diff --git a/.github/workflows/_build.yaml b/.github/workflows/_build.yaml
index fe52fc30..7fb7518a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_build.yaml
@@ -55,18 +55,18 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Harden Runner
-      uses: step-security/harden-runner@f4a75cfd619ee5ce8d5b864b0d183aff3c69b55a # v2.13.1
+      uses: step-security/harden-runner@95d9a5deda9de15063e7595e9719c11c38c90ae2 # v2.13.2
       with:
         egress-policy: audit # TODO: change to 'egress-policy: block' after couple of runs
         disable-sudo: true
 
     - name: Check out repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
       with:
         fetch-depth: 0
 
     - name: Set up Python
-      uses: actions/setup-python@e797f83bcb11b83ae66e0230d6156d7c80228e7c # v6.0.0
+      uses: actions/setup-python@83679a892e2d95755f2dac6acb0bfd1e9ac5d548 # v6.1.0
       with:
         python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
 
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ jobs:
     # Currently reusable workflows do not support setting strategy property from the caller workflow.
     - name: Upload the package artifact for debugging and release
       if: matrix.os == env.ARTIFACT_OS && matrix.python == env.ARTIFACT_PYTHON
-      uses: actions/upload-artifact@ea165f8d65b6e75b540449e92b4886f43607fa02 # v4.6.2
+      uses: actions/upload-artifact@330a01c490aca151604b8cf639adc76d48f6c5d4 # v5.0.0
       with:
         name: artifact-${{ matrix.os }}-python-${{ matrix.python }}
         path: dist
diff --git a/.github/workflows/_generate-rebase.yaml b/.github/workflows/_generate-rebase.yaml
index b35323d3..fedbe4cf 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_generate-rebase.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_generate-rebase.yaml
@@ -34,12 +34,12 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Harden Runner
-      uses: step-security/harden-runner@f4a75cfd619ee5ce8d5b864b0d183aff3c69b55a # v2.13.1
+      uses: step-security/harden-runner@95d9a5deda9de15063e7595e9719c11c38c90ae2 # v2.13.2
       with:
         egress-policy: audit # TODO: change to 'egress-policy: block' after couple of runs
 
     - name: Check out repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
       with:
         fetch-depth: 0
         token: ${{ secrets.REPO_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/_wiki-documentation.yaml b/.github/workflows/_wiki-documentation.yaml
index 87e399dd..d8332739 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_wiki-documentation.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_wiki-documentation.yaml
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Harden Runner
-      uses: step-security/harden-runner@f4a75cfd619ee5ce8d5b864b0d183aff3c69b55a # v2.13.1
+      uses: step-security/harden-runner@95d9a5deda9de15063e7595e9719c11c38c90ae2 # v2.13.2
       with:
         egress-policy: audit # TODO: change to 'egress-policy: block' after couple of runs
         disable-sudo: true
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ jobs:
     # Check out the repository's Wiki repo into the wiki/ folder. The token is required
     # only for private repositories.
     - name: Check out repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
       with:
         token: ${{ secrets.REPO_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
         repository: ${{ format('{0}.wiki', github.repository) }}
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ jobs:
 
     # Download the build artifacts attached to this workflow run.
     - name: Download artifact
-      uses: actions/download-artifact@634f93cb2916e3fdff6788551b99b062d0335ce0 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/download-artifact@018cc2cf5baa6db3ef3c5f8a56943fffe632ef53 # v6.0.0
       with:
         name: ${{ inputs.artifact-name }}
         path: dist
diff --git a/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yaml b/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yaml
index 826ef9e1..e6a05219 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/codeql-analysis.yaml
@@ -33,16 +33,16 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Harden Runner
-      uses: step-security/harden-runner@f4a75cfd619ee5ce8d5b864b0d183aff3c69b55a # v2.13.1
+      uses: step-security/harden-runner@95d9a5deda9de15063e7595e9719c11c38c90ae2 # v2.13.2
       with:
         egress-policy: audit # TODO: change to 'egress-policy: block' after couple of runs
         disable-sudo: true
 
     - name: Checkout repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
 
     - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python }}
-      uses: actions/setup-python@e797f83bcb11b83ae66e0230d6156d7c80228e7c # v6.0.0
+      uses: actions/setup-python@83679a892e2d95755f2dac6acb0bfd1e9ac5d548 # v6.1.0
       with:
         python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
 
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ jobs:
 
     # Initializes the CodeQL tools for scanning.
     - name: Initialize CodeQL
-      uses: github/codeql-action/init@192325c86100d080feab897ff886c34abd4c83a3 # v3.30.3
+      uses: github/codeql-action/init@fdbfb4d2750291e159f0156def62b853c2798ca2 # v4.31.5
       with:
         languages: ${{ matrix.language }}
         config-file: .github/codeql/codeql-config.yaml
@@ -67,4 +67,4 @@ jobs:
         # queries: ./path/to/local/query, your-org/your-repo/queries@main
 
     - name: Perform CodeQL Analysis
-      uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@192325c86100d080feab897ff886c34abd4c83a3 # v3.30.3
+      uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@fdbfb4d2750291e159f0156def62b853c2798ca2 # v4.31.5
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-conventional-commits.yaml b/.github/workflows/pr-conventional-commits.yaml
index f43cfe0a..482607df 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-conventional-commits.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-conventional-commits.yaml
@@ -22,12 +22,12 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Check out repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
       with:
         fetch-depth: 0
 
     - name: Set up Python
-      uses: actions/setup-python@e797f83bcb11b83ae66e0230d6156d7c80228e7c # v6.0.0
+      uses: actions/setup-python@83679a892e2d95755f2dac6acb0bfd1e9ac5d548 # v6.1.0
       with:
         python-version: '3.13'
 
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Set up Commitizen
       run: |
         pip install --upgrade pip wheel
-        pip install 'commitizen ==4.9.1'
+        pip install 'commitizen ==4.10.0'
 
     # Run Commitizen to check the title of the PR which triggered this workflow, and check
     # all commit messages of the PR's branch. If any of the checks fails then this job fails.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index d2e8295d..fbe15da0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -30,26 +30,26 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Harden Runner
-      uses: step-security/harden-runner@f4a75cfd619ee5ce8d5b864b0d183aff3c69b55a # v2.13.1
+      uses: step-security/harden-runner@95d9a5deda9de15063e7595e9719c11c38c90ae2 # v2.13.2
       with:
         egress-policy: audit # TODO: change to 'egress-policy: block' after couple of runs
         disable-sudo: true
 
     - name: Check out repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
       with:
         fetch-depth: 0
         token: ${{ secrets.REPO_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
 
     - name: Set up Python
-      uses: actions/setup-python@e797f83bcb11b83ae66e0230d6156d7c80228e7c # v6.0.0
+      uses: actions/setup-python@83679a892e2d95755f2dac6acb0bfd1e9ac5d548 # v6.1.0
       with:
         python-version: '3.13'
 
     - name: Set up Commitizen
       run: |
         pip install --upgrade pip wheel
-        pip install 'commitizen ==4.9.1'
+        pip install 'commitizen ==4.10.0'
 
     - name: Set up user
       run: |
@@ -98,18 +98,18 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Harden Runner
-      uses: step-security/harden-runner@f4a75cfd619ee5ce8d5b864b0d183aff3c69b55a # v2.13.1
+      uses: step-security/harden-runner@95d9a5deda9de15063e7595e9719c11c38c90ae2 # v2.13.2
       with:
         egress-policy: audit # TODO: change to 'egress-policy: block' after couple of runs
         disable-sudo: true
 
     - name: Check out repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
       with:
         fetch-depth: 0
 
     - name: Download artifact
-      uses: actions/download-artifact@634f93cb2916e3fdff6788551b99b062d0335ce0 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/download-artifact@018cc2cf5baa6db3ef3c5f8a56943fffe632ef53 # v6.0.0
       with:
         name: artifact-ubuntu-latest-python-3.13
         path: dist
@@ -126,14 +126,14 @@ jobs:
 
     # Create the Release Notes using commitizen.
     - name: Set up Python
-      uses: actions/setup-python@e797f83bcb11b83ae66e0230d6156d7c80228e7c # v6.0.0
+      uses: actions/setup-python@83679a892e2d95755f2dac6acb0bfd1e9ac5d548 # v6.1.0
       with:
         python-version: '3.13'
 
     - name: Set up Commitizen
       run: |
         pip install --upgrade pip wheel
-        pip install 'commitizen ==4.9.1'
+        pip install 'commitizen ==4.10.0'
 
     - name: Create Release Notes
       run: cz changelog --dry-run "$(cz version --project)" > RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -199,18 +199,18 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Harden Runner
-      uses: step-security/harden-runner@f4a75cfd619ee5ce8d5b864b0d183aff3c69b55a # v2.13.1
+      uses: step-security/harden-runner@95d9a5deda9de15063e7595e9719c11c38c90ae2 # v2.13.2
       with:
         egress-policy: audit # TODO: change to 'egress-policy: block' after couple of runs
         disable-sudo: true
 
     - name: Check out repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
       with:
         fetch-depth: 0
 
     - name: Download provenance
-      uses: actions/download-artifact@634f93cb2916e3fdff6788551b99b062d0335ce0 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/download-artifact@018cc2cf5baa6db3ef3c5f8a56943fffe632ef53 # v6.0.0
       with:
         name: ${{ needs.provenance.outputs.provenance-name }}
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/scorecards-analysis.yaml b/.github/workflows/scorecards-analysis.yaml
index 13f9e50a..4f53c322 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/scorecards-analysis.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/scorecards-analysis.yaml
@@ -26,18 +26,18 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Harden Runner
-      uses: step-security/harden-runner@f4a75cfd619ee5ce8d5b864b0d183aff3c69b55a # v2.13.1
+      uses: step-security/harden-runner@95d9a5deda9de15063e7595e9719c11c38c90ae2 # v2.13.2
       with:
         egress-policy: audit # TODO: change to 'egress-policy: block' after couple of runs
         disable-sudo: true
 
     - name: Check out repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
       with:
         persist-credentials: false
 
     - name: Run analysis
-      uses: ossf/scorecard-action@05b42c624433fc40578a4040d5cf5e36ddca8cde # v2.4.2
+      uses: ossf/scorecard-action@4eaacf0543bb3f2c246792bd56e8cdeffafb205a # v2.4.3
       with:
         results_file: results.sarif
         results_format: sarif
@@ -52,13 +52,13 @@ jobs:
 
     # Upload the results as artifacts (optional).
     - name: Upload artifact
-      uses: actions/upload-artifact@ea165f8d65b6e75b540449e92b4886f43607fa02 # v4.6.2
+      uses: actions/upload-artifact@330a01c490aca151604b8cf639adc76d48f6c5d4 # v5.0.0
       with:
         name: SARIF file
         path: results.sarif
 
     # Upload the results to GitHub's code scanning dashboard.
     - name: Upload to code-scanning
-      uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@192325c86100d080feab897ff886c34abd4c83a3 # v3.30.3
+      uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@fdbfb4d2750291e159f0156def62b853c2798ca2 # v4.31.5
       with:
         sarif_file: results.sarif
diff --git a/.github/workflows/sync-with-upstream.yaml b/.github/workflows/sync-with-upstream.yaml
index cfb5f152..0f0599f3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/sync-with-upstream.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/sync-with-upstream.yaml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Check out template repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
       with:
         # If you decide to change the upstream template repository to a private one, uncomment
         # the following argument to pass the required token to be able to check it out.
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ jobs:
         path: template
 
     - name: Check out current repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+      uses: actions/checkout@1af3b93b6815bc44a9784bd300feb67ff0d1eeb3 # v6.0.0
       with:
         token: ${{ secrets.REPO_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
         fetch-depth: 0
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 8bb0182d..04527550 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ repos:
 
 # Commitizen enforces semantic and conventional commit messages.
 - repo: https://github.com/commitizen-tools/commitizen
-  rev: v4.9.1
+  rev: v4.10.0
   hooks:
   - id: commitizen
     name: Check conventional commit message
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ repos:
 
 # Sort imports.
 - repo: https://github.com/pycqa/isort
-  rev: 6.0.1
+  rev: 7.0.0
   hooks:
   - id: isort
     name: Sort import statements
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ repos:
 
 # Add Black code formatters.
 - repo: https://github.com/ambv/black
-  rev: 25.9.0
+  rev: 25.11.0
   hooks:
   - id: black
     name: Format code
@@ -43,11 +43,11 @@ repos:
   - id: blacken-docs
     name: Format code in docstrings
     args: [--line-length, '120']
-    additional_dependencies: [black==25.9.0]
+    additional_dependencies: [black==25.11.0]
 
 # Upgrade and rewrite Python idioms.
 - repo: https://github.com/asottile/pyupgrade
-  rev: v3.20.0
+  rev: v3.21.2
   hooks:
   - id: pyupgrade
     name: Upgrade code idioms
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ repos:
     name: Check flake8 issues
     files: ^src/package/|^tests/
     types: [text, python]
-    additional_dependencies: [flake8-bugbear==24.12.12, flake8-builtins==3.0.0, flake8-comprehensions==3.17.0, flake8-docstrings==1.7.0, flake8-logging==1.8.0, flake8-mutable==1.2.0, flake8-noqa==1.4.0, flake8-print==5.0.0, flake8-pyi==25.5.0, flake8-pytest-style==2.1.0, flake8-rst-docstrings==0.3.1, pep8-naming==0.15.1]
+    additional_dependencies: [flake8-bugbear==25.11.29, flake8-builtins==3.1.0, flake8-comprehensions==3.17.0, flake8-docstrings==1.7.0, flake8-logging==1.8.0, flake8-mutable==1.2.0, flake8-noqa==1.4.0, flake8-print==5.0.0, flake8-pyi==25.5.0, flake8-pytest-style==2.2.0, flake8-rst-docstrings==0.4.0, pep8-naming==0.15.1]
     args: [--config, .flake8]
 
 # Run Pylint from the local repo to make sure venv packages
@@ -87,11 +87,11 @@ repos:
     language: python
     files: ^src/package/|^tests/
     types: [text, python]
-    args: [--config-file, pyproject.toml]
+    args: [--explicit-package-bases, --config-file, pyproject.toml]
 
 # Check for potential security issues.
 - repo: https://github.com/PyCQA/bandit
-  rev: 1.8.6
+  rev: 1.9.2
   hooks:
   - id: bandit
     name: Check for security issues
@@ -156,18 +156,18 @@ repos:
 
 # Check GitHub Actions workflow files.
 - repo: https://github.com/Mateusz-Grzelinski/actionlint-py
-  rev: v1.7.7.24
+  rev: v1.7.9.24
   hooks:
   - id: actionlint
 
-# On push to the remote, run the unit tests. Note that the `COVERAGE_CORE` variable is
-# required for Python 3.12+ to make sure Coverage uses the new Python monitoring module.
+# On push to the remote, run all tests. Note that the `COVERAGE_CORE` variable is required
+# for Python 3.12+ to make sure Coverage uses the new Python monitoring module.
 # See also: https://blog.trailofbits.com/2025/05/01/making-pypis-test-suite-81-faster/#optimizing-coverage-with-python-312s-sysmonitoring
 - repo: local
   hooks:
   - id: pytest
     name: Run unit tests
-    entry: env COVERAGE_CORE=sysmon pytest -c pyproject.toml --cov-config pyproject.toml src/package/ tests/ docs/
+    entry: env COVERAGE_CORE=sysmon pytest --config-file pyproject.toml --cov-config pyproject.toml -m 'not integration and not performance' src/package/ tests/ docs/
     language: python
     verbose: true
     always_run: true
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b5a71800..8a59187c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -165,21 +165,28 @@ check-actionlint:
 check:
 	pre-commit run --all-files
 
-# Run all unit tests. The --files option avoids stashing but passes files; however,
-# the hook setup itself does not pass files to pytest (see .pre-commit-config.yaml).
-.PHONY: test
-test:
-	pre-commit run pytest --hook-stage push --files tests/
+# Run different kinds of tests: unit tests, integration tests, performance tests.
+# Note that the default goal 'test' runs the unit tests only, mainly for convenience
+# and compatibility with existing scripts.
+.PHONY: test test-all test-unit test-integration test-performance
+test: test-unit
+test-unit:
+	COVERAGE_CORE=sysmon python -m pytest --config-file pyproject.toml --cov-config pyproject.toml -m 'not integration and not performance' src/package/ tests/ docs/
+test-integration:
+	python -m pytest --config-file pyproject.toml --no-cov -m integration tests/
+test-performance:
+	python -m pytest --config-file pyproject.toml --no-cov -m performance tests/
+test-all: test-unit test-integration test-performance
 
 # Build a source distribution package and a binary wheel distribution artifact.
 # When building these artifacts, we need the environment variable SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
 # set to the build date/epoch. For more details, see: https://flit.pypa.io/en/latest/reproducible.html
 .PHONY: dist
 dist: dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-py3-none-any.whl dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION).tar.gz dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-docs-html.zip dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-docs-md.zip dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-build-epoch.txt
-dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-py3-none-any.whl: check test dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-build-epoch.txt
-	SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH) flit build --setup-py --format wheel
-dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION).tar.gz: check test dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-build-epoch.txt
-	SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH) flit build --setup-py --format sdist
+dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-py3-none-any.whl: check test-all dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-build-epoch.txt
+	SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH) python -m flit build --setup-py --format wheel
+dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION).tar.gz: check test-all dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-build-epoch.txt
+	SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$(SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH) python -m flit build --setup-py --format sdist
 dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-docs-html.zip: docs-html
 	python -m zipfile -c dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-docs-html.zip docs/_build/html/
 dist/$(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(PACKAGE_VERSION)-docs-md.zip: docs-md
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 44a7445f..14595542 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ This repository is intended to be a base template, a cookiecutter for a new Pyth
 [Features](#features)  
  [Typing](#typing)  
  [Quality assurance](#quality-assurance)  
- [Unit testing](#unit-testing)  
+ [Extensive testing](#extensive-testing)  
  [Documentation](#documentation)  
  [Versioning and publishing](#versioning-and-publishing)  
  [Dependency analysis](#dependency-analysis)  
@@ -38,9 +38,9 @@ The package requires a minimum of [Python 3.10](https://www.python.org/downloads
 
 A number of git hooks are invoked before and after a commit, and before push. These hooks are all managed by the [pre-commit](https://pre-commit.com/) tool and enforce a number of [software quality assurance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_quality_assurance) measures (see [below](#git-hooks)).
 
-### Unit testing
+### Extensive testing
 
-Comprehensive unit testing is enabled using [pytest](https://pytest.org/) combined with [doctest](https://docs.python.org/3/library/doctest.html) and [Hypothesis](https://hypothesis.works/) (to support [property-based testing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing#Property_testing)), and both code and branch coverage are measured using [coverage](https://github.com/nedbat/coveragepy) (see [below](#testing)).
+Comprehensive testing is enabled using [pytest](https://pytest.org/) as a test runner, combined with [doctest](https://docs.python.org/3/library/doctest.html), [Hypothesis](https://hypothesis.works/) (to support [property-based testing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing#Property_testing)), [Faker](https://github.com/joke2k/faker) and [Cases](https://github.com/smarie/python-pytest-cases) (to produce valid, localized test case data), as well as both code and branch coverage are measured using [coverage](https://github.com/nedbat/coveragepy) (see [below](#testing)).
 
 ### Documentation
 
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ If you’d like to start your own Python project from scratch, you can either co
 
 - Change the `LICENSE.md` file and the license badge according to your needs, and adjust the `SECURITY.md` file to your needs (more details [here](https://docs.github.com/en/code-security/getting-started/adding-a-security-policy-to-your-repository)). Remove all content from the `CHANGELOG.md` file.
 
-- Rename the `src/package/` folder to whatever your own package’s name will be, adjust the Github Actions in `.github/workflows/`, and review the `Makefile`, `pyproject.toml`, `.pre-commit-config.yaml` files as well as the unit tests accordingly. **Note**: by default all Actions run on three different host types (Linux, MacOS, and Windows) whose [rates vary widely](https://docs.github.com/en/billing/managing-billing-for-github-actions/about-billing-for-github-actions#minute-multipliers), so make sure that you disable or budget accordingly if you’re in a private repository!
+- Rename the `src/package/` folder to whatever your own package’s name will be, adjust the Github Actions in `.github/workflows/`, and review the `Makefile`, `pyproject.toml`, `.pre-commit-config.yaml` files as well as the tests accordingly. **Note**: by default all Actions run on three different host types (Linux, MacOS, and Windows) whose [rates vary widely](https://docs.github.com/en/billing/managing-billing-for-github-actions/about-billing-for-github-actions#minute-multipliers), so make sure that you disable or budget accordingly if you’re in a private repository!
 
 - A new protected `release` branch, should be created if it doesn't already exist. This branch should be configured with appropriate security policies and essential checks to ensure the integrity and stability of the release process.
 
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ Using the pre-commit tool and its `.pre-commit-config.yaml` configuration, the f
 
 - When committing code, a number of [pre-commit hooks](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks#_committing_workflow_hooks) ensure that your code is formatted according to [PEP 8](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/) using the [`black`](https://github.com/psf/black) tool, and they’ll invoke [`flake8`](https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8) (and various plugins), [`pylint`](https://github.com/PyCQA/pylint) and [`mypy`](https://github.com/python/mypy) to check for lint and correct types. There are more checks, but those two are the important ones. You can adjust the settings for these tools in the `pyproject.toml` or `.flake8` configuration files.
 - The [commit message hook](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks#_committing_workflow_hooks) enforces [conventional commit messages](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/) and that, in turn, enables a _semantic release_ of this package on the Github side: upon merging changes into the `release` branch, the [release action](https://github.com/jenstroeger/python-package-template/blob/main/.github/workflows/release.yaml) uses the [Commitizen tool](https://commitizen-tools.github.io/commitizen/) to produce a [changelog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changelog) and it computes the next version of this package and publishes a release — all based on the commit messages of a release.
-- Using a [pre-push hook](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks#_other_client_hooks) this package is also set up to run [`pytest`](https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest); in addition, the [`coverage`](https://github.com/nedbat/coveragepy) plugin makes sure that _all_ of your package’s code is covered by tests and [Hypothesis](https://hypothesis.works/) is already installed to help with generating test payloads.
+- Using a [pre-push hook](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks#_other_client_hooks) this package is also set up to run [`pytest`](https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest); in addition, the [`coverage`](https://github.com/nedbat/coveragepy) plugin makes sure that _all_ of your package’s code is covered by unit tests and [Hypothesis](https://hypothesis.works/) and [Faker](https://github.com/joke2k/faker) are already installed to help with generating test case payloads.
 - The [`actionlint`](https://github.com/Mateusz-Grzelinski/actionlint-py) hook is set up to lint GitHub Actions workflows. If [`shellcheck`](https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck) is installed on the system, `actionlint` runs `shellcheck` to lint the `run` steps in GitHub Actions. Note that `shellcheck` is available on [Ubuntu GitHub Actions runners](https://github.com/actions/runner-images/blob/main/images/linux/Ubuntu2204-Readme.md) by default.
 
 You can also run these hooks manually, which comes in very handy during daily development tasks. For example
@@ -163,43 +163,49 @@ runs _all_ installed git hooks over your code. For more control over the code ch
 
 ## Testing
 
-As mentioned above, this repository is set up to use [pytest](https://pytest.org/) either standalone or as a pre-push git hook. Tests are stored in the `tests/` folder, and you can run them manually like so:
+As mentioned above, this repository is set up to use [pytest](https://pytest.org/) as a test runner, either standalone or as a pre-push git hook. Tests are stored in the `tests/` folder, they’re organized into unit tests, integration tests, and performance tests. You can run the tests manually like so:
 ```bash
-make test
+make test-all  # Run all tests: unit, integration, performance.
 ```
-which runs all tests in both your local Python virtual environment. For more options, see the [pytest command-line flags](https://docs.pytest.org/en/7.4.x/reference/reference.html#command-line-flags). Also note that pytest includes [doctest](https://docs.python.org/3/library/doctest.html), which means that module and function [docstrings](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0257/#what-is-a-docstring), as well as the documentation, may contain test code that executes as part of the unit tests.
+which runs all tests in your local Python virtual environment. For more options, see the [pytest command-line flags](https://docs.pytest.org/en/7.4.x/reference/reference.html#command-line-flags).
 
-Both statement and branch coverage are being tracked using [coverage](https://github.com/nedbat/coveragepy) and the [pytest-cov](https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest-cov) plugin for pytest, and it measures how much code in the `src/package/` folder is covered by tests:
-```
-Run unit tests...........................................................Passed
-- hook id: pytest
-- duration: 0.76s
+There are three kinds of tests:
+
+1. [Unit tests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_testing) are invoked with `make test` or `make test-unit`;
+2. [Integration tests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integration_testing) are invoked with `make test-integration`; and
+3. [Performance tests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_performance_testing) (using the [pytest-benchmark](https://github.com/ionelmc/pytest-benchmark) plugin) are invoked with `make test-performance`.
+
+Note that the unit tests include [doctest](https://docs.python.org/3/library/doctest.html), which means that module and function [docstrings](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0257/#what-is-a-docstring), as well as the documentation, may contain test code that executes as part of the unit tests. When pushing changes to the remote, the pre-push hook runs *only* unit tests whereas *all* three kinds of tests run as part of Github’s CI.
 
-============================= test session starts ==============================
-platform darwin -- Python 3.13.1, pytest-8.3.4, pluggy-1.5.0 -- /path/to/python-package-template/.venv/bin/python
+Both statement and branch coverage are being tracked using [coverage](https://github.com/nedbat/coveragepy) and the [pytest-cov](https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest-cov) plugin for pytest when running unit tests, and it measures how much code in the `src/package/` folder is covered by tests:
+```
+=========================================== test session starts ===========================================
+platform darwin -- Python 3.13.9, pytest-8.4.2, pluggy-1.6.0 -- /path/to/python-package-template/.venv/bin/python
 cachedir: .pytest_cache
-hypothesis profile 'default-with-verbose-verbosity' -> max_examples=500, verbosity=Verbosity.verbose, database=DirectoryBasedExampleDatabase(PosixPath('/path/to/python-package-template/.hypothesis/examples'))
+hypothesis profile 'default-with-verbose-verbosity' -> verbosity=Verbosity.verbose
+benchmark: 5.2.0 (defaults: timer=time.perf_counter disable_gc=False min_rounds=5 min_time=0.000005 max_time=1.0 calibration_precision=10 warmup=False warmup_iterations=100000)
 rootdir: /path/to/python-package-template
 configfile: pyproject.toml
-plugins: cov-6.0.0, hypothesis-6.122.7, env-1.1.5, custom-exit-code-0.3.0, doctestplus-1.3.0
-collected 3 items
+plugins: cases-3.9.1, hypothesis-6.138.16, env-1.1.5, cov-6.3.0, custom-exit-code-0.3.0, doctestplus-1.4.0, Faker-37.6.0, benchmark-5.2.0
+collected 6 items / 2 deselected / 4 selected
+
+src/package/something.py::package.something.Something.do_something PASSED                           [ 25%]
+tests/unit/test_something.py::test_something_hypothesis PASSED                                      [ 50%]
+tests/unit/test_something.py::test_something_cases[_case_boolean] PASSED                            [ 75%]
+docs/source/index.rst::index.rst PASSED                                                             [100%]
 
-src/package/something.py::package.something.Something.do_something PASSED [ 33%]
-tests/test_something.py::test_something PASSED                           [ 66%]
-docs/source/index.rst::index.rst PASSED                                  [100%]
+============================================= tests coverage ==============================================
+____________________________ coverage: platform darwin, python 3.13.9-final-0 _____________________________
 
----------- coverage: platform darwin, python 3.13.1-final-0 ----------
 Name                       Stmts   Miss Branch BrPart  Cover   Missing
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 src/package/__init__.py        1      0      0      0   100%
 src/package/something.py       4      0      0      0   100%
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 TOTAL                          5      0      0      0   100%
-
 Required test coverage of 100.0% reached. Total coverage: 100.00%
-============================ Hypothesis Statistics =============================
-
-tests/test_something.py::test_something:
+========================================== Hypothesis Statistics ==========================================
+tests/unit/test_something.py::test_something_hypothesis:
 
   - during generate phase (0.00 seconds):
     - Typical runtimes: ~ 0-1 ms, of which < 1ms in data generation
@@ -207,22 +213,24 @@ tests/test_something.py::test_something:
 
   - Stopped because nothing left to do
 
-
-============================== slowest durations ===============================
-0.01s call     tests/test_something.py::test_something
+============================================ slowest durations ============================================
+0.10s setup    src/package/something.py::package.something.Something.do_something
+0.01s call     tests/unit/test_something.py::test_something_hypothesis
 0.00s call     src/package/something.py::package.something.Something.do_something
-0.00s setup    src/package/something.py::package.something.Something.do_something
+0.00s setup    tests/unit/test_something.py::test_something_cases[_case_boolean]
 0.00s call     docs/source/index.rst::index.rst
-0.00s teardown src/package/something.py::package.something.Something.do_something
 0.00s setup    docs/source/index.rst::index.rst
+0.00s teardown src/package/something.py::package.something.Something.do_something
+0.00s teardown tests/unit/test_something.py::test_something_cases[_case_boolean]
+0.00s call     tests/unit/test_something.py::test_something_cases[_case_boolean]
+0.00s setup    tests/unit/test_something.py::test_something_hypothesis
 0.00s teardown docs/source/index.rst::index.rst
-0.00s setup    tests/test_something.py::test_something
-0.00s teardown tests/test_something.py::test_something
-============================== 3 passed in 0.09s ===============================
+0.00s teardown tests/unit/test_something.py::test_something_hypothesis
+===================================== 4 passed, 2 deselected in 0.23s =====================================
 ```
 Note that code that’s not covered by tests is listed under the `Missing` column, and branches not taken too. The net effect of enforcing 100% code and branch coverage is that every new major and minor feature, every code change, and every fix are being tested (keeping in mind that high _coverage_ does not imply comprehensive, meaningful _test data_).
 
-Hypothesis is a package that implements [property based testing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing#Property_testing) and that provides payload generation for your tests based on strategy descriptions ([more](https://hypothesis.works/#what-is-hypothesis)). Using its [pytest plugin](https://hypothesis.readthedocs.io/en/latest/details.html#the-hypothesis-pytest-plugin) Hypothesis is ready to be used for this package.
+Hypothesis is a package that implements [property based testing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing#Property_testing) and that provides payload generation for your tests based on strategy descriptions ([more](https://hypothesis.works/#what-is-hypothesis)). Using its [pytest plugin](https://hypothesis.readthedocs.io/en/latest/details.html#the-hypothesis-pytest-plugin) Hypothesis is ready to be used for this package. Likewise, the [Faker](https://github.com/joke2k/faker) package and its [pytest plugin](https://faker.readthedocs.io/en/master/#pytest-fixtures) are installed to provide valid, localized test case data (see also the [pytest-cases](https://github.com/smarie/python-pytest-cases) plugin for more details on how to separate tests and test cases).
 
 ## Generating documentation
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 76bd76e1..8942685c 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -41,14 +41,14 @@ something = "package.__main__:main"
 # We keep them listed here to ensure the infrastructure BOM is consistent with what's
 # installed. Make sure to keep the requirements in sync with the workflows!
 actions = [
-    "commitizen ==4.9.1",
+    "commitizen ==4.10.0",
     "twine ==6.2.0",
 ]
 dev = [
     "flit >=3.2.0,<4.0.0",
-    "mypy >=1.0.0,<1.19",
+    "mypy >=1.0.0,<1.20",
     "pip-audit >=2.4.4,<3.0.0",
-    "pylint >=3.0.0,<3.4.0",
+    "pylint >=3.0.0,<4.1.0",
     "perflint >=0.8.0,<1.0.0",
     "cyclonedx-bom >=4.0.0,<5.0.0",
 ]
@@ -57,19 +57,20 @@ docs = [
     "sphinx-markdown-builder >=0.6.4,<1.0.0",
 ]
 hooks = [
-    "pre-commit >=3.0.0,<4.4.0",
+    "pre-commit >=3.0.0,<4.6.0",
 ]
 # Note that the `custom_exit_code` and `env` plugins may currently be unmaintained.
 test = [
     "coverage ==7.6.12; python_version<'3.14'",  # https://github.com/pypi/warehouse/pull/17872#issuecomment-2845932281
-    "faker ==37.6.0",
-    "hypothesis >=6.21.0,<6.138.17",
+    "faker ==38.2.0",
+    "hypothesis >=6.21.0,<6.148.6",
     "pytest >=7.2.0,<9.0.0",
+    "pytest-benchmark ==5.2.0",
     "pytest-cases ==3.9.1",
     "pytest-custom_exit_code ==0.3.0",
     "pytest-cov ==6.3.0",  # Uses: coverage[toml] >=7.5
-    "pytest-doctestplus ==1.4.0",
-    "pytest-env ==1.1.5",
+    "pytest-doctestplus ==1.6.0",
+    "pytest-env ==1.2.0",
 ]
 
 [project.urls]
@@ -258,7 +259,7 @@ max-line-length = 120
 # https://github.com/yashtodi94/pytest-custom_exit_code
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 minversion = "7.0"
-addopts = """-vv -ra --tb native --durations 0 \
+addopts = """-vv -ra --tb native --durations 0 --strict-markers --import-mode importlib \
     --hypothesis-show-statistics --hypothesis-explain --hypothesis-verbosity verbose \
     --doctest-modules --doctest-continue-on-failure --doctest-glob '*.rst' --doctest-plus \
     --suppress-no-test-exit-code \
@@ -281,3 +282,7 @@ filterwarnings = [
     "error::pytest.PytestUnraisableExceptionWarning",
     "error::pytest.PytestUnhandledThreadExceptionWarning",
 ]
+markers = [
+    "integration: more complex application-level integration tests.",
+    "performance: performance tests.",
+]
diff --git a/tests/integration/test_something.py b/tests/integration/test_something.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..14bb9f3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/integration/test_something.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+"""Test the Package itself using its external interface as in integration into a larger run context."""
+
+# https://bandit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/blacklists/blacklist_imports.html#b404-import-subprocess
+import subprocess  # nosec B404
+
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.mark.integration
+def test_package() -> None:
+    """Test the Something command."""
+    # For testing we disable this warning here:
+    # https://bandit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/plugins/b603_subprocess_without_shell_equals_true.html
+    # https://bandit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/plugins/b607_start_process_with_partial_path.html
+    completed = subprocess.run(["something"], check=True, shell=False)  # nosec B603, B607
+    assert completed.returncode == 0
diff --git a/tests/performance/test_something.py b/tests/performance/test_something.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c972db22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/performance/test_something.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+"""Test the performance of various package parts, or the package as a whole."""
+
+import pytest
+from pytest_benchmark.fixture import BenchmarkFixture
+
+from package.something import Something
+
+
+@pytest.mark.performance
+def test_something(benchmark: BenchmarkFixture) -> None:
+    """Test performance of the function."""
+    benchmark.pedantic(Something.do_something, iterations=10, rounds=100)  # type: ignore[no-untyped-call]
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/unit/conftest.py
similarity index 100%
rename from tests/conftest.py
rename to tests/unit/conftest.py
diff --git a/tests/test_something.py b/tests/unit/test_something.py
similarity index 88%
rename from tests/test_something.py
rename to tests/unit/test_something.py
index 7d59eb9e..eb0d07b8 100644
--- a/tests/test_something.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_something.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-"""Test the Something module. Add more tests here, as needed."""
+"""Test the Something module as a unit test. Add more tests here, as needed."""
 
 import faker
 from hypothesis import given, strategies