diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index af5e019..5817114 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@
 		<aerospike-client-jdk8.version>9.0.5</aerospike-client-jdk8.version>
 		<aerospike-reactor.version>9.0.5</aerospike-reactor.version>
 		<commons-lang3.version>3.18.0</commons-lang3.version>
-		<jackson-dataformat-yaml.version>2.19.1</jackson-dataformat-yaml.version>
+        <snakeyaml.version>2.6</snakeyaml.version>
+        <jackson-databind.version>2.21.2</jackson-databind.version>
 		<lombok.version>1.18.38</lombok.version>
 		<reactor-test.version>3.7.7</reactor-test.version>
 		<junit-jupiter.version>5.11.4</junit-jupiter.version>
@@ -101,12 +102,18 @@
 			<version>${commons-lang3.version}</version>
 		</dependency>
 
-		<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat/jackson-dataformat-yaml -->
-		<!-- Needed to parse the options file -->
-		<dependency>
-		    <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat</groupId>
-		    <artifactId>jackson-dataformat-yaml</artifactId>
-		    <version>${jackson-dataformat-yaml.version}</version>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.yaml</groupId>
+            <artifactId>snakeyaml</artifactId>
+            <version>${snakeyaml.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+
+        <!-- Jackson databind for JSON comparison in tests -->
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
+            <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
+            <version>${jackson-databind.version}</version>
+            <scope>test</scope>
 		</dependency>
 
 		<dependency>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/AbstractBuilder.java b/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/AbstractBuilder.java
index 9978291..1e30d70 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/AbstractBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/AbstractBuilder.java
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
@@ -23,12 +24,14 @@
 import com.aerospike.client.policy.ScanPolicy;
 import com.aerospike.mapper.annotations.AerospikeRecord;
 import com.aerospike.mapper.tools.ClassCache.PolicyType;
+import com.aerospike.mapper.tools.configuration.BinConfig;
 import com.aerospike.mapper.tools.configuration.ClassConfig;
 import com.aerospike.mapper.tools.configuration.Configuration;
 import com.aerospike.mapper.tools.utils.TypeUtils;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.yaml.YAMLFactory;
+import org.yaml.snakeyaml.LoaderOptions;
+import org.yaml.snakeyaml.TypeDescription;
+import org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml;
+import org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.Constructor;
 
 public abstract class AbstractBuilder<T extends IBaseAeroMapper> {
     private final T mapper;
@@ -121,10 +124,9 @@ public AbstractBuilder<T> withConfigurationFile(File file) throws IOException {
     }
 
     public AbstractBuilder<T> withConfigurationFile(File file, boolean allowsInvalid) throws IOException {
-        ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper(new YAMLFactory());
-        Configuration configuration = objectMapper.readValue(file, Configuration.class);
-        this.loadConfiguration(configuration, allowsInvalid);
-        return this;
+        try (InputStream fis = new FileInputStream(file)) {
+            return this.withConfigurationFile(fis, allowsInvalid);
+        }
     }
 
     public AbstractBuilder<T> withConfigurationFile(InputStream ios) throws IOException {
@@ -132,23 +134,38 @@ public AbstractBuilder<T> withConfigurationFile(InputStream ios) throws IOExcept
     }
 
     public AbstractBuilder<T> withConfigurationFile(InputStream ios, boolean allowsInvalid) throws IOException {
-        ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper(new YAMLFactory());
-        Configuration configuration = objectMapper.readValue(ios, Configuration.class);
+        Yaml yaml = createYamlParser();
+        Configuration configuration = yaml.load(ios);
         this.loadConfiguration(configuration, allowsInvalid);
         return this;
     }
 
-    public AbstractBuilder<T> withConfiguration(String configurationYaml) throws JsonProcessingException {
+    public AbstractBuilder<T> withConfiguration(String configurationYaml) {
         return this.withConfiguration(configurationYaml, false);
     }
 
-    public AbstractBuilder<T> withConfiguration(String configurationYaml, boolean allowsInvalid) throws JsonProcessingException {
-        ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper(new YAMLFactory());
-        Configuration configuration = objectMapper.readValue(configurationYaml, Configuration.class);
+    public AbstractBuilder<T> withConfiguration(String configurationYaml, boolean allowsInvalid) {
+        Yaml yaml = createYamlParser();
+        Configuration configuration = yaml.load(configurationYaml);
         this.loadConfiguration(configuration, allowsInvalid);
         return this;
     }
-    
+
+    private static Yaml createYamlParser() {
+        Constructor constructor = new Constructor(Configuration.class, new LoaderOptions());
+
+        TypeDescription configDesc = new TypeDescription(Configuration.class);
+        configDesc.addPropertyParameters("classes", ClassConfig.class);
+        constructor.addTypeDescription(configDesc);
+
+        TypeDescription classConfigDesc = new TypeDescription(ClassConfig.class);
+        classConfigDesc.substituteProperty("class", String.class, "getClassName", "setClassName");
+        classConfigDesc.addPropertyParameters("bins", BinConfig.class);
+        constructor.addTypeDescription(classConfigDesc);
+
+        return new Yaml(constructor);
+    }
+
     public AbstractBuilder<T> withClassConfigurations(ClassConfig classConfig, ClassConfig ...classConfigs) {
         Configuration configuration = new Configuration();
         configuration.add(classConfig);
@@ -161,6 +178,9 @@ public AbstractBuilder<T> withClassConfigurations(ClassConfig classConfig, Class
     }
 
     private void loadConfiguration(@NotNull Configuration configuration, boolean allowsInvalid) {
+        if (configuration == null) {
+            throw new AerospikeException("YAML configuration is empty or invalid");
+        }
         for (ClassConfig config : configuration.getClasses()) {
             try {
                 String name = config.getClassName();
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/configuration/ClassConfig.java b/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/configuration/ClassConfig.java
index 4075294..3e2c400 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/configuration/ClassConfig.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/configuration/ClassConfig.java
@@ -9,10 +9,8 @@
 import com.aerospike.mapper.annotations.AerospikeEmbed;
 import com.aerospike.mapper.annotations.AerospikeReference;
 import com.aerospike.mapper.tools.ConfigurationUtils;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 
 public class ClassConfig {
-    @JsonProperty(value = "class")
     private String className;
     private String namespace;
     private String set;
@@ -124,43 +122,43 @@ public void validate() {
         }
     }
 
-    private void setClassName(String className) {
+    public void setClassName(String className) {
         this.className = className;
     }
 
-    private void setNamespace(String namespace) {
+    public void setNamespace(String namespace) {
         this.namespace = namespace;
     }
 
-    private void setSet(String set) {
+    public void setSet(String set) {
         this.set = set;
     }
 
-    private void setTtl(Integer ttl) {
+    public void setTtl(Integer ttl) {
         this.ttl = ttl;
     }
 
-    private void setVersion(Integer version) {
+    public void setVersion(Integer version) {
         this.version = version;
     }
 
-    private void setSendKey(Boolean sendKey) {
+    public void setSendKey(Boolean sendKey) {
         this.sendKey = sendKey;
     }
 
-    private void setMapAll(Boolean mapAll) {
+    public void setMapAll(Boolean mapAll) {
         this.mapAll = mapAll;
     }
 
-    private void setDurableDelete(Boolean durableDelete) {
+    public void setDurableDelete(Boolean durableDelete) {
         this.durableDelete = durableDelete;
     }
 
-    private void setKey(KeyConfig key) {
+    public void setKey(KeyConfig key) {
         this.key = key;
     }
 
-    private void setShortName(String shortName) {
+    public void setShortName(String shortName) {
         this.shortName = shortName;
     }
     
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/configuration/KeyConfig.java b/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/configuration/KeyConfig.java
index 7dbe3ff..24fc1f3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/configuration/KeyConfig.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/aerospike/mapper/tools/configuration/KeyConfig.java
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ public Boolean getStoreAsBin() {
         return storeAsBin;
     }
 
-    public void setStoreAsBin(boolean value) {
+    public void setStoreAsBin(Boolean value) {
         this.storeAsBin = value;
     }
     
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/aerospike/mapper/BooleanTest.java b/src/test/java/com/aerospike/mapper/BooleanTest.java
index 46b2a85..c78c778 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/aerospike/mapper/BooleanTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/aerospike/mapper/BooleanTest.java
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 import com.aerospike.mapper.annotations.AerospikeKey;
 import com.aerospike.mapper.annotations.AerospikeRecord;
 import com.aerospike.mapper.tools.AeroMapper;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterAll;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
@@ -28,7 +27,7 @@ public static class B {
     }
 
     @Test
-    public void testNumericEncoding() throws JsonProcessingException {
+    public void testNumericEncoding() {
         UseBoolBin = false;
 
         B b = new B();
@@ -57,7 +56,7 @@ public void testNumericEncoding() throws JsonProcessingException {
     }
 
     @Test
-    public void testObjectEncoding() throws JsonProcessingException {
+    public void testObjectEncoding() {
         UseBoolBin = true;
 
         B b = new B();
@@ -85,7 +84,7 @@ public void testObjectEncoding() throws JsonProcessingException {
     }
 
     @Test
-    public void testObjectByDefault() throws JsonProcessingException {
+    public void testObjectByDefault() {
         B b = new B();
         b.boolValue = true;
         b.id = 1;