diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f249f045..f0ac1b67 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -28,16 +28,17 @@ classifiers = [
 requires-python = ">=3.8"
 dependencies = [
     "PyYAML",
-    "maggma>=0.38.1",
-    "monty>=2021.5.9",
+    "maggma>=0.57.0",
+    "monty>=2023.9.25",
     "networkx",
-    "pydantic<2",
+    "pydantic>=2.0.1",
+    "pydantic-settings>=2.0.3",
     "pydash",
 ]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 docs = [
-    "autodoc_pydantic==1.9.0",
+    "autodoc_pydantic==2.0.1",
     "furo==2023.9.10",
     "ipython==8.15.0",
     "myst_parser==2.0.0",
@@ -52,12 +53,13 @@ fireworks = ["FireWorks"]
 strict = [
     "FireWorks==2.0.3",
     "PyYAML==6.0.1",
-    "maggma==0.56.0",
+    "maggma==0.57.0",
     "matplotlib==3.7.2",
     "monty==2023.9.25",
     "moto==4.2.4",
     "networkx==3.1",
-    "pydantic==1.10.9",
+    "pydantic==2.4.1",
+    "pydantic-settings==2.0.3",
     "pydash==7.0.6",
     "pydot==1.4.2",
     "typing-extensions==4.8.0",
@@ -142,4 +144,4 @@ isort.known-first-party = ["jobflow"]
 
 [tool.ruff.per-file-ignores]
 "__init__.py" = ["F401"]
-"**/tests/*" = ["D"]
+"**/tests/*" = ["D", "B018"]
diff --git a/src/jobflow/core/reference.py b/src/jobflow/core/reference.py
index bb71d145..223ed31b 100644
--- a/src/jobflow/core/reference.py
+++ b/src/jobflow/core/reference.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 from monty.json import MontyDecoder, MontyEncoder, MSONable, jsanitize
 from pydantic import BaseModel
-from pydantic.utils import lenient_issubclass
+from pydantic.v1.utils import lenient_issubclass
 
 from jobflow.utils.enum import ValueEnum
 
@@ -503,7 +503,7 @@ def validate_schema_access(
         raise AttributeError(f"{schema.__name__} does not have attribute '{item}'.")
 
     subschema = None
-    item_type = schema.__fields__[item].outer_type_
+    item_type = schema.model_fields[item].annotation
     if lenient_issubclass(item_type, BaseModel):
         subschema = item_type
 
diff --git a/src/jobflow/settings.py b/src/jobflow/settings.py
index 4f42257b..7b813f80 100644
--- a/src/jobflow/settings.py
+++ b/src/jobflow/settings.py
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 
 from maggma.stores import MemoryStore
-from pydantic import BaseSettings, Field, root_validator
+from pydantic import Field, model_validator
+from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict
 
 from jobflow import JobStore
 
@@ -118,13 +119,10 @@ class JobflowSettings(BaseSettings):
         "%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S-%f",
         description="Date stamp format used to create directories",
     )
+    model_config = SettingsConfigDict(env_prefix="jobflow_")
 
-    class Config:
-        """Pydantic config settings."""
-
-        env_prefix = "jobflow_"
-
-    @root_validator(pre=True)
+    @model_validator(mode="before")
+    @classmethod
     def load_default_settings(cls, values):
         """
         Load settings from file or environment variables.
diff --git a/tests/core/test_reference.py b/tests/core/test_reference.py
index d4c5f699..544270e2 100644
--- a/tests/core/test_reference.py
+++ b/tests/core/test_reference.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Union
+from typing import Dict, List, Union
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ class InnerSchema(BaseModel):
     class MediumSchema(BaseModel):
         s: str
         nested: InnerSchema
-        nested_opt: Optional[InnerSchema]
+        nested_opt: InnerSchema = None
         nested_u: Union[InnerSchema, dict]
         nested_l: List[InnerSchema]
         nested_d: Dict[str, InnerSchema]
@@ -184,25 +184,25 @@ class MySchema(BaseModel):
     assert new_ref.output_schema is None
 
     with pytest.raises(AttributeError):
-        assert ref.a.uuid == "123"
+        ref.a.uuid
 
     with pytest.raises(AttributeError):
-        assert ref["a"].uuid == "123"
+        ref["a"].uuid
 
     with pytest.raises(AttributeError):
-        assert ref[1].uuid == "123"
+        ref[1].uuid
 
     # check valid nested schemas
     assert ref.nested.s.uuid == "123"
     with pytest.raises(AttributeError):
-        assert ref.nested.m.uuid == "123"
+        ref.nested.m.uuid
     assert ref.nested.nested.n.uuid == "123"
     with pytest.raises(AttributeError):
-        assert ref.nested.nested.m.uuid == "123"
+        ref.nested.nested.m.uuid
 
     assert ref.nested.nested_opt.n.uuid == "123"
     with pytest.raises(AttributeError):
-        assert ref.nested.nested_opt.m.uuid == "123"
+        ref.nested.nested_opt.m.uuid
 
     # Union, List and Dict are currently not recognized by their inner type
     # but check that there is no problem with them