diff --git a/.azure-pipelines/azure-pipelines-linux.yml b/.azure-pipelines/azure-pipelines-linux.yml
index abcbeb9..875d996 100755
--- a/.azure-pipelines/azure-pipelines-linux.yml
+++ b/.azure-pipelines/azure-pipelines-linux.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ jobs:
         UPLOAD_PACKAGES: 'True'
         DOCKER_IMAGE: quay.io/condaforge/linux-anvil-cos7-x86_64
   timeoutInMinutes: 360
+  variables: {}
 
   steps:
   # configure qemu binfmt-misc running.  This allows us to run docker containers
diff --git a/.ci_support/linux_64_.yaml b/.ci_support/linux_64_.yaml
index 8c8c0d2..82f2873 100644
--- a/.ci_support/linux_64_.yaml
+++ b/.ci_support/linux_64_.yaml
@@ -1,14 +1,8 @@
 cdt_name:
-- cos6
+- cos7
 channel_sources:
 - conda-forge
 channel_targets:
 - conda-forge main
 docker_image:
 - quay.io/condaforge/linux-anvil-cos7-x86_64
-pin_run_as_build:
-  python:
-    min_pin: x.x
-    max_pin: x.x
-python:
-- 3.11.* *_cpython
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 7f32763..18f114a 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ bld.bat text eol=crlf
 .travis.yml linguist-generated=true
 .scripts/* linguist-generated=true
 .woodpecker.yml linguist-generated=true
-LICENSE.txt linguist-generated=true
-README.md linguist-generated=true
+/LICENSE.txt linguist-generated=true
+/README.md linguist-generated=true
 azure-pipelines.yml linguist-generated=true
 build-locally.py linguist-generated=true
 shippable.yml linguist-generated=true
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c89ecb7..179afe5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,24 @@
-*.pyc
+# User content belongs under recipe/.
+# Feedstock configuration goes in `conda-forge.yml`
+# Everything else is managed by the conda-smithy rerender process.
+# Please do not modify
+
+# Ignore all files and folders in root
+*
+!/conda-forge.yml
+
+# Don't ignore any files/folders if the parent folder is 'un-ignored'
+# This also avoids warnings when adding an already-checked file with an ignored parent.
+!/**/
+# Don't ignore any files/folders recursively in the following folders
+!/recipe/**
+!/.ci_support/**
 
-build_artifacts
+# Since we ignore files/folders recursively, any folders inside
+# build_artifacts gets ignored which trips some build systems.
+# To avoid that we 'un-ignore' all files/folders recursively
+# and only ignore the root build_artifacts folder.
+!/build_artifacts/**
+/build_artifacts
+
+*.pyc
diff --git a/.scripts/build_steps.sh b/.scripts/build_steps.sh
index 5382195..f8051ab 100755
--- a/.scripts/build_steps.sh
+++ b/.scripts/build_steps.sh
@@ -31,18 +31,20 @@ pkgs_dirs:
 solver: libmamba
 
 CONDARC
+mv /opt/conda/conda-meta/history /opt/conda/conda-meta/history.$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S)
+echo > /opt/conda/conda-meta/history
+micromamba install --root-prefix ~/.conda --prefix /opt/conda \
+    --yes --override-channels --channel conda-forge --strict-channel-priority \
+    pip  python=3.12 conda-build conda-forge-ci-setup=4 "conda-build>=24.1"
 export CONDA_LIBMAMBA_SOLVER_NO_CHANNELS_FROM_INSTALLED=1
 
-mamba install --update-specs --yes --quiet --channel conda-forge --strict-channel-priority \
-    pip mamba conda-build boa conda-forge-ci-setup=4
-mamba update --update-specs --yes --quiet --channel conda-forge --strict-channel-priority \
-    pip mamba conda-build boa conda-forge-ci-setup=4
-
 # set up the condarc
 setup_conda_rc "${FEEDSTOCK_ROOT}" "${RECIPE_ROOT}" "${CONFIG_FILE}"
 
 source run_conda_forge_build_setup
 
+
+
 # make the build number clobber
 make_build_number "${FEEDSTOCK_ROOT}" "${RECIPE_ROOT}" "${CONFIG_FILE}"
 
@@ -54,12 +56,6 @@ if [[ -f "${FEEDSTOCK_ROOT}/LICENSE.txt" ]]; then
   cp "${FEEDSTOCK_ROOT}/LICENSE.txt" "${RECIPE_ROOT}/recipe-scripts-license.txt"
 fi
 
-if [[ "${sha:-}" == "" ]]; then
-  pushd ${FEEDSTOCK_ROOT}
-  sha=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
-  popd
-fi
-
 if [[ "${BUILD_WITH_CONDA_DEBUG:-0}" == 1 ]]; then
     if [[ "x${BUILD_OUTPUT_ID:-}" != "x" ]]; then
         EXTRA_CB_OPTIONS="${EXTRA_CB_OPTIONS:-} --output-id ${BUILD_OUTPUT_ID}"
@@ -71,10 +67,16 @@ if [[ "${BUILD_WITH_CONDA_DEBUG:-0}" == 1 ]]; then
     # Drop into an interactive shell
     /bin/bash
 else
-    conda mambabuild "${RECIPE_ROOT}" -m "${CI_SUPPORT}/${CONFIG}.yaml" \
+    conda-build "${RECIPE_ROOT}" -m "${CI_SUPPORT}/${CONFIG}.yaml" \
         --suppress-variables ${EXTRA_CB_OPTIONS:-} \
         --clobber-file "${CI_SUPPORT}/clobber_${CONFIG}.yaml" \
         --extra-meta flow_run_id="${flow_run_id:-}" remote_url="${remote_url:-}" sha="${sha:-}"
+    ( startgroup "Inspecting artifacts" ) 2> /dev/null
+
+    # inspect_artifacts was only added in conda-forge-ci-setup 4.9.4
+    command -v inspect_artifacts >/dev/null 2>&1 && inspect_artifacts --recipe-dir "${RECIPE_ROOT}" -m "${CONFIG_FILE}" || echo "inspect_artifacts needs conda-forge-ci-setup >=4.9.4"
+
+    ( endgroup "Inspecting artifacts" ) 2> /dev/null
     ( startgroup "Validating outputs" ) 2> /dev/null
 
     validate_recipe_outputs "${FEEDSTOCK_NAME}"
diff --git a/.scripts/run_docker_build.sh b/.scripts/run_docker_build.sh
index b70ef01..00f377a 100755
--- a/.scripts/run_docker_build.sh
+++ b/.scripts/run_docker_build.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,12 @@ if [ -z ${FEEDSTOCK_NAME} ]; then
     export FEEDSTOCK_NAME=$(basename ${FEEDSTOCK_ROOT})
 fi
 
+if [[ "${sha:-}" == "" ]]; then
+  pushd "${FEEDSTOCK_ROOT}"
+  sha=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
+  popd
+fi
+
 docker info
 
 # In order for the conda-build process in the container to write to the mounted
diff --git a/azure-pipelines.yml b/azure-pipelines.yml
index ad85a2c..95d88f6 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -2,5 +2,30 @@
 # update the conda-forge.yml and/or the recipe/meta.yaml.
 # -*- mode: yaml -*-
 
-jobs:
-  - template: ./.azure-pipelines/azure-pipelines-linux.yml
\ No newline at end of file
+stages:
+- stage: Check
+  jobs:
+    - job: Skip
+      pool:
+        vmImage: 'ubuntu-22.04'
+      variables:
+        DECODE_PERCENTS: 'false'
+        RET: 'true'
+      steps:
+      - checkout: self
+        fetchDepth: '2'
+      - bash: |
+          git_log=`git log --max-count=1 --skip=1 --pretty=format:"%B" | tr "\n" " "`
+          echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=log]$git_log"
+        displayName: Obtain commit message
+      - bash: echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=RET]false"
+        condition: or(contains(variables.log, '[skip azp]'), contains(variables.log, '[azp skip]'), contains(variables.log, '[skip ci]'), contains(variables.log, '[ci skip]'))
+        displayName: Skip build?
+      - bash: echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=start_main;isOutput=true]$RET"
+        name: result
+        displayName: Export result
+- stage: Build
+  condition: and(succeeded(), eq(dependencies.Check.outputs['Skip.result.start_main'], 'true'))
+  dependsOn: Check
+  jobs:
+    - template: ./.azure-pipelines/azure-pipelines-linux.yml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build-locally.py b/build-locally.py
index 3f4b7a7..6788aea 100755
--- a/build-locally.py
+++ b/build-locally.py
@@ -1,13 +1,16 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#!/bin/sh
+"""exec" "python3" "$0" "$@" #"""  # fmt: off # fmt: on
 #
 # This file has been generated by conda-smithy in order to build the recipe
 # locally.
 #
-import os
+# The line above this comment is a bash / sh / zsh guard
+# to stop people from running it with the wrong interpreter
 import glob
+import os
+import platform
 import subprocess
 from argparse import ArgumentParser
-import platform
 
 
 def setup_environment(ns):
@@ -64,8 +67,9 @@ def verify_config(ns):
     elif ns.config.startswith("osx"):
         if "OSX_SDK_DIR" not in os.environ:
             raise RuntimeError(
-                "Need OSX_SDK_DIR env variable set. Run 'export OSX_SDK_DIR=SDKs' "
-                "to download the SDK automatically to 'SDKs/MacOSX<ver>.sdk'. "
+                "Need OSX_SDK_DIR env variable set. Run 'export OSX_SDK_DIR=$PWD/SDKs' "
+                "to download the SDK automatically to '$PWD/SDKs/MacOSX<ver>.sdk'. "
+                "Note: OSX_SDK_DIR must be set to an absolute path. "
                 "Setting this variable implies agreement to the licensing terms of the SDK by Apple."
             )
 
diff --git a/recipe/meta.yaml b/recipe/meta.yaml
index 2e6c90d..a896f57 100644
--- a/recipe/meta.yaml
+++ b/recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -10,20 +10,21 @@ source:
   sha256: d79fafc6ec2a1eff9645e098554103f1e9f3c270947b1ac4f4a8a07fece59f3b
 
 build:
-  number: 3
+  number: 4
   noarch: python
   script: {{ PYTHON }} -m pip install . -vv --no-deps
 
 requirements:
   host:
-    - python
-    - pip
+    - python >=3.9
+    - setuptools_scm
+    - pip !=21.3
   run:
-    - python >=3.6
+    - python >=3.9
     - jinja2
     - requests
     - requests-cache >=0.6
-    - webob
+    - webob >=1.8.9  # supports Python 3.13 github.com/ESGF/esgf-pyclient/pull/109
     - defusedxml
     - myproxyclient >=2.1.1