diff --git a/backend/public/Cargo.lock b/backend/public/Cargo.lock
index 51f31a9..938de3d 100644
--- a/backend/public/Cargo.lock
+++ b/backend/public/Cargo.lock
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "8f43644eed690f5374f1af436ecd6aea01cd201f6fbdf0178adaf6907afb2cec"
 dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
- "axum-core",
+ "axum-core 0.4.4",
  "bytes",
  "futures-util",
  "http",
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "hyper",
  "hyper-util",
  "itoa",
- "matchit",
+ "matchit 0.7.3",
  "memchr",
  "mime",
  "percent-encoding",
@@ -123,9 +123,43 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_json",
  "serde_path_to_error",
  "serde_urlencoded",
- "sync_wrapper 1.0.1",
+ "sync_wrapper",
  "tokio",
- "tower 0.5.1",
+ "tower 0.5.2",
+ "tower-layer",
+ "tower-service",
+ "tracing",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "axum"
+version = "0.8.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "021e862c184ae977658b36c4500f7feac3221ca5da43e3f25bd04ab6c79a29b5"
+dependencies = [
+ "axum-core 0.5.2",
+ "bytes",
+ "form_urlencoded",
+ "futures-util",
+ "http",
+ "http-body",
+ "http-body-util",
+ "hyper",
+ "hyper-util",
+ "itoa",
+ "matchit 0.8.4",
+ "memchr",
+ "mime",
+ "percent-encoding",
+ "pin-project-lite",
+ "rustversion",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_json",
+ "serde_path_to_error",
+ "serde_urlencoded",
+ "sync_wrapper",
+ "tokio",
+ "tower 0.5.2",
  "tower-layer",
  "tower-service",
  "tracing",
@@ -146,7 +180,27 @@ dependencies = [
  "mime",
  "pin-project-lite",
  "rustversion",
- "sync_wrapper 1.0.1",
+ "sync_wrapper",
+ "tower-layer",
+ "tower-service",
+ "tracing",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "axum-core"
+version = "0.5.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "68464cd0412f486726fb3373129ef5d2993f90c34bc2bc1c1e9943b2f4fc7ca6"
+dependencies = [
+ "bytes",
+ "futures-core",
+ "http",
+ "http-body",
+ "http-body-util",
+ "mime",
+ "pin-project-lite",
+ "rustversion",
+ "sync_wrapper",
  "tower-layer",
  "tower-service",
  "tracing",
@@ -901,9 +955,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "libc"
-version = "0.2.158"
+version = "0.2.174"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "d8adc4bb1803a324070e64a98ae98f38934d91957a99cfb3a43dcbc01bc56439"
+checksum = "1171693293099992e19cddea4e8b849964e9846f4acee11b3948bcc337be8776"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "libm"
@@ -959,6 +1013,12 @@ version = "0.7.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "0e7465ac9959cc2b1404e8e2367b43684a6d13790fe23056cc8c6c5a6b7bcb94"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "matchit"
+version = "0.8.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "47e1ffaa40ddd1f3ed91f717a33c8c0ee23fff369e3aa8772b9605cc1d22f4c3"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "md-5"
 version = "0.10.6"
@@ -1251,7 +1311,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "public"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
- "axum",
+ "axum 0.8.4",
  "chrono",
  "dotenvy",
  "fred",
@@ -1920,12 +1980,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-ident",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "sync_wrapper"
-version = "0.1.2"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "2047c6ded9c721764247e62cd3b03c09ffc529b2ba5b10ec482ae507a4a70160"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "sync_wrapper"
 version = "1.0.1"
@@ -1992,9 +2046,9 @@ checksum = "1f3ccbac311fea05f86f61904b462b55fb3df8837a366dfc601a0161d0532f20"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio"
-version = "1.40.0"
+version = "1.45.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "e2b070231665d27ad9ec9b8df639893f46727666c6767db40317fbe920a5d998"
+checksum = "75ef51a33ef1da925cea3e4eb122833cb377c61439ca401b770f54902b806779"
 dependencies = [
  "backtrace",
  "bytes",
@@ -2010,9 +2064,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio-macros"
-version = "2.4.0"
+version = "2.5.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "693d596312e88961bc67d7f1f97af8a70227d9f90c31bba5806eec004978d752"
+checksum = "6e06d43f1345a3bcd39f6a56dbb7dcab2ba47e68e8ac134855e7e2bdbaf8cab8"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
@@ -2061,14 +2115,14 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tower"
-version = "0.5.1"
+version = "0.5.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "2873938d487c3cfb9aed7546dc9f2711d867c9f90c46b889989a2cb84eba6b4f"
+checksum = "d039ad9159c98b70ecfd540b2573b97f7f52c3e8d9f8ad57a24b916a536975f9"
 dependencies = [
  "futures-core",
  "futures-util",
  "pin-project-lite",
- "sync_wrapper 0.1.2",
+ "sync_wrapper",
  "tokio",
  "tower-layer",
  "tower-service",
@@ -2109,7 +2163,7 @@ version = "0.4.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "313fa625fea5790ed56360a30ea980e41229cf482b4835801a67ef1922bf63b9"
 dependencies = [
- "axum",
+ "axum 0.7.6",
  "forwarded-header-value",
  "governor",
  "http",
diff --git a/backend/public/Cargo.toml b/backend/public/Cargo.toml
index b626412..bbbacbf 100644
--- a/backend/public/Cargo.toml
+++ b/backend/public/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ authors = ["Wyatt J. Miller <wyatt@wyattjmiller.com"]
 # See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
 
 [dependencies]
-axum = { version = "0.7.6", features = ["http2", "tokio"] }
+axum = { version = "0.8.4", features = ["http2", "tokio"] }
 tower-http = { version = "0.6.1", features = ["trace", "cors"] }
 tower_governor = "0.4.2"
 tokio = { version = "1.40.0", features = ["full"] }
diff --git a/backend/public/src/main.rs b/backend/public/src/main.rs
index 694a68c..30a69b0 100644
--- a/backend/public/src/main.rs
+++ b/backend/public/src/main.rs
@@ -121,20 +121,11 @@ async fn main() {
 
     // build our application with some routes
     let app = Router::new()
-        .nest("/", routes::root::RootRoute::routes())
-        .nest("/posts", routes::posts::PostsRoute::routes(&app_state))
-        .nest(
-            "/comments",
-            routes::comments::CommentsRoute::routes(&app_state),
-        )
-        .nest(
-            "/authors",
-            routes::authors::AuthorsRoute::routes(&app_state),
-        )
-        .nest(
-            "/projects",
-            routes::projects::ProjectsRoute::routes(&app_state),
-        )
+        .merge(routes::root::RootRoute::routes())
+        .merge(routes::posts::PostsRoute::routes(&app_state))
+        .merge(routes::comments::CommentsRoute::routes(&app_state))
+        .merge(routes::authors::AuthorsRoute::routes(&app_state))
+        .merge(routes::projects::ProjectsRoute::routes(&app_state))
         .layer(CorsLayer::permissive())
         .layer(
             TraceLayer::new_for_http()
diff --git a/backend/public/src/routes/authors.rs b/backend/public/src/routes/authors.rs
index 96dd1c1..b8103c0 100644
--- a/backend/public/src/routes/authors.rs
+++ b/backend/public/src/routes/authors.rs
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ pub struct AuthorsRoute;
 impl AuthorsRoute {
     pub fn routes(app_state: &AppState) -> axum::Router {
         axum::Router::new()
-            .route("/", get(AuthorsRoute::get_all))
-            .route("/:id", get(AuthorsRoute::get_one))
-            .route("/:id/posts", get(AuthorsRoute::get_authors_posts))
+            .route("/authors", get(AuthorsRoute::get_all))
+            .route("/authors/{id}", get(AuthorsRoute::get_one))
+            .route("/authors/{id}/posts", get(AuthorsRoute::get_authors_posts))
             .with_state(app_state.clone())
     }
 
diff --git a/backend/public/src/routes/comments.rs b/backend/public/src/routes/comments.rs
index a8a1ab1..c75921d 100644
--- a/backend/public/src/routes/comments.rs
+++ b/backend/public/src/routes/comments.rs
@@ -43,9 +43,9 @@ impl CommentsRoute {
     pub fn routes(app_state: &AppState) -> axum::Router {
         // add more comment routes here!
         axum::Router::new()
-            .route("/post/:id", get(CommentsRoute::get_post_comments))
-            .route("/add", post(CommentsRoute::insert_comment))
-            .route("/index", get(CommentsRoute::get_comments_index))
+            .route("/comments/post/{id}", get(CommentsRoute::get_post_comments))
+            .route("/comments/add", post(CommentsRoute::insert_comment))
+            .route("/comments/index", get(CommentsRoute::get_comments_index))
             .with_state(app_state.clone())
     }
 
diff --git a/backend/public/src/routes/posts.rs b/backend/public/src/routes/posts.rs
index 30c1e83..e11af84 100644
--- a/backend/public/src/routes/posts.rs
+++ b/backend/public/src/routes/posts.rs
@@ -57,14 +57,14 @@ impl PostsRoute {
     pub fn routes(app_state: &AppState) -> Router {
         // add more post routes here!
         Router::new()
-            .route("/all", get(PostsRoute::get_all))
-            .route("/:id", get(PostsRoute::get_one))
-            .route("/recent", get(PostsRoute::get_recent_posts))
-            .route("/popular", get(PostsRoute::get_popular_posts))
-            .route("/hot", get(PostsRoute::get_hot_posts))
-            .route("/featured", get(PostsRoute::get_featured_posts))
-            .route("/rss", get(PostsRoute::get_rss_posts))
-            .route("/sitemap", get(PostsRoute::get_sitemap))
+            .route("/posts/all", get(PostsRoute::get_all))
+            .route("/posts/{id}", get(PostsRoute::get_one))
+            .route("/posts/recent", get(PostsRoute::get_recent_posts))
+            .route("/posts/popular", get(PostsRoute::get_popular_posts))
+            .route("/posts/hot", get(PostsRoute::get_hot_posts))
+            .route("/posts/featured", get(PostsRoute::get_featured_posts))
+            .route("/posts/rss", get(PostsRoute::get_rss_posts))
+            .route("/posts/sitemap", get(PostsRoute::get_sitemap))
             .with_state(app_state.clone())
     }
 
diff --git a/backend/public/src/routes/projects.rs b/backend/public/src/routes/projects.rs
index 74dbcd6..a8ca6ec 100644
--- a/backend/public/src/routes/projects.rs
+++ b/backend/public/src/routes/projects.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ pub struct ProjectsRoute;
 impl ProjectsRoute {
     pub fn routes(app_state: &AppState) -> Router {
         Router::new()
-            .route("/", get(ProjectsRoute::get_all))
+            .route("/projects", get(ProjectsRoute::get_all))
             .with_state(app_state.clone())
     }