diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 36959b0..37e11a4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name: CI
 
-# Run on push only for dev/sandbox
+# Run on push only for ci/staging
 # Otherwise it may trigger concurrently `push & pull_request` on PRs.
 on:
   push:
@@ -14,12 +14,18 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python: [3.7, 3.8, 3.9, "3.10", 3.11, 3.12, pypy3.8]
+        python:
+          - "3.10"
+          - "3.11"
+          - "3.12"
+          - "3.13"
+          - "3.14"
+          - "pypy3.11"
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: setup python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
       - name: Install dependencies
diff --git a/.github/workflows/dev.yml b/.github/workflows/dev.yml
index c12b80a..55119d6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/dev.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/dev.yml
@@ -14,12 +14,18 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python: [3.7, 3.8, 3.9, "3.10", 3.11, 3.12, pypy3.8]
+        python:
+          - "3.10"
+          - "3.11"
+          - "3.12"
+          - "3.13"
+          - "3.14"
+          - "pypy3.11"
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: setup python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
       - name: Install dependencies
diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index eb66dc5..ba50793 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -1,42 +1,33 @@
 name: Main
 
-# Run on push only for dev/sandbox
-# Otherwise it may trigger concurrently `push & pull_request` on PRs.
 on:
+  pull_request: null
   push:
     branches:
       - master
 
 jobs:
   build:
-    name: Python ${{ matrix.python }}
+    name: Linux
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    strategy:
-      matrix:
-        python: [3.7, 3.8, 3.9, "3.10", 3.11, 3.12, pypy3.8]
-
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
       - name: setup python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
-          python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
+          python-version: |
+            pypy3.11
+            3.10
+            3.11
+            3.12
+            3.13
+            3.14
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
-          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-          pip install -e .
-          pip install coveralls --upgrade
-      - name: Run flake8
-        run: |
-          pip install flake8 --upgrade
-          flake8 --exclude=build --ignore=E501,F403,F401,E241,E225,E128 .
-      - name: Run pycodestyle
-        run: |
-          pip install pycodestyle --upgrade
-          pycodestyle --ignore=E128,E261,E225,E501,W605 slugify test.py setup.py
+          python -m pip install coveralls tox tox-uv
       - name: Run test
         run: |
-          coverage run --source=slugify test.py
+          tox
       - name: Coveralls
         run: coveralls --service=github
         env:
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 395e538..537460e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,7 +1,25 @@
-## Work in progress
+## Unreleased
 
-- Added typing to API and expose `py.typed`.
-- Formally support 3.12
+- Support Python 3.14.
+- Drop support for Python 3.9 and lower.
+- Use tox for local test runs and in CI.
+- Test the project against both `unidecode` and `text_unidecode`.
+- Fix type annotation issues identified by mypy.
+- Run CI against pull requests.
+- Fix package build warnings.
+
+## 8.0.4
+
+- Properly handle uppercase special characters (@mib1185 - thx)
+
+## 8.0.3
+
+- Drop compatibility for unsupported Python Version (@Viicos - thx)
+- Fix pattern types. 
+
+## 8.0.2
+
+- Normalize text before converting to unicode. (@chuckyblack - thx)
 
 ## 8.0.1
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0dfbd92..e5123f1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,9 +26,11 @@ However, there is an alternative decoding package called [Unidecode](https://git
 
 # How to install
 
-    easy_install python-slugify |OR| easy_install python-slugify[unidecode]
-    -- OR --
-    pip install python-slugify |OR| pip install python-slugify[unidecode]
+    pip install python-slugify
+
+    # OR
+
+    pip install python-slugify[unidecode]
 
 # Options
 
@@ -56,7 +58,7 @@ def slugify(
   :param hexadecimal (bool): converts html hexadecimal to unicode (Ž -> Ž -> z)
   :param max_length (int): output string length
   :param word_boundary (bool): truncates to end of full words (length may be shorter than max_length)
-  :param save_order (bool): if parameter is True and max_length > 0 return whole words in the initial order
+  :param save_order (bool): when set, does not include shorter subsequent words even if they fit
   :param separator (str): separator between words
   :param stopwords (iterable): words to discount
   :param regex_pattern (str): regex pattern for disallowed characters
@@ -108,9 +110,13 @@ txt = 'jaja---lol-méméméoo--a'
 r = slugify(txt, max_length=20, word_boundary=True, separator=".")
 self.assertEqual(r, "jaja.lol.mememeoo.a")
 
-txt = 'one two three four five'
-r = slugify(txt, max_length=13, word_boundary=True, save_order=True)
-self.assertEqual(r, "one-two-three")
+txt = 'one two three four'
+r = slugify(txt, max_length=12, word_boundary=True, save_order=False)
+self.assertEqual(r, "one-two-four")
+
+txt = 'one two three four'
+r = slugify(txt, max_length=12, word_boundary=True, save_order=True)
+self.assertEqual(r, "one-two")
 
 txt = 'the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'
 r = slugify(txt, stopwords=['the'])
@@ -205,7 +211,7 @@ X.Y.Z Version
     `MINOR` version -- when you add functionality in a backwards-compatible manner, and
     `PATCH` version -- when you make backwards-compatible bug fixes.
 
-[status-image]: https://github.com/un33k/python-slugify/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg
+[status-image]: https://github.com/un33k/python-slugify/actions/workflows/main.yml/badge.svg
 [status-link]: https://github.com/un33k/python-slugify/actions/workflows/ci.yml
 [version-image]: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/python-slugify.svg
 [version-link]: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-slugify
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c02bfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=61.2"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+
+# coverage
+# --------
+
+[tool.coverage.run]
+relative_files = true
+parallel = true
+branch = true
+source = [
+    "slugify",
+    "test",
+]
+
+[tool.coverage.paths]
+source = [
+    "src",
+    "*/site-packages",
+]
+
+[tool.coverage.report]
+skip_covered = true
+fail_under = 97
+
+
+# mypy
+# ----
+
+[tool.mypy]
+packages = "slugify"
+strict = true
+sqlite_cache = true
+
+
+# pytest
+# ------
+
+[tool.pytest.ini_options]
+testpaths = ["test.py"]
+addopts = "--color=yes"
+filterwarnings = [
+    "error",
+]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9661638..32f44dd 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -3,24 +3,22 @@
 import os
 import sys
 
-from codecs import open
 from shutil import rmtree
 from setuptools import setup
 
 
 package = 'slugify'
-python_requires = ">=3.7"
+python_requires = ">=3.10"
 here = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 
 install_requires = ['text-unidecode>=1.3']
 extras_requires = {'unidecode': ['Unidecode>=1.1.1']}
-test_requires = []
 
 about = {}
-with open(os.path.join(here, package, '__version__.py'), 'r', 'utf-8') as f:
+with open(os.path.join(here, package, '__version__.py'), 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
     exec(f.read(), about)
 
-with open('README.md', 'r', 'utf-8') as f:
+with open('README.md', 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
     readme = f.read()
 
 
@@ -66,7 +64,6 @@ def status(s):
     include_package_data=True,
     python_requires=python_requires,
     install_requires=install_requires,
-    tests_require=test_requires,
     extras_require=extras_requires,
     zip_safe=False,
     cmdclass={},
@@ -75,15 +72,13 @@ def status(s):
         'Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable',
         'Intended Audience :: Developers',
         'Natural Language :: English',
-        'License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License',
         'Programming Language :: Python',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12',
+        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13',
+        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14',
     ],
     entry_points={'console_scripts': ['slugify=slugify.__main__:main']},
 )
diff --git a/slugify/__main__.py b/slugify/__main__.py
index d31a6bb..4e6b3d9 100644
--- a/slugify/__main__.py
+++ b/slugify/__main__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from __future__ import absolute_import, annotations, print_function
+from __future__ import annotations
 
 import argparse
 import sys
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def parse_args(argv: list[str]) -> argparse.Namespace:
         parser.error("Input strings and --stdin cannot work together")
 
     if args.replacements:
-        def split_check(repl):
+        def split_check(repl: str) -> list[str]:
             SEP = '->'
             if SEP not in repl:
                 parser.error("Replacements must be of the form: ORIGINAL{SEP}REPLACED".format(SEP=SEP))
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ def slugify_params(args: argparse.Namespace) -> dict[str, Any]:
     )
 
 
-def main(argv: list[str] | None = None):  # pragma: no cover
+def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> None:
     """ Run this program """
     if argv is None:
         argv = sys.argv
@@ -94,5 +94,5 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None):  # pragma: no cover
         sys.exit(-1)
 
 
-if __name__ == '__main__':  # pragma: no cover
+if __name__ == '__main__':
     main()
diff --git a/slugify/__version__.py b/slugify/__version__.py
index a558d9b..a9cd778 100644
--- a/slugify/__version__.py
+++ b/slugify/__version__.py
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
 __author_email__ = 'info@neekware.com'
 __description__ = 'A Python slugify application that also handles Unicode'
 __url__ = 'https://github.com/un33k/python-slugify'
-__license__ = 'MIT'
+__license__ = 'SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT'
 __copyright__ = 'Copyright 2022 Val Neekman @ Neekware Inc.'
-__version__ = '8.0.1'
+__version__ = '8.0.4'
diff --git a/slugify/slugify.py b/slugify/slugify.py
index 21bdaeb..9b5f27f 100644
--- a/slugify/slugify.py
+++ b/slugify/slugify.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import re
-import sys
 import unicodedata
 from collections.abc import Iterable
 from html.entities import name2codepoint
@@ -9,7 +8,7 @@
 try:
     import unidecode
 except ImportError:
-    import text_unidecode as unidecode
+    import text_unidecode as unidecode  # type: ignore[import-untyped, no-redef]
 
 __all__ = ['slugify', 'smart_truncate']
 
@@ -68,7 +67,7 @@ def smart_truncate(
             else:
                 if save_order:
                     break
-    if not truncated:  # pragma: no cover
+    if not truncated:
         truncated = string[:max_length]
     return truncated.strip(separator)
 
@@ -83,7 +82,7 @@ def slugify(
     separator: str = DEFAULT_SEPARATOR,
     save_order: bool = False,
     stopwords: Iterable[str] = (),
-    regex_pattern: str | None = None,
+    regex_pattern: re.Pattern[str] | str | None = None,
     lowercase: bool = True,
     replacements: Iterable[Iterable[str]] = (),
     allow_unicode: bool = False,
@@ -96,7 +95,7 @@ def slugify(
     :param hexadecimal (bool): converts html hexadecimal to unicode
     :param max_length (int): output string length
     :param word_boundary (bool): truncates to complete word even if length ends up shorter than max_length
-    :param save_order (bool): if parameter is True and max_length > 0 return whole words in the initial order
+    :param save_order (bool): when set, does not include shorter subsequent words even if they fit
     :param separator (str): separator between words
     :param stopwords (iterable): words to discount
     :param regex_pattern (str): regex pattern for disallowed characters
@@ -118,8 +117,11 @@ def slugify(
     # replace quotes with dashes - pre-process
     text = QUOTE_PATTERN.sub(DEFAULT_SEPARATOR, text)
 
-    # decode unicode
-    if not allow_unicode:
+    # normalize text, convert to unicode if required
+    if allow_unicode:
+        text = unicodedata.normalize('NFKC', text)
+    else:
+        text = unicodedata.normalize('NFKD', text)
         text = unidecode.unidecode(text)
 
     # ensure text is still in unicode
@@ -144,15 +146,12 @@ def slugify(
         except Exception:
             pass
 
-    # translate
+    # re normalize text
     if allow_unicode:
         text = unicodedata.normalize('NFKC', text)
     else:
         text = unicodedata.normalize('NFKD', text)
 
-    if sys.version_info < (3,):
-        text = text.encode('ascii', 'ignore')
-
     # make the text lowercase (optional)
     if lowercase:
         text = text.lower()
diff --git a/slugify/special.py b/slugify/special.py
index 0b602cf..918cb2a 100644
--- a/slugify/special.py
+++ b/slugify/special.py
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ def add_uppercase_char(char_list: list[tuple[str, str]]) -> list[tuple[str, str]
         upper_dict = char.upper(), xlate.capitalize()
         if upper_dict not in char_list and char != upper_dict[0]:
             char_list.insert(0, upper_dict)
-        return char_list
     return char_list
 
 
diff --git a/tea.yaml b/tea.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dda3df9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tea.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# https://tea.xyz/what-is-this-file
+---
+version: 1.0.0
+codeOwners:
+  - '0xaC8Bb28685BD43FD784DC902E132829c6C6DafA2'
+quorum: 1
+
diff --git a/test.py b/test.py
index 931f38f..fcec4b6 100644
--- a/test.py
+++ b/test.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import unittest
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 
+from slugify import PRE_TRANSLATIONS
 from slugify import slugify
 from slugify import smart_truncate
 from slugify.__main__ import slugify_params, parse_args
@@ -36,6 +37,10 @@ def test_phonetic_conversion_of_eastern_scripts(self):
         self.assertEqual(r, "ying-shi-ma")
 
     def test_accented_text(self):
+        txt = '𝐚́́𝕒́àáâäãąā'
+        r = slugify(txt)
+        self.assertEqual(r, "aaaaaaaaa")
+
         txt = 'C\'est déjà l\'été.'
         r = slugify(txt)
         self.assertEqual(r, "c-est-deja-l-ete")
@@ -232,9 +237,11 @@ def test_replacements_german_umlaut_custom(self):
         r = slugify(txt, replacements=[['Ü', 'UE'], ['ü', 'ue']])
         self.assertEqual(r, "ueber-ueber-german-umlaut")
 
+    def test_pre_translation(self):
+        self.assertEqual(PRE_TRANSLATIONS, [('Ю', 'U'), ('Щ', 'Sch'), ('У', 'Y'), ('Х', 'H'), ('Я', 'Ya'), ('Ё', 'E'), ('ё', 'e'), ('я', 'ya'), ('х', 'h'), ('у', 'y'), ('щ', 'sch'), ('ю', 'u'), ('Ü', 'Ue'), ('Ö', 'Oe'), ('Ä', 'Ae'), ('ä', 'ae'), ('ö', 'oe'), ('ü', 'ue'), ('Ϋ́', 'Y'), ('Ϋ', 'Y'), ('Ύ', 'Y'), ('Υ', 'Y'), ('Χ', 'Ch'), ('χ', 'ch'), ('Ξ', 'X'), ('ϒ', 'Y'), ('υ', 'y'), ('ύ', 'y'), ('ϋ', 'y'), ('ΰ', 'y')])
 
-class TestSlugifyUnicode(unittest.TestCase):
 
+class TestSlugifyUnicode(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_extraneous_seperators(self):
 
         txt = "This is a test ---"
@@ -646,5 +653,5 @@ def test_multivalued_options_with_text(self):
         self.assertEqual(params['stopwords'], ['the', 'in', 'a', 'hurry'])
 
 
-if __name__ == '__main__':
+if __name__ == '__main__':  # pragma: nocover
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c16f5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+[tox]
+env_list =
+    coverage-erase
+    py{3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.14}-{unidecode, text_unidecode}
+    pypy{3.11}-{unidecode, text_unidecode}
+    coverage-report
+    coverage-html
+    mypy
+    pycodestyle
+
+[testenv]
+depends =
+    py{3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.14}-{unidecode, text_unidecode}: coverage-erase
+    pypy{3.11}-{unidecode, text_unidecode}: coverage-erase
+deps =
+    coverage[toml]
+    pytest
+    unidecode: pip
+    unidecode: unidecode
+commands_pre:
+    # If testing unidecode, ensure text_unidecode is unavailable.
+    unidecode: pip uninstall --yes text_unidecode
+commands =
+    coverage run -m pytest test.py
+
+[testenv:coverage_base]
+deps =
+    coverage[toml]
+
+[testenv:coverage-erase]
+base = coverage_base
+commands =
+    coverage erase
+
+[testenv:coverage-report]
+base = coverage_base
+depends =
+    py{3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.14}-{unidecode, text_unidecode}
+    pypy{3.11}-{unidecode, text_unidecode}
+commands_pre =
+    - coverage combine
+commands =
+    coverage report
+
+[testenv:coverage-html]
+base = coverage_base
+depends =
+    coverage-report
+commands =
+    coverage html --fail-under=0
+
+[testenv:mypy]
+deps =
+    mypy
+    unidecode
+commands =
+    mypy
+
+[testenv:pycodestyle]
+deps =
+    pycodestyle
+commands =
+    pycodestyle --ignore=E128,E261,E225,E501,W605 slugify test.py setup.py
+
+[testenv:flake8]
+deps =
+    flake8
+commands =
+    flake8 --ignore=E501,F403,F401,E241,E225,E128 slugify/ setup.py test.py