diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index f9f1650..89088bf 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ repos:
 
   # general linting
   - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks
-    rev: v4.5.0
+    rev: v6.0.0
     hooks:
       - id: check-yaml
       - id: fix-byte-order-marker
@@ -21,13 +21,13 @@ repos:
 
   # python linting
   - repo: https://github.com/psf/black
-    rev: 23.12.1
+    rev: 25.12.0
     hooks:
       - id: black
 
   # python linting
   - repo: https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8
-    rev: 7.0.0
+    rev: 7.3.0
     hooks:
       - id: flake8
         additional_dependencies:
@@ -36,24 +36,24 @@ repos:
 
   # python linting
   - repo: https://github.com/asottile/reorder_python_imports
-    rev: v3.12.0
+    rev: v3.16.0
     hooks:
       - id: reorder-python-imports
 
   # python linting
   - repo: https://github.com/asottile/pyupgrade
-    rev: v3.15.0
+    rev: v3.21.2
     hooks:
       - id: pyupgrade
 
   # markdown linting
   - repo: https://github.com/markdownlint/markdownlint
-    rev: v0.13.0
+    rev: v0.13.0 # NOTE: v0.15.0 is giving a headache with pre-commit
     hooks:
       - id: markdownlint
         entry: mdl --style .markdownlint.rb
 
-  # css linting
+  # CSS linting
   - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/mirrors-csslint
     rev: v1.0.5
     hooks:
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ repos:
 
   # YAML linting
   - repo: https://github.com/adrienverge/yamllint
-    rev: v1.33.0
+    rev: v1.37.1
     hooks:
       - id: yamllint
         entry: yamllint -c .yamllint.yaml .
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 1661963..8457b5a 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM python:3.10-slim
+FROM python:3.13-slim
 
 WORKDIR /app
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1a2ad36..8d12297 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -38,3 +38,4 @@ Please see [the setup documentation](SETUP.md) regarding this.
 * [requirements.txt](requirements.txt) - Pip package requirements for enabling
   developers to contribute. See [SETUP.md](SETUP.md)
 * [SETUP.md](SETUP.md) - Setup instructions for contributors
+* [TESTING.md](TESTING.md) - Instructions for manually validating the website functionality works.
diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
index 42cd335..1550253 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ services:
       - mongodb
 
   mongodb:
-    image: mongo:5.0.13-focal
+    image: mongo:8.2.2
     container_name: mongodb
     environment:
       - PUID=1000
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ services:
     restart: unless-stopped
 
   mongo-seed:
-    image: mongo:5.0.13-focal
+    image: mongo:8.2.2
     container_name: mongo-setup
     links:
       - mongodb
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 767e71f..de5832d 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,13 +1,17 @@
+# NOTE: upgrading Flask past 2.2.5 causes issues with flask-mongoengine
+# since Flask 3.0 completely removed the JSONEncoder class
+# which flask-mongoengine (version 1.0.0) still relies on this removed class
+# to handle JSON serialization for MongoDB objects.
 Flask==2.2.5
 flask-mongoengine==1.0.0
-flask-restx==1.3.0
-Flask-WTF==1.2.1
-itsdangerous==2.1.2
-Jinja2==3.1.3
-MarkupSafe==2.1.3
-mongoengine==0.27.0
-pre-commit==3.6.0
-pymongo>=3.12.0,<4.0 # mongoengine==0.27.0 requires a compatible version
-python-dotenv==1.0.0
-Werkzeug==3.0.1
-WTForms==3.1.2
+flask-restx==1.3.2
+Flask-WTF==1.2.2
+itsdangerous==2.2.0
+Jinja2==3.1.6
+MarkupSafe==3.0.3
+mongoengine==0.29.1
+pre-commit==4.5.0
+pymongo==4.15.5
+python-dotenv==1.2.1
+Werkzeug==3.1.4
+WTForms==3.2.1