Request, Response
 from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse, RedirectResponse
@@ -54,7 +54,9 @@ async def login_user(
     service_url = body.service
     service = urllib.parse.quote(service_url)
     service_validate_url = f"https://cas.sfu.ca/cas/serviceValidate?service={service}&ticket={body.ticket}"
-    cas_response = xmltodict.parse(requests.get(service_validate_url).text)
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
+        response = await client.get(service_validate_url)
+    cas_response = xmltodict.parse(response.text)
 
     if "cas:authenticationFailure" in cas_response["cas:serviceResponse"]:
         _logger.info(f"User failed to login, with response {cas_response}")
diff --git a/src/database.py b/src/database.py
index 366916c..0d779aa 100644
--- a/src/database.py
+++ b/src/database.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 from typing import Annotated, Any
 
 import asyncpg
+import httpx
 import sqlalchemy
 from fastapi import Depends, FastAPI
 from sqlalchemy import MetaData
@@ -115,7 +116,9 @@ async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
     """
     Handles startup and shutdown events, see https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/advanced/events/
     """
+    app.state.http_client = httpx.AsyncClient()
     yield
+    await app.state.http_client.aclose()
     if sessionmanager._engine is not None:
         # Close the DB connection
         await sessionmanager.close()