diff --git a/core/gallery/backends_test.go b/core/gallery/backends_test.go
index 96ffe0fe521e..626cbf1da7f4 100644
--- a/core/gallery/backends_test.go
+++ b/core/gallery/backends_test.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/system"
 	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
-	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
 )
 
 const (
diff --git a/core/gallery/gallery.go b/core/gallery/gallery.go
index 6add8cfa73f8..035bfcde8af5 100644
--- a/core/gallery/gallery.go
+++ b/core/gallery/gallery.go
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/xsync"
 	"github.com/mudler/xlog"
 
-	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
 )
 
 func GetGalleryConfigFromURL[T any](url string, basePath string) (T, error) {
diff --git a/core/gallery/gallery_test.go b/core/gallery/gallery_test.go
index 3ba65f2d9a25..e2be9b19ba40 100644
--- a/core/gallery/gallery_test.go
+++ b/core/gallery/gallery_test.go
@@ -4,11 +4,12 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 
+	"dario.cat/mergo"
 	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/core/config"
 	. "github.com/mudler/LocalAI/core/gallery"
 	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
-	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
 )
 
 var _ = Describe("Gallery", func() {
@@ -462,4 +463,60 @@ var _ = Describe("Gallery", func() {
 			Expect(result).To(BeNil())
 		})
 	})
+
+	Describe("YAML merge with nested maps", func() {
+		It("should handle YAML anchors and merges with nested overrides (regression test for nanbeige4.1)", func() {
+			// This tests the fix for the panic that occurred with yaml.v2:
+			// yaml.v2 produces map[interface{}]interface{} for nested maps
+			// which caused mergo.Merge to panic with "value of type interface {} is not assignable to type string"
+			// The exact YAML structure from gallery/index.yaml nanbeige4.1 entries
+			yamlContent := `---
+- &nanbeige4
+  name: "nanbeige4.1-3b-q8"
+  overrides:
+    parameters:
+      model: nanbeige4.1-3b-q8_0.gguf
+- !!merge <<: *nanbeige4
+  name: "nanbeige4.1-3b-q4"
+  overrides:
+    parameters:
+      model: nanbeige4.1-3b-q4_k_m.gguf
+`
+			var models []GalleryModel
+			err := yaml.Unmarshal([]byte(yamlContent), &models)
+			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(models).To(HaveLen(2))
+
+			// Verify first model
+			Expect(models[0].Name).To(Equal("nanbeige4.1-3b-q8"))
+			Expect(models[0].Overrides).NotTo(BeNil())
+			Expect(models[0].Overrides["parameters"]).To(BeAssignableToTypeOf(map[string]interface{}{}))
+			params := models[0].Overrides["parameters"].(map[string]interface{})
+			Expect(params["model"]).To(Equal("nanbeige4.1-3b-q8_0.gguf"))
+
+			// Verify second model (merged)
+			Expect(models[1].Name).To(Equal("nanbeige4.1-3b-q4"))
+			Expect(models[1].Overrides).NotTo(BeNil())
+			Expect(models[1].Overrides["parameters"]).To(BeAssignableToTypeOf(map[string]interface{}{}))
+			params = models[1].Overrides["parameters"].(map[string]interface{})
+			Expect(params["model"]).To(Equal("nanbeige4.1-3b-q4_k_m.gguf"))
+
+			// Simulate the mergo.Merge call that was failing in models.go:251
+			// This should not panic with yaml.v3
+			configMap := make(map[string]interface{})
+			configMap["name"] = "test"
+			configMap["backend"] = "llama-cpp"
+			configMap["parameters"] = map[string]interface{}{
+				"model": "original.gguf",
+			}
+
+			err = mergo.Merge(&configMap, models[1].Overrides, mergo.WithOverride)
+			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(configMap["parameters"]).NotTo(BeNil())
+			
+			// Verify the merge worked correctly
+			mergedParams := configMap["parameters"].(map[string]interface{})
+			Expect(mergedParams["model"]).To(Equal("nanbeige4.1-3b-q4_k_m.gguf"))
+		})
+	})
 })
diff --git a/core/services/backends_test.go b/core/services/backends_test.go
index 077b2b182468..d1ebe77298e4 100644
--- a/core/services/backends_test.go
+++ b/core/services/backends_test.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import (
 
 	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
-	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
 )
 
 var _ = Describe("InstallExternalBackend", func() {
diff --git a/core/services/models.go b/core/services/models.go
index 383dee9b6e11..820e847b5ae3 100644
--- a/core/services/models.go
+++ b/core/services/models.go
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/system"
 	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/utils"
 	"github.com/mudler/xlog"
-	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
 )
 
 const (
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index b8158af19472..89c7054c483d 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ require (
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.40.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/metric v1.40.0
 	google.golang.org/grpc v1.78.0
-	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0
+	google.golang.org/protobuf v1.36.11
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1
 	oras.land/oras-go/v2 v2.6.0
 )
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/tidwall/pretty v1.2.1 // indirect
 	github.com/tidwall/sjson v1.2.5 // indirect
 	github.com/valyala/fasttemplate v1.2.2 // indirect
-	google.golang.org/protobuf v1.36.11 // indirect
+	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0 // indirect
 )
 
 require (
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 43471df06aa1..1f6f28ecf7a5 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -509,8 +509,6 @@ github.com/morikuni/aec v1.0.0/go.mod h1:BbKIizmSmc5MMPqRYbxO4ZU0S0+P200+tUnFx7P
 github.com/mr-tron/base58 v1.1.2/go.mod h1:BinMc/sQntlIE1frQmRFPUoPA1Zkr8VRgBdjWI2mNwc=
 github.com/mr-tron/base58 v1.2.0 h1:T/HDJBh4ZCPbU39/+c3rRvE0uKBQlU27+QI8LJ4t64o=
 github.com/mr-tron/base58 v1.2.0/go.mod h1:BinMc/sQntlIE1frQmRFPUoPA1Zkr8VRgBdjWI2mNwc=
-github.com/mudler/cogito v0.8.1 h1:66qPJkAMrq/Vo8AC/PvXWuVxYPhi7X2DQuJIilL8+3I=
-github.com/mudler/cogito v0.8.1/go.mod h1:6sfja3lcu2nWRzEc0wwqGNu/eCG3EWgij+8s7xyUeQ4=
 github.com/mudler/cogito v0.8.2-0.20260214201734-da0d4ceb2b44 h1:joGszpItINnZdoL/0p2077Wz2xnxMGRSRgYN5mS7I4c=
 github.com/mudler/cogito v0.8.2-0.20260214201734-da0d4ceb2b44/go.mod h1:6sfja3lcu2nWRzEc0wwqGNu/eCG3EWgij+8s7xyUeQ4=
 github.com/mudler/edgevpn v0.31.1 h1:7qegiDWd0kAg6ljhNHxqvp8hbo/6BbzSdbb7/2WZfiY=