@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: publish junit reports
         if: success() || failure()
-        uses: mikepenz/action-junit-report@e08919a3b1fb83a78393dfb775a9c37f17d8eea6
+        uses: mikepenz/action-junit-report@a294a61c909bd8a4b563024a2faa28897fd53ebc
         with:
           check_name: junit reports
           report_paths: reports/junit/*.xml
 
@@ -169,14 +169,14 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: archive reports
         if: github.actor != 'dependabot[bot]' && (success() || failure())
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v5
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
         with:
           name: reports
           path: reports/**/*
 
       - name: publish junit reports
         if: success() || failure()
-        uses: mikepenz/action-junit-report@e08919a3b1fb83a78393dfb775a9c37f17d8eea6
+        uses: mikepenz/action-junit-report@a294a61c909bd8a4b563024a2faa28897fd53ebc
         with:
           check_name: junit reports
           report_paths: reports/junit/*.xml
 
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+    "python.testing.pytestArgs": [
+        "."
+    ],
+    "python.testing.unittestEnabled": false,
+    "python.testing.pytestEnabled": true
+}
@@ -261,11 +261,11 @@ def create_ssl_context(self) -> ssl.SSLContext:
 
         context.minimum_version = ssl.TLSVersion.TLSv1_2
 
-        if self.cert and isinstance(self.cert, (tuple, list)):
+        if self.cert and isinstance(self.cert, tuple | list):
             context.load_cert_chain(*self.cert)
 
         if self.verify:
-            if isinstance(self.verify, (str, bytes)):
+            if isinstance(self.verify, str | bytes):
                 context.load_verify_locations(self.verify)
 
             if self.check_hostname is not None:
 
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ requests = ">=2.32.0,<3.0.0"
 werkzeug = ">=3.0.3,<4.0.0"
 
 [tool.poetry.group.dev.dependencies]
-black = "^25"
+black = ">=25,<27"
 mypy = "^1.4.1"
 types-six = "^1.16.21.8"
 types-requests = "^2.31.0.1"
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ toml = "^0.10.2"
 tox = "^4.6.3"
 types-setuptools = "^80"
 coverage = "^7.2.7"
-pytest = ">=7.4,<9.0"
+pytest = ">=7.4,<10.0"
 importlib-metadata = {version = ">=4.11.4", python = "<3.12"}
 pytest-httpserver = "^1.0.8"
 ruff = "^0"
 
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 this shim is required ... because the PyPI package name contains upper case chars . and pyproject.toml
 will lowercase under PEP-518 build systems.
 """
+
 import os
 from os.path import dirname, join
 
 
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from unittest.mock import Mock
+
+import pytest
+
+import mesh_client
+
+
+class SSLContextStub:
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        self.load_cert_chain = Mock()
+        self.load_verify_locations = Mock()
+        self.minimum_version = None
+        self.check_hostname = None
+        self.verify_mode = None
+        self.hostname_checks_common_name = None
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("certs", "loads_cert_chain_called"),
+    [
+        (("client.crt", "client.key"), True),
+        (None, False),
+        (["client.crt", "client.key"], True),
+    ],
+)
+def test_create_ssl_context_loads_cert_chain(
+    monkeypatch, certs: tuple[str, str] | list[str] | None, loads_cert_chain_called: bool
+):
+
+    dummy_context = SSLContextStub()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mesh_client, "create_urllib3_context", lambda: dummy_context)
+
+    adapter = mesh_client.SSLContextAdapter(cert=certs, verify=None)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+    dummy_context.load_cert_chain.reset_mock()
+
+    context = adapter.create_ssl_context()
+
+    assert context is dummy_context
+
+    if loads_cert_chain_called:
+        assert certs is not None
+        dummy_context.load_cert_chain.assert_called_with(*certs)
+    else:
+        dummy_context.load_cert_chain.assert_not_called()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("verify", [True, False, "/path/to/ca.pem", b"/path/to/ca.pem", None])
+def test_create_ssl_context_loads_verify_locations_when_verify_is_provided(
+    monkeypatch, verify: bool | str | bytes | None
+):
+
+    dummy_context = SSLContextStub()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mesh_client, "create_urllib3_context", lambda: dummy_context)
+
+    adapter = mesh_client.SSLContextAdapter(cert=None, verify=verify)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+    context = adapter.create_ssl_context()
+
+    assert context is dummy_context
+
+    if type(verify) in (str, bytes):
+        dummy_context.load_verify_locations.assert_called_with(verify)
+    else:
+        dummy_context.load_verify_locations.assert_not_called()