diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4ec8d63..808d2d2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 .PHONY: default help clean build lint format detekt detekt-baseline tests uberjar uber \
-		cc run heroku logs versioncheck upgrade-wrapper _require-gradle-version
+		cc run heroku logs versions upgrade-wrapper _require-gradle-version
 
-GRADLE_VERSION := $(shell awk -F'"' '/^gradle[[:space:]]*=/ {print $$2}' gradle/libs.versions.toml)
+GRADLE_VERSION := $(shell sed -n 's/^gradle-wrapper = "\(.*\)"/\1/p' gradle/libs.versions.toml)
 
-default: versioncheck
+default: help
 
-help: ## Show this help
-	@awk 'BEGIN {FS = ":.*?## "} /^[a-zA-Z_-]+:.*?## / {printf "  \033[36m%-22s\033[0m %s\n", $$1, $$2}' $(MAKEFILE_LIST)
+help:  ## Show this help (list of targets)
+	@awk 'BEGIN {FS = ":.*?## "; printf "Usage: make <target>\n\nTargets:\n"} \
+		/^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+:.*?## / {printf "  \033[36m%-22s\033[0m %s\n", $$1, $$2}' $(MAKEFILE_LIST)
 
 clean: ## Remove build artifacts
 	./gradlew clean
@@ -50,8 +51,8 @@ logs: ## Tail Heroku logs
 # Gradle's documented upgrade procedure: the first run rewrites
 # gradle-wrapper.properties using the *old* wrapper jar; the second run
 # regenerates the wrapper itself with the new version.
-versioncheck: ## Check for dependency updates (default target)
-	./gradlew dependencyUpdates
+versions: ## Check for dependency updates (default target)
+	./gradlew dependencyUpdates --no-configuration-cache --no-parallel
 
 upgrade-wrapper: _require-gradle-version ## Upgrade Gradle wrapper to version in libs.versions.toml
 	./gradlew wrapper --gradle-version=$(GRADLE_VERSION) --distribution-type=bin
diff --git a/gradle/libs.versions.toml b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
index 2592230..f644d06 100644
--- a/gradle/libs.versions.toml
+++ b/gradle/libs.versions.toml
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 [versions]
 detekt = "2.0.0-alpha.3"
-gradle = "9.5.0"
+gradle-wrapper = "9.5.1"
 jvm = "17"
 kotest = "6.1.11"
-kotlin = "2.3.21"
-kotlinter = "5.4.2"
-ktor = "3.4.3"
-logging = "8.0.02"
+kotlin = "2.4.0"
+kotlinter = "5.5.0"
+ktor = "3.5.0"
+logging = "8.0.4"
 readingbat = "3.1.8"
-utils = "2.8.2"
+utils = "2.9.0"
 versions = "0.54.0"
 
 [libraries]
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
index d997cfc..b1b8ef5 100644
Binary files a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar and b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar differ
diff --git a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
index 1a70468..df6a6ad 100644
--- a/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
+++ b/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 distributionPath=wrapper/dists
-distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-9.5.0-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-9.5.1-bin.zip
 networkTimeout=10000
+retries=0
+retryBackOffMs=500
 validateDistributionUrl=true
 zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
 zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
diff --git a/gradlew b/gradlew
index 739907d..b9bb139 100755
--- a/gradlew
+++ b/gradlew
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
 #       Darwin, MinGW, and NonStop.
 #
 #   (3) This script is generated from the Groovy template
-#       https://github.com/gradle/gradle/blob/2d6327017519d23b96af35865dc997fcb544fb40/platforms/jvm/plugins-application/src/main/resources/org/gradle/api/internal/plugins/unixStartScript.txt
+#       https://github.com/gradle/gradle/blob/3d91ce3b8caaf77ad09f381f43615b715b53f72c/platforms/jvm/plugins-application/src/main/resources/org/gradle/api/internal/plugins/unixStartScript.txt
 #       within the Gradle project.
 #
 #       You can find Gradle at https://github.com/gradle/gradle/.
diff --git a/gradlew.bat b/gradlew.bat
index c4bdd3a..24c62d5 100644
--- a/gradlew.bat
+++ b/gradlew.bat
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@
 @rem
 @rem ##########################################################################
 
-@rem Set local scope for the variables with windows NT shell
-if "%OS%"=="Windows_NT" setlocal
+@rem Set local scope for the variables, and ensure extensions are enabled
+setlocal EnableExtensions
 
 set DIRNAME=%~dp0
 if "%DIRNAME%"=="" set DIRNAME=.
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ echo. 1>&2
 echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 1>&2
 echo location of your Java installation. 1>&2
 
-goto fail
+"%COMSPEC%" /c exit 1
 
 :findJavaFromJavaHome
 set JAVA_HOME=%JAVA_HOME:"=%
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ echo. 1>&2
 echo Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the 1>&2
 echo location of your Java installation. 1>&2
 
-goto fail
+"%COMSPEC%" /c exit 1
 
 :execute
 @rem Setup the command line
@@ -73,21 +73,10 @@ goto fail
 
 
 @rem Execute Gradle
-"%JAVA_EXE%" %DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS% %JAVA_OPTS% %GRADLE_OPTS% "-Dorg.gradle.appname=%APP_BASE_NAME%" -jar "%APP_HOME%\gradle\wrapper\gradle-wrapper.jar" %*
+@rem endlocal doesn't take effect until after the line is parsed and variables are expanded
+@rem which allows us to clear the local environment before executing the java command
+endlocal & "%JAVA_EXE%" %DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS% %JAVA_OPTS% %GRADLE_OPTS% "-Dorg.gradle.appname=%APP_BASE_NAME%" -jar "%APP_HOME%\gradle\wrapper\gradle-wrapper.jar" %* & call :exitWithErrorLevel
 
-:end
-@rem End local scope for the variables with windows NT shell
-if %ERRORLEVEL% equ 0 goto mainEnd
-
-:fail
-rem Set variable GRADLE_EXIT_CONSOLE if you need the _script_ return code instead of
-rem the _cmd.exe /c_ return code!
-set EXIT_CODE=%ERRORLEVEL%
-if %EXIT_CODE% equ 0 set EXIT_CODE=1
-if not ""=="%GRADLE_EXIT_CONSOLE%" exit %EXIT_CODE%
-exit /b %EXIT_CODE%
-
-:mainEnd
-if "%OS%"=="Windows_NT" endlocal
-
-:omega
+:exitWithErrorLevel
+@rem Use "%COMSPEC%" /c exit to allow operators to work properly in scripts
+"%COMSPEC%" /c exit %ERRORLEVEL%
diff --git a/settings.gradle b/settings.gradle
index db95e66..4918544 100644
--- a/settings.gradle
+++ b/settings.gradle
@@ -17,4 +17,3 @@ dependencyResolutionManagement {
 }
 
 rootProject.name = 'readingbat-python-content'
-