diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 644a660..179020b 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -2,8 +2,13 @@
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 
+    <parent>
+        <groupId>io.github.ktestify</groupId>
+        <artifactId>ktestify-parent</artifactId>
+        <version>1.0.1</version>
+    </parent>
+
     <!-- Project Coordinates -->
-    <groupId>io.github.ktestify</groupId>
     <artifactId>ktestify-core</artifactId>
     <version>0.1.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <packaging>jar</packaging>
@@ -46,77 +51,10 @@
     </issueManagement>
 
     <properties>
-        <!-- Build Properties -->
-        <java.version>25</java.version>
-        <maven.compiler.release>${java.version}</maven.compiler.release>
-        <maven.compiler.source>${java.version}</maven.compiler.source>
-        <maven.compiler.target>${java.version}</maven.compiler.target>
+        <!-- Module-specific properties (all others inherited from ktestify-parent) -->
         <project.build.finalName>ktestify-core</project.build.finalName>
-        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-        <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
-
-        <!-- Dependency Versions (Alphabetically Ordered) -->
-        <awaitility.version>4.3.0</awaitility.version>
-        <commons-cli.version>1.11.0</commons-cli.version>
-        <commons-io.version>2.22.0</commons-io.version>
-        <commons-lang3.version>3.20.0</commons-lang3.version>
-        <confluent.version>8.3.0</confluent.version>
-        <cucumber.version>7.34.4</cucumber.version>
-        <cucumber-reportr.version>1.1.0</cucumber-reportr.version>
-        <gson.version>2.14.0</gson.version>
-        <junit.jupiter.version>6.1.1</junit.jupiter.version>
-        <kafka.version>4.3.1</kafka.version>
-        <lombok.version>1.18.46</lombok.version>
-        <mockito.version>5.23.0</mockito.version>
-        <jackson.version>2.22.0</jackson.version>
-        <log4j2.version>2.26.0</log4j2.version>
-        <slf4j.version>2.0.18</slf4j.version>
-        <snakeyaml.version>2.6</snakeyaml.version>
-        <testcontainers.version>2.0.5</testcontainers.version>
-        <testcontainers-kafka.version>2.0.5</testcontainers-kafka.version>
-        <typesafe.config.version>1.4.9</typesafe.config.version>
-        <xmlunit.version>2.12.0</xmlunit.version>
-
-        <!-- Maven Plugin Versions (Alphabetically Ordered) -->
-        <exec.plugin.version>3.1.1</exec.plugin.version>
-        <jacoco.plugin.version>0.8.15</jacoco.plugin.version>
-        <maven.compiler.plugin.version>3.15.0</maven.compiler.plugin.version>
-        <maven.deploy.plugin.version>3.1.4</maven.deploy.plugin.version>
-        <maven.gpg.plugin.version>3.2.8</maven.gpg.plugin.version>
-        <maven.install.plugin.version>3.1.4</maven.install.plugin.version>
-        <maven.jar.plugin.version>3.5.0</maven.jar.plugin.version>
-        <maven.javadoc.plugin.version>3.12.0</maven.javadoc.plugin.version>
-        <maven.resources.plugin.version>3.5.0</maven.resources.plugin.version>
-        <maven.shade.plugin.version>3.6.0</maven.shade.plugin.version>
-        <maven.source.plugin.version>3.4.0</maven.source.plugin.version>
-        <maven.surefire.plugin.version>3.5.6</maven.surefire.plugin.version>
-        <spotless.plugin.version>3.7.0</spotless.plugin.version>
-        <versions.plugin.version>2.21.0</versions.plugin.version>
-        <central.publishing.plugin.version>0.11.0</central.publishing.plugin.version>
     </properties>
 
-    <!-- ===================================================== -->
-    <!-- Dependency Management — version alignment             -->
-    <!-- ===================================================== -->
-    <dependencyManagement>
-        <dependencies>
-            <!--
-                Pin ALL com.fasterxml.jackson.* modules to the same version.
-                Without this, transitive deps (e.g. kafka-streams, confluent)
-                pull in mixed patch versions (e.g. 2.19.0 vs 2.19.2) which
-                causes ObjectMapper's static initializer to throw
-                NoClassDefFoundError at runtime.
-            -->
-            <dependency>
-                <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson</groupId>
-                <artifactId>jackson-bom</artifactId>
-                <version>${jackson.version}</version>
-                <type>pom</type>
-                <scope>import</scope>
-            </dependency>
-        </dependencies>
-    </dependencyManagement>
-
     <dependencies>
         <!-- ===================================== -->
         <!-- Core Framework Dependencies           -->
@@ -126,48 +64,35 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
             <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
-            <version>${commons-io.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
             <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
-            <version>${commons-lang3.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- Gson for JSON serialization/deserialization -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
             <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
-            <version>${gson.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- Lombok for boilerplate code reduction -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
             <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
-            <version>${lombok.version}</version>
-            <scope>provided</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- Typesafe Config (HOCON) for configuration management -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.typesafe</groupId>
             <artifactId>config</artifactId>
-            <version>${typesafe.config.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- XMLUnit for XML testing -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.xmlunit</groupId>
             <artifactId>xmlunit-core</artifactId>
-            <version>${xmlunit.version}</version>
-        </dependency>
-
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>org.xmlunit</groupId>
-            <artifactId>xmlunit-matchers</artifactId>
-            <version>${xmlunit.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- ===================================== -->
@@ -178,28 +103,24 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
-            <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- Log4j2 — SLF4J 2.x binding -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>log4j-slf4j2-impl</artifactId>
-            <version>${log4j2.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- Log4j2 API -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
-            <version>${log4j2.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- Log4j2 Core -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
-            <version>${log4j2.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- ===================================== -->
@@ -208,48 +129,23 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.kafka</groupId>
             <artifactId>kafka-clients</artifactId>
-            <version>${kafka.version}</version>
         </dependency>
+
         <!-- Confluent Kafka dependencies -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.confluent</groupId>
             <artifactId>kafka-schema-registry-client</artifactId>
-            <version>${confluent.version}</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.confluent</groupId>
-            <artifactId>kafka-streams-avro-serde</artifactId>
-            <version>${confluent.version}</version>
-        </dependency>
-
-        <!-- ===================================== -->
-        <!-- BDD and Cucumber Dependencies         -->
-        <!-- ===================================== -->
-
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
-            <artifactId>cucumber-core</artifactId>
-            <version>${cucumber.version}</version>
+            <artifactId>kafka-avro-serializer</artifactId>
         </dependency>
 
+        <!-- Avro (used directly for GenericRecord, Schema, etc.) -->
         <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
-            <artifactId>cucumber-java</artifactId>
-            <version>${cucumber.version}</version>
-            <scope>compile</scope>
-        </dependency>
-
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
-            <artifactId>cucumber-junit</artifactId>
-            <version>${cucumber.version}</version>
-        </dependency>
-
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.cucumber</groupId>
-            <artifactId>cucumber-picocontainer</artifactId>
-            <version>${cucumber.version}</version>
+            <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
+            <artifactId>avro</artifactId>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- ===================================== -->
@@ -260,166 +156,52 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
             <artifactId>junit-jupiter-api</artifactId>
-            <version>${junit.jupiter.version}</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
             <artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId>
-            <version>${junit.jupiter.version}</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
             <artifactId>junit-jupiter-params</artifactId>
-            <version>${junit.jupiter.version}</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- Mockito for mocking -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
             <artifactId>mockito-core</artifactId>
-            <version>${mockito.version}</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- Testcontainers for integration testing -->
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
             <artifactId>testcontainers</artifactId>
-            <version>${testcontainers.version}</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
             <artifactId>testcontainers-junit-jupiter</artifactId>
-            <version>${testcontainers.version}</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
             <artifactId>testcontainers-kafka</artifactId>
-            <version>${testcontainers-kafka.version}</version>
-            <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
-    <repositories>
-        <repository>
-            <releases>
-                <enabled>true</enabled>
-            </releases>
-            <snapshots>
-                <enabled>false</enabled>
-            </snapshots>
-            <id>confluent</id>
-            <url>https://packages.confluent.io/maven/</url>
-        </repository>
-    </repositories>
-
     <build>
         <finalName>${project.build.finalName}</finalName>
 
         <plugins>
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <!-- Compiler Plugin                       -->
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${maven.compiler.plugin.version}</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <release>${java.version}</release>
-                    <source>${java.version}</source>
-                    <target>${java.version}</target>
-                    <encoding>${project.build.sourceEncoding}</encoding>
-                    <annotationProcessorPaths>
-                        <path>
-                            <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
-                            <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
-                            <version>${lombok.version}</version>
-                        </path>
-                    </annotationProcessorPaths>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
-
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <!-- Resources Plugin                      -->
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${maven.resources.plugin.version}</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <encoding>${project.build.sourceEncoding}</encoding>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
-
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <!-- JAR Plugin                            -->
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${maven.jar.plugin.version}</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <archive>
-                        <manifest>
-                            <addDefaultImplementationEntries>true</addDefaultImplementationEntries>
-                            <addDefaultSpecificationEntries>true</addDefaultSpecificationEntries>
-                        </manifest>
-                        <manifestEntries>
-                            <Built-By>${user.name}</Built-By>
-                            <Build-Time>${maven.build.timestamp}</Build-Time>
-                        </manifestEntries>
-                    </archive>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
-
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <!-- Surefire Plugin for Testing           -->
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${maven.surefire.plugin.version}</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <includes>
-                        <include>**/*Test.java</include>
-                        <include>**/*Tests.java</include>
-                    </includes>
-                    <argLine>@{argLine}
-                        -Xmx1024m
-                        -XX:+EnableDynamicAgentLoading</argLine>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
-
             <!-- ===================================== -->
             <!-- JaCoCo for Code Coverage              -->
             <!-- ===================================== -->
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId>
                 <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${jacoco.plugin.version}</version>
                 <executions>
-                    <execution>
-                        <id>jacoco-initialize</id>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>prepare-agent</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                    </execution>
-                    <execution>
-                        <id>jacoco-report</id>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>report</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                        <phase>test</phase>
-                    </execution>
                     <execution>
                         <id>jacoco-check</id>
                         <goals>
@@ -443,207 +225,7 @@
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
             </plugin>
-
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <!-- Spotless Plugin                       -->
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>com.diffplug.spotless</groupId>
-                <artifactId>spotless-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${spotless.plugin.version}</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <java>
-                        <includes>
-                            <include>src/main/java/**/*.java</include>
-                            <include>src/test/java/**/*.java</include>
-                        </includes>
-                        <palantirJavaFormat>
-                            <version>2.90.0</version>
-                            <style>PALANTIR</style>
-                            <formatJavadoc>true</formatJavadoc>
-                        </palantirJavaFormat>
-                        <removeUnusedImports/>
-                        <formatAnnotations/>
-                        <importOrder/>
-                        <trimTrailingWhitespace/>
-                        <endWithNewline/>
-                        <licenseHeader>
-                            <file>.spotless/HEADER.txt</file>
-                        </licenseHeader>
-                    </java>
-                    <pom>
-                        <includes>
-                            <include>pom.xml</include>
-                        </includes>
-                        <sortPom>
-                            <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
-                            <keepBlankLines>true</keepBlankLines>
-                            <nrOfIndentSpace>4</nrOfIndentSpace>
-                            <expandEmptyElements>false</expandEmptyElements>
-                        </sortPom>
-                    </pom>
-                </configuration>
-                <executions>
-                    <execution>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>check</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                        <phase>package</phase>
-                    </execution>
-                </executions>
-            </plugin>
-
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <!-- Source Plugin (for open source)       -->
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-source-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${maven.source.plugin.version}</version>
-                <executions>
-                    <execution>
-                        <id>attach-sources</id>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>jar-no-fork</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                    </execution>
-                </executions>
-            </plugin>
-
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <!-- Javadoc Plugin (for open source)      -->
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${maven.javadoc.plugin.version}</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <encoding>${project.build.sourceEncoding}</encoding>
-                    <doclint>none</doclint>
-                    <quiet>true</quiet>
-                </configuration>
-                <executions>
-                    <execution>
-                        <id>attach-javadocs</id>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>jar</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                    </execution>
-                </executions>
-            </plugin>
-
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <!-- Versions Plugin                       -->
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
-                <artifactId>versions-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${versions.plugin.version}</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <generateBackupPoms>false</generateBackupPoms>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
-
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <!-- Install Plugin                        -->
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-install-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${maven.install.plugin.version}</version>
-            </plugin>
-
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <!-- Deploy Plugin                         -->
-            <!-- ===================================== -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${maven.deploy.plugin.version}</version>
-            </plugin>
         </plugins>
     </build>
 
-    <!-- ===================================== -->
-    <!-- Profiles                              -->
-    <!-- ===================================== -->
-    <profiles>
-        <!-- Profile for signing artifacts and publishing to Maven Central -->
-        <profile>
-            <id>release</id>
-            <build>
-                <plugins>
-                    <!-- GPG signing (required by Maven Central) -->
-                    <plugin>
-                        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>maven-gpg-plugin</artifactId>
-                        <version>${maven.gpg.plugin.version}</version>
-                        <executions>
-                            <execution>
-                                <id>sign-artifacts</id>
-                                <goals>
-                                    <goal>sign</goal>
-                                </goals>
-                                <phase>verify</phase>
-                                <configuration>
-                                    <!-- Prevent GPG from opening a GUI passphrase dialog in CI -->
-                                    <gpgArguments>
-                                        <arg>--pinentry-mode</arg>
-                                        <arg>loopback</arg>
-                                    </gpgArguments>
-                                </configuration>
-                            </execution>
-                        </executions>
-                    </plugin>
-
-                    <!-- Maven Central Portal publisher (replaces the legacy OSSRH Nexus flow) -->
-                    <plugin>
-                        <groupId>org.sonatype.central</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>central-publishing-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-                        <version>${central.publishing.plugin.version}</version>
-                        <extensions>true</extensions>
-                        <configuration>
-                            <!-- Matches the <server id> injected by setup-java in the release workflow -->
-                            <publishingServerId>central</publishingServerId>
-                            <!-- Wait for the deployment to become fully "published" before returning -->
-                            <deploymentName>${project.artifactId}-${project.version}</deploymentName>
-                            <autoPublish>true</autoPublish>
-                            <waitUntil>published</waitUntil>
-                        </configuration>
-                    </plugin>
-                </plugins>
-            </build>
-        </profile>
-
-        <!-- Profile for skipping tests -->
-        <profile>
-            <id>skip-tests</id>
-            <properties>
-                <maven.test.skip>true</maven.test.skip>
-            </properties>
-        </profile>
-
-        <!-- Profile for integration tests -->
-        <profile>
-            <id>integration-tests</id>
-            <build>
-                <plugins>
-                    <plugin>
-                        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                        <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
-                        <version>${maven.surefire.plugin.version}</version>
-                        <executions>
-                            <execution>
-                                <goals>
-                                    <goal>integration-test</goal>
-                                    <goal>verify</goal>
-                                </goals>
-                            </execution>
-                        </executions>
-                    </plugin>
-                </plugins>
-            </build>
-        </profile>
-    </profiles>
-
 </project>