diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 656d69d..a9a2001 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # fusionAIze Gate Changelog
 
+## v2.2.1 - 2026-04-18
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **Slow `brew upgrade` / `pip install` caused by source-only pydantic-core**: `pyproject.toml` now caps `pydantic`, `fastapi`, `httpx`, and `uvicorn` to version ranges that ship prebuilt wheels for all supported Python versions (3.10–3.13) and platforms (incl. macOS 15 Tahoe arm64). Without these caps pip could drift onto a bleeding-edge pydantic-core release with no wheel, forcing a 3–5 minute Rust/cargo source build during upgrade. This is a packaging-only change — no runtime behavior difference.
+
 ## v2.2.0 - 2026-04-18
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/faigate/__init__.py b/faigate/__init__.py
index 402c0d0..00a6ddf 100644
--- a/faigate/__init__.py
+++ b/faigate/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """fusionAIze Gate package."""
 
-__version__ = "2.2.0"
+__version__ = "2.2.1"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 86251fb..a26fa8f 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "faigate"
-version = "2.2.0"
+version = "2.2.1"
 description = "Local OpenAI-compatible routing gateway for OpenClaw and other AI-native clients."
 readme = "README.md"
 license = "Apache-2.0"
@@ -22,9 +22,14 @@ classifiers = [
     "Topic :: Internet :: Proxy Servers",
 ]
 dependencies = [
-    "fastapi>=0.115.0",
-    "uvicorn[standard]>=0.32.0",
-    "httpx>=0.27.0",
+    # Upper bounds on fastapi/pydantic/httpx keep us on versions that ship
+    # prebuilt wheels (esp. pydantic-core) for all supported Python/macOS/Linux
+    # combinations. Without these caps, `brew upgrade` and fresh `pip install`
+    # can drift onto source-only releases and trigger a 3–5 min cargo build.
+    "fastapi>=0.115.0,<0.120",
+    "uvicorn[standard]>=0.32.0,<0.40",
+    "httpx>=0.27.0,<0.29",
+    "pydantic>=2.9,<2.14",
     "pyyaml>=6.0.2",
     "python-dotenv>=1.0.1",
     "python-multipart>=0.0.9",