diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 071d7820c..c042a18eb 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -365,16 +365,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "hybrid-array",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "bstr"
-version = "1.12.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "63044e1ae8e69f3b5a92c736ca6269b8d12fa7efe39bf34ddb06d102cf0e2cab"
-dependencies = [
- "memchr",
- "serde",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "bumpalo"
 version = "3.20.2"
@@ -445,28 +435,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-link",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "chrono-tz"
-version = "0.9.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "93698b29de5e97ad0ae26447b344c482a7284c737d9ddc5f9e52b74a336671bb"
-dependencies = [
- "chrono",
- "chrono-tz-build",
- "phf",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "chrono-tz-build"
-version = "0.3.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0c088aee841df9c3041febbb73934cfc39708749bf96dc827e3359cd39ef11b1"
-dependencies = [
- "parse-zoneinfo",
- "phf",
- "phf_codegen",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "clap"
 version = "4.6.1"
@@ -631,16 +599,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "crossbeam-utils",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "crossbeam-deque"
-version = "0.8.6"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9dd111b7b7f7d55b72c0a6ae361660ee5853c9af73f70c3c2ef6858b950e2e51"
-dependencies = [
- "crossbeam-epoch",
- "crossbeam-utils",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "crossbeam-epoch"
 version = "0.9.18"
@@ -803,12 +761,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "deunicode"
-version = "1.6.2"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "abd57806937c9cc163efc8ea3910e00a62e2aeb0b8119f1793a978088f8f6b04"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "digest"
 version = "0.10.7"
@@ -1164,30 +1116,6 @@ version = "0.3.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "0cc23270f6e1808e30a928bdc84dea0b9b4136a8bc82338574f23baf47bbd280"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "globset"
-version = "0.4.18"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "52dfc19153a48bde0cbd630453615c8151bce3a5adfac7a0aebfbf0a1e1f57e3"
-dependencies = [
- "aho-corasick",
- "bstr",
- "log",
- "regex-automata",
- "regex-syntax",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "globwalk"
-version = "0.9.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0bf760ebf69878d9fd8f110c89703d90ce35095324d1f1edcb595c63945ee757"
-dependencies = [
- "bitflags",
- "ignore",
- "walkdir",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "h2"
 version = "0.4.14"
@@ -1381,15 +1309,6 @@ version = "1.10.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "6dbf3de79e51f3d586ab4cb9d5c3e2c14aa28ed23d180cf89b4df0454a69cc87"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "humansize"
-version = "2.1.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "6cb51c9a029ddc91b07a787f1d86b53ccfa49b0e86688c946ebe8d3555685dd7"
-dependencies = [
- "libm",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "hybrid-array"
 version = "0.4.12"
@@ -1610,22 +1529,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "icu_properties",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "ignore"
-version = "0.4.25"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "d3d782a365a015e0f5c04902246139249abf769125006fbe7649e2ee88169b4a"
-dependencies = [
- "crossbeam-deque",
- "globset",
- "log",
- "memchr",
- "regex-automata",
- "same-file",
- "walkdir",
- "winapi-util",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "indexmap"
 version = "2.14.0"
@@ -2164,15 +2067,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-link",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "parse-zoneinfo"
-version = "0.3.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1f2a05b18d44e2957b88f96ba460715e295bc1d7510468a2f3d3b44535d26c24"
-dependencies = [
- "regex",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "pem-rfc7468"
 version = "0.7.0"
@@ -2188,87 +2082,6 @@ version = "2.3.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "9b4f627cb1b25917193a259e49bdad08f671f8d9708acfd5fe0a8c1455d87220"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "pest"
-version = "2.8.6"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "e0848c601009d37dfa3430c4666e147e49cdcf1b92ecd3e63657d8a5f19da662"
-dependencies = [
- "memchr",
- "ucd-trie",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "pest_derive"
-version = "2.8.6"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "11f486f1ea21e6c10ed15d5a7c77165d0ee443402f0780849d1768e7d9d6fe77"
-dependencies = [
- "pest",
- "pest_generator",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "pest_generator"
-version = "2.8.6"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "8040c4647b13b210a963c1ed407c1ff4fdfa01c31d6d2a098218702e6664f94f"
-dependencies = [
- "pest",
- "pest_meta",
- "proc-macro2",
- "quote",
- "syn",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "pest_meta"
-version = "2.8.6"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "89815c69d36021a140146f26659a81d6c2afa33d216d736dd4be5381a7362220"
-dependencies = [
- "pest",
- "sha2 0.10.9",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "phf"
-version = "0.11.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1fd6780a80ae0c52cc120a26a1a42c1ae51b247a253e4e06113d23d2c2edd078"
-dependencies = [
- "phf_shared",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "phf_codegen"
-version = "0.11.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "aef8048c789fa5e851558d709946d6d79a8ff88c0440c587967f8e94bfb1216a"
-dependencies = [
- "phf_generator",
- "phf_shared",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "phf_generator"
-version = "0.11.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3c80231409c20246a13fddb31776fb942c38553c51e871f8cbd687a4cfb5843d"
-dependencies = [
- "phf_shared",
- "rand 0.8.6",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "phf_shared"
-version = "0.11.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "67eabc2ef2a60eb7faa00097bd1ffdb5bd28e62bf39990626a582201b7a754e5"
-dependencies = [
- "siphasher",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "pin-project"
 version = "1.1.12"
@@ -3153,28 +2966,12 @@ version = "0.1.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "e3a9fe34e3e7a50316060351f37187a3f546bce95496156754b601a5fa71b76e"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "siphasher"
-version = "1.0.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "8ee5873ec9cce0195efcb7a4e9507a04cd49aec9c83d0389df45b1ef7ba2e649"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "slab"
 version = "0.4.12"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "0c790de23124f9ab44544d7ac05d60440adc586479ce501c1d6d7da3cd8c9cf5"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "slug"
-version = "0.1.6"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "882a80f72ee45de3cc9a5afeb2da0331d58df69e4e7d8eeb5d3c7784ae67e724"
-dependencies = [
- "deunicode",
- "wasm-bindgen",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "smallvec"
 version = "1.15.1"
@@ -3511,24 +3308,11 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tera"
-version = "1.20.1"
+version = "2.0.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "e8004bca281f2d32df3bacd59bc67b312cb4c70cea46cbd79dbe8ac5ed206722"
+checksum = "38ea62bd58771b570262e11ffa274fa9eda9986bd886e6e3a1f7f42afef8024c"
 dependencies = [
- "chrono",
- "chrono-tz",
- "globwalk",
- "humansize",
- "lazy_static",
- "percent-encoding",
- "pest",
- "pest_derive",
- "rand 0.8.6",
- "regex",
  "serde",
- "serde_json",
- "slug",
- "unicode-segmentation",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -3947,12 +3731,6 @@ version = "1.20.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "40ce102ab67701b8526c123c1bab5cbe42d7040ccfd0f64af1a385808d2f43de"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "ucd-trie"
-version = "0.1.7"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "2896d95c02a80c6d6a5d6e953d479f5ddf2dfdb6a244441010e373ac0fb88971"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-bidi"
 version = "0.3.18"
@@ -3980,12 +3758,6 @@ version = "0.1.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7df058c713841ad818f1dc5d3fd88063241cc61f49f5fbea4b951e8cf5a8d71d"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "unicode-segmentation"
-version = "1.13.2"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9629274872b2bfaf8d66f5f15725007f635594914870f65218920345aa11aa8c"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-xid"
 version = "0.2.6"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index d7cecf0f8..1788fb6c1 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ clap = { version = "4.5.23", features = ["derive", "env"] }
 serde_yaml = "0.9"
 regex = "1"
 sqlx = { version = "0.8", features = ["runtime-tokio", "postgres", "chrono", "json", "uuid"] }
-tera = "1"
+tera = "2"
 hickory-resolver = { version = "0.26", default-features = false, features = ["tokio", "system-config"] }
 
 # OpenTelemetry
diff --git a/ares-llm/src/prompt/helpers.rs b/ares-llm/src/prompt/helpers.rs
index d941c5213..abdd3bd73 100644
--- a/ares-llm/src/prompt/helpers.rs
+++ b/ares-llm/src/prompt/helpers.rs
@@ -241,12 +241,20 @@ mod tests {
         });
         let mut ctx = Context::new();
         insert_credential_context(&mut ctx, &payload);
-        let json = ctx.into_json();
-        assert_eq!(json["credential_username"], "admin");
-        assert_eq!(json["credential_domain"], "contoso.local");
-        assert_eq!(json["credential_auth_type"], "password");
+        assert_eq!(
+            ctx.get("credential_username").and_then(|v| v.as_str()),
+            Some("admin")
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            ctx.get("credential_domain").and_then(|v| v.as_str()),
+            Some("contoso.local")
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            ctx.get("credential_auth_type").and_then(|v| v.as_str()),
+            Some("password")
+        );
         assert!(
-            json.get("credential_password").is_none(),
+            ctx.get("credential_password").is_none(),
             "credential_password must never be exposed to templates"
         );
     }
@@ -261,9 +269,11 @@ mod tests {
         });
         let mut ctx = Context::new();
         insert_credential_context(&mut ctx, &payload);
-        let json = ctx.into_json();
-        assert_eq!(json["credential_auth_type"], "hash/ticket");
-        assert!(json.get("credential_password").is_none());
+        assert_eq!(
+            ctx.get("credential_auth_type").and_then(|v| v.as_str()),
+            Some("hash/ticket")
+        );
+        assert!(ctx.get("credential_password").is_none());
     }
 
     #[test]
@@ -271,8 +281,7 @@ mod tests {
         let payload = json!({"target": "192.168.58.10"});
         let mut ctx = Context::new();
         insert_credential_context(&mut ctx, &payload);
-        let json = ctx.into_json();
-        assert!(json.get("credential_username").is_none());
-        assert!(json.get("credential_password").is_none());
+        assert!(ctx.get("credential_username").is_none());
+        assert!(ctx.get("credential_password").is_none());
     }
 }
diff --git a/ares-llm/src/prompt/templates.rs b/ares-llm/src/prompt/templates.rs
index 64ab51687..52f61baa9 100644
--- a/ares-llm/src/prompt/templates.rs
+++ b/ares-llm/src/prompt/templates.rs
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ pub fn render_agent_instructions_with_extras(
     ctx.insert("undominated_forests", undominated_forests);
     op.insert_into(&mut ctx);
     for (k, v) in extras {
-        ctx.insert(*k, v);
+        ctx.insert(k.to_string(), v);
     }
 
     TEMPLATES
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ pub fn render_task_template(
 ) -> Result<String> {
     let mut ctx = Context::new();
     for (key, value) in variables {
-        ctx.insert(key.as_str(), value);
+        ctx.insert(key.clone(), value);
     }
     render_template_with_context(template_name, &ctx)
 }
diff --git a/ares-llm/templates/redteam/agents/system_instructions.md.tera b/ares-llm/templates/redteam/agents/system_instructions.md.tera
index 2df0fa978..1bf68566c 100644
--- a/ares-llm/templates/redteam/agents/system_instructions.md.tera
+++ b/ares-llm/templates/redteam/agents/system_instructions.md.tera
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ The operator strategy has configured the following technique priority ordering.
 | Weight | Technique | Description |
 |--------|-----------|-------------|
 {% for entry in technique_priorities -%}
-| {{ entry.1 }} | {{ entry.0 }} | {% if entry.0 == "dc_secretsdump" %}secretsdump on domain controllers{% elif entry.0 == "golden_ticket" %}Kerberos golden ticket forgery{% elif entry.0 == "forest_trust_escalation" %}cross-forest trust key exploitation{% elif entry.0 == "child_to_parent" %}ExtraSid child-to-parent escalation{% elif entry.0 == "secretsdump" %}hash dump on member servers{% elif entry.0 == "credential_reuse" %}cross-domain hash reuse{% elif entry.0 == "mssql_access" %}MSSQL service exploitation{% elif entry.0 == "mssql_linked_server" %}MSSQL linked server pivoting{% elif entry.0 == "mssql_impersonation" %}MSSQL EXECUTE AS escalation{% elif entry.0 == "constrained_delegation" %}S4U2Self/S4U2Proxy abuse{% elif entry.0 == "unconstrained_delegation" %}TGT capture via coercion{% elif entry.0 == "rbcd" %}resource-based constrained delegation{% elif entry.0 == "esc1" %}ADCS ESC1 (enrollee supplies SAN){% elif entry.0 == "esc4" %}ADCS ESC4 (template owner can modify){% elif entry.0 == "esc8" %}ADCS ESC8 (HTTP enrollment + relay){% elif entry.0 == "acl_abuse" %}AD ACL chain exploitation{% elif entry.0 == "kerberoast" %}SPN-based hash extraction{% elif entry.0 == "asrep_roast" %}AS-REP roasting (no-preauth accounts){% elif entry.0 == "password_spray" %}password spraying / username-as-password{% elif entry.0 == "gmsa" %}gMSA password extraction{% elif entry.0 == "low_hanging_fruit" %}LDAP descriptions, SYSVOL, GPP, LAPS{% elif entry.0 == "smb_signing_disabled" %}NTLM relay via unsigned SMB{% elif entry.0 == "domain_admin" %}domain admin credential use{% else %}{{ entry.0 }}{% endif %} |
+| {{ entry[1] }} | {{ entry[0] }} | {% if entry[0] == "dc_secretsdump" %}secretsdump on domain controllers{% elif entry[0] == "golden_ticket" %}Kerberos golden ticket forgery{% elif entry[0] == "forest_trust_escalation" %}cross-forest trust key exploitation{% elif entry[0] == "child_to_parent" %}ExtraSid child-to-parent escalation{% elif entry[0] == "secretsdump" %}hash dump on member servers{% elif entry[0] == "credential_reuse" %}cross-domain hash reuse{% elif entry[0] == "mssql_access" %}MSSQL service exploitation{% elif entry[0] == "mssql_linked_server" %}MSSQL linked server pivoting{% elif entry[0] == "mssql_impersonation" %}MSSQL EXECUTE AS escalation{% elif entry[0] == "constrained_delegation" %}S4U2Self/S4U2Proxy abuse{% elif entry[0] == "unconstrained_delegation" %}TGT capture via coercion{% elif entry[0] == "rbcd" %}resource-based constrained delegation{% elif entry[0] == "esc1" %}ADCS ESC1 (enrollee supplies SAN){% elif entry[0] == "esc4" %}ADCS ESC4 (template owner can modify){% elif entry[0] == "esc8" %}ADCS ESC8 (HTTP enrollment + relay){% elif entry[0] == "acl_abuse" %}AD ACL chain exploitation{% elif entry[0] == "kerberoast" %}SPN-based hash extraction{% elif entry[0] == "asrep_roast" %}AS-REP roasting (no-preauth accounts){% elif entry[0] == "password_spray" %}password spraying / username-as-password{% elif entry[0] == "gmsa" %}gMSA password extraction{% elif entry[0] == "low_hanging_fruit" %}LDAP descriptions, SYSVOL, GPP, LAPS{% elif entry[0] == "smb_signing_disabled" %}NTLM relay via unsigned SMB{% elif entry[0] == "domain_admin" %}domain admin credential use{% else %}{{ entry[0] }}{% endif %} |
 {% endfor -%}
 
 {% else -%}