diff --git a/dynamicannotationdb/annotation.py b/dynamicannotationdb/annotation.py
index 0032d07..635ceb1 100644
--- a/dynamicannotationdb/annotation.py
+++ b/dynamicannotationdb/annotation.py
@@ -257,6 +257,7 @@ def insert_annotations(self, table_name: str, annotations: List[dict], user_id=N
                                 that meet the schema
         user_id : str, optional
             user id to fill in any auto_user_id fields in the schema, by default None
+            note: if user_id is None, auto_user_id fields will not be filled and will need to be provided in the annotation dicts
 
         Returns
         -------
diff --git a/dynamicannotationdb/database.py b/dynamicannotationdb/database.py
index bf1ed60..76e87bc 100644
--- a/dynamicannotationdb/database.py
+++ b/dynamicannotationdb/database.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 from sqlalchemy import create_engine, func, inspect, or_
 from sqlalchemy.ext.automap import automap_base
-from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative.api import DeclarativeMeta
+from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeMeta
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session, scoped_session, sessionmaker
 from sqlalchemy.orm.exc import NoResultFound
 from sqlalchemy.schema import MetaData
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 25d046f..040ba19 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ classifiers = [
 requires-python = ">=3.8"
 dependencies = [
     "marshmallow==3.5.1",
-    "emannotationschemas>=5.26.0",
-    "sqlalchemy<1.4",
+    "emannotationschemas>=5.26.3",
+    "sqlalchemy>=1.4,<2",
     "psycopg2-binary",
     "geoalchemy2",
     "pytz",
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9d75790..b965900 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 marshmallow==3.5.1
-emannotationschemas>=5.26.0
-sqlalchemy<1.4
+emannotationschemas>=5.26.3
+sqlalchemy>=1.4,<2
 psycopg2-binary
 geoalchemy2
 pytz
diff --git a/tests/test_database.py b/tests/test_database.py
index f39935b..d9a65c7 100644
--- a/tests/test_database.py
+++ b/tests/test_database.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 from sqlalchemy import Table
-from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative.api import DeclarativeMeta
+from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeMeta
 
 from emannotationschemas import type_mapping
 from dynamicannotationdb.errors import TableAlreadyExists
diff --git a/tests/test_schema.py b/tests/test_schema.py
index 719ee86..be7fd3d 100644
--- a/tests/test_schema.py
+++ b/tests/test_schema.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import marshmallow
 from emannotationschemas.errors import UnknownAnnotationTypeException
 import pytest
-from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative.api import DeclarativeMeta
+from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeMeta
 
 
 def test_get_schema(dadb_interface):
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 1b944b0..1e2d993 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -574,7 +574,7 @@ wheels = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "dynamicannotationdb"
-version = "5.13.1"
+version = "5.14.1"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "alembic" },
@@ -601,7 +601,7 @@ dev = [
 [package.metadata]
 requires-dist = [
     { name = "alembic" },
-    { name = "emannotationschemas", specifier = ">=5.4.0" },
+    { name = "emannotationschemas", specifier = ">=5.26.0" },
     { name = "geoalchemy2" },
     { name = "jsonschema", specifier = "<4.0" },
     { name = "marshmallow", specifier = "==3.5.1" },
@@ -620,7 +620,7 @@ dev = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "emannotationschemas"
-version = "5.24.12"
+version = "5.26.0"
 source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "flask-cors" },
@@ -633,7 +633,7 @@ dependencies = [
     { name = "shapely" },
     { name = "sqlalchemy" },
 ]
-sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/8d/60/2ccf0c3aa7d47f2fbda5d02ba023df5d88788ec1c579d7597702fca982f6/emannotationschemas-5.24.12.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:bd36cf0db1570e5098e3701c714ca1be20bb1de777f7624a9d37f0c805d3a5d0", size = 38327, upload-time = "2025-08-29T16:59:05.613Z" }
+sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/43/14/78090dfcc1ceef8abc207438fe768b15697db08655e55c642c0aeb71c7df/emannotationschemas-5.26.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:ab4ce6b699762396b5f0ad3f2134015fc4e4085f41292b14e598aeaeda9437b5", size = 39568, upload-time = "2026-04-28T16:24:13.056Z" }
 
 [[package]]
 name = "exceptiongroup"