diff --git a/.github/workflows/debug.yaml b/.github/workflows/debug.yaml
index 54387740..06b6d8fe 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/debug.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/debug.yaml
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ jobs:
           { version: "nightly-2023-10-10" },
         ]
         python: [
+          { version: '3.12', abi: 'cp312-cp312' },
           { version: '3.11', abi: 'cp311-cp311' },
           { version: '3.8', abi: 'cp38-cp38' },
         ]
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 57f704e7..d180fefe 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4,13 +4,14 @@ version = 3
 
 [[package]]
 name = "ahash"
-version = "0.8.3"
+version = "0.8.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "2c99f64d1e06488f620f932677e24bc6e2897582980441ae90a671415bd7ec2f"
+checksum = "91429305e9f0a25f6205c5b8e0d2db09e0708a7a6df0f42212bb56c32c8ac97a"
 dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
  "once_cell",
  "version_check",
+ "zerocopy",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -45,9 +46,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "bytecount"
-version = "0.6.4"
+version = "0.6.7"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "ad152d03a2c813c80bb94fedbf3a3f02b28f793e39e7c214c8a0bcc196343de7"
+checksum = "e1e5f035d16fc623ae5f74981db80a439803888314e3a555fd6f04acd51a3205"
 dependencies = [
  "packed_simd",
 ]
@@ -254,18 +255,18 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "serde"
-version = "1.0.188"
+version = "1.0.190"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "cf9e0fcba69a370eed61bcf2b728575f726b50b55cba78064753d708ddc7549e"
+checksum = "91d3c334ca1ee894a2c6f6ad698fe8c435b76d504b13d436f0685d648d6d96f7"
 dependencies = [
  "serde_derive",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "serde_derive"
-version = "1.0.188"
+version = "1.0.190"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "4eca7ac642d82aa35b60049a6eccb4be6be75e599bd2e9adb5f875a737654af2"
+checksum = "67c5609f394e5c2bd7fc51efda478004ea80ef42fee983d5c67a65e34f32c0e3"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
@@ -314,9 +315,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "target-lexicon"
-version = "0.12.11"
+version = "0.12.12"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9d0e916b1148c8e263850e1ebcbd046f333e0683c724876bb0da63ea4373dc8a"
+checksum = "14c39fd04924ca3a864207c66fc2cd7d22d7c016007f9ce846cbb9326331930a"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-ident"
@@ -329,3 +330,23 @@ name = "version_check"
 version = "0.9.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "49874b5167b65d7193b8aba1567f5c7d93d001cafc34600cee003eda787e483f"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerocopy"
+version = "0.7.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "81ba595b9f2772fbee2312de30eeb80ec773b4cb2f1e8098db024afadda6c06f"
+dependencies = [
+ "zerocopy-derive",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerocopy-derive"
+version = "0.7.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "772666c41fb6dceaf520b564b962d738a8e1a83b41bd48945f50837aed78bb1d"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+]
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 8dfc6289..9ec26b01 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -48,12 +48,12 @@ no-panic = [
 yyjson = []
 
 [dependencies]
-ahash = { version = "0.8", default_features = false }
+ahash = { version = "^0.8.6", default_features = false }
 arrayvec = { version = "0.7", default_features = false, features = ["std", "serde"] }
 associative-cache = { version = "2", default_features = false }
 beef = { version = "0.5", default_features = false, features = ["impl_serde"] }
-bytecount = { version = "^0.6.4", default_features = false, features = ["runtime-dispatch-simd"] }
-chrono = { version = "^0.4.24", default_features = false }
+bytecount = { version = "^0.6.7", default_features = false, features = ["runtime-dispatch-simd"] }
+chrono = { version = "^0.4.31", default_features = false }
 compact_str = { version = "0.7", default_features = false, features = ["serde"] }
 encoding_rs = { version = "0.8", default_features = false }
 itoa = { version = "1", default_features = false }
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 31763b54..63b9a59a 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ fn raise_loads_exception(err: deserialize::DeserializeError) -> *mut PyObject {
         PyTuple_SET_ITEM(args, 1, doc);
         PyTuple_SET_ITEM(args, 2, pos);
         PyErr_SetObject(typeref::JsonDecodeError, args);
-        debug_assert!(ffi!(Py_REFCNT(args)) == 2);
+        debug_assert!(ffi!(Py_REFCNT(args)) <= 2);
         Py_DECREF(args);
     };
     null_mut()
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ fn raise_dumps_exception_fixed(msg: &str) -> *mut PyObject {
         let err_msg =
             PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize(msg.as_ptr() as *const c_char, msg.len() as isize);
         PyErr_SetObject(typeref::JsonEncodeError, err_msg);
-        debug_assert!(ffi!(Py_REFCNT(err_msg)) == 2);
+        debug_assert!(ffi!(Py_REFCNT(err_msg)) <= 2);
         Py_DECREF(err_msg);
     };
     null_mut()
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ fn raise_dumps_exception_dynamic(err: &String) -> *mut PyObject {
         let err_msg =
             PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize(err.as_ptr() as *const c_char, err.len() as isize);
         PyErr_SetObject(typeref::JsonEncodeError, err_msg);
-        debug_assert!(ffi!(Py_REFCNT(err_msg)) == 2);
+        debug_assert!(ffi!(Py_REFCNT(err_msg)) <= 2);
         Py_DECREF(err_msg);
 
         if !cause_exc.is_null() {
diff --git a/src/str/create.rs b/src/str/create.rs
index b0a188d7..bf86ae0c 100644
--- a/src/str/create.rs
+++ b/src/str/create.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
 
-use crate::str::check::is_four_byte;
+use crate::str::is_four_byte;
 
 use crate::typeref::EMPTY_UNICODE;
 use pyo3_ffi::*;