diff --git a/.github/workflows/node-release.yml b/.github/workflows/node-release.yml
index 8ef097d5b..53a7948d8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/node-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/node-release.yml
@@ -46,16 +46,16 @@ jobs:
               strip *.node
           - host: ubuntu-latest
             target: x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
-            build: yarn build --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl --zig
+            build: yarn build --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl --cross-compile
           - host: ubuntu-latest
             target: aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
-            build: yarn build --target aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu --zig
+            build: yarn build --target aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu --cross-compile
           - host: ubuntu-latest
             target: aarch64-unknown-linux-musl
-            build: yarn build --target aarch64-unknown-linux-musl --zig
+            build: yarn build --target aarch64-unknown-linux-musl --cross-compile
           - host: ubuntu-latest
             target: armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf
-            build: yarn build --target armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf --zig
+            build: yarn build --target armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf --cross-compile
           - host: ubuntu-latest
             target: aarch64-linux-android
             build: yarn build --target aarch64-linux-android
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ jobs:
         run: yarn install --immutable
 
       - name: Setup zig
-        if: ${{ !matrix.settings.docker && contains(matrix.settings.build, '--zig') }}
+        if: ${{ !matrix.settings.docker && contains(matrix.settings.build, '--cross-compile') }}
         uses: mlugg/setup-zig@d1434d08867e3ee9daa34448df10607b98908d29  # v2.2.1
         with:
           # Pin — without a version the action installs zig master (nightly)
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ jobs:
           version: 0.16.0
 
       - name: Verify zig
-        if: ${{ !matrix.settings.docker && contains(matrix.settings.build, '--zig') }}
+        if: ${{ !matrix.settings.docker && contains(matrix.settings.build, '--cross-compile') }}
         run: zig version && which zig
 
       - name: Build native (host)
@@ -155,7 +155,14 @@ jobs:
           path: ./bindings/node/artifacts
       - name: Combine into universal binary
         working-directory: ./bindings/node
-        run: npx napi universal --dir ./artifacts
+        # napi-rs/cli v3 renamed `napi universal` -> `napi universalize`
+        # and dropped `--dir`; it now expects the npm/<triple>/ layout
+        # populated by `napi artifacts`. Cheaper to lipo directly — that's
+        # exactly what the wrapper does internally.
+        run: |
+          lipo -create -output ${{ env.APP_NAME }}.darwin-universal.node \
+            artifacts/${{ env.APP_NAME }}.darwin-x64.node \
+            artifacts/${{ env.APP_NAME }}.darwin-arm64.node
       - name: Upload universal artifact
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@bbbca2ddaa5d8feaa63e36b76fdaad77386f024f  # v7
         with:
@@ -164,8 +171,16 @@ jobs:
           if-no-files-found: error
 
   publish:
+    # Skip the npm publish step on rc tags — `napi prepublish` would try
+    # to create a GitHub release and call `npm publish` for each
+    # per-platform sub-package, both of which need stable-version /
+    # write-permission setup we only want on real releases. rc tags still
+    # exercise the build + universal-macOS jobs (so the matrix is tested
+    # end-to-end), they just don't push to the registry.
+    if: ${{ !contains(github.ref, 'rc') }}
     permissions:
-      contents: read
+      # `napi prepublish` creates a GitHub Release; needs contents=write.
+      contents: write
       id-token: write
     name: Publish
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -188,6 +203,15 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/download-artifact@3e5f45b2cfb9172054b4087a40e8e0b5a5461e7c  # v8
         with:
           path: ./bindings/node/artifacts
+      - name: Create missing npm/<triple> dirs
+        # `yarn artifacts` (napi artifacts) writes each `.node` file into
+        # `npm/<triple>/`. Some triples (e.g. darwin-universal) have no
+        # checked-in template dir, so without this step the artifacts
+        # command fails with ENOENT. `create-npm-dirs` populates anything
+        # missing from `napi.targets` in package.json.
+        working-directory: ./bindings/node
+        run: npx napi create-npm-dirs
+
       - name: Move artifacts
         working-directory: ./bindings/node
         run: yarn artifacts
diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-release.yml b/.github/workflows/python-release.yml
index 772e857c1..6a8996e36 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-release.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
         working-directory: ./bindings/python
 
   build:
-    name: build on ${{ matrix.platform || matrix.os }} (${{ matrix.target }} - ${{ matrix.manylinux || 'auto' }})
+    name: build on ${{ matrix.platform || matrix.os }} (${{ matrix.target }} - ${{ matrix.manylinux || 'auto' }} - ${{ matrix.flavor == 'ft' && '3.14t' || matrix.interpreter || '3.14' }})
     # only run on push to main and on release
     needs: [lock_exists]
     if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/') || github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' || contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'Full Build')
@@ -29,43 +29,46 @@ jobs:
         os: [ubuntu, macos, windows]
         target: [x86_64, aarch64]
         manylinux: [auto]
+        # `flavor` discriminates regular abi3 wheels from free-threaded
+        # (3.14t, non-abi3) wheels so the include: entries below for
+        # 3.14t create new matrix cells instead of merging with the abi3
+        # combos.
+        flavor: [abi3]
         include:
           - os: ubuntu
             platform: linux
           - os: windows
             ls: dir
-            interpreter: 3.14 3.14t
+            interpreter: "3.14"
           - os: windows
             ls: dir
             target: x86_64
             python-architecture: x64
-            python-install: |
-                3.14
-                3.14t
-            interpreter: 3.14 3.14t
+            python-install: "3.14"
+            interpreter: "3.14"
           - os: windows
             ls: dir
             target: i686
             python-architecture: x86
-            python-install: | 
-                3.14
-                3.14t
-            interpreter: 3.14 3.14t
+            python-install: "3.14"
+            interpreter: "3.14"
           - os: windows-11-arm
             ls: dir
             target: aarch64
             python-architecture: arm64
-            python-install: |
-              3.14
-              3.14t
-            interpreter: 3.14 3.14t
+            # 3.14t arm64-freethreaded is currently broken upstream:
+            # actions/python-versions ships a 0-byte python.exe so pip
+            # install fails with `ModuleNotFoundError: encodings`. Drop
+            # 3.14t here until the upstream package is fixed.
+            python-install: "3.14"
+            interpreter: "3.14"
               # - os: windows
               #   ls: dir
               #   target: aarch64
               #   interpreter: 3.11 3.12
           - os: macos
             target: aarch64
-            interpreter: 3.14 3.14t
+            interpreter: "3.14"
           - os: ubuntu
             platform: linux
             target: i686
@@ -76,7 +79,7 @@ jobs:
           - os: ubuntu
             platform: linux
             target: armv7
-            interpreter: 3.14 3.14t
+            interpreter: "3.14"
           # musllinux
           - os: ubuntu
             platform: linux
@@ -89,11 +92,28 @@ jobs:
           - os: ubuntu
             platform: linux
             target: ppc64le
-            interpreter: 3.14 3.14t
+            interpreter: "3.14"
           - os: ubuntu
             platform: linux
             target: s390x
-            interpreter: 3.14 3.14t
+            interpreter: "3.14"
+
+          # --- Free-threaded Python 3.14t wheels -------------------------
+          # `flavor: ft` switches the build to non-abi3 (`--no-default-features
+          # --features ext-module`) and `--interpreter 3.14t`, derived from
+          # `flavor` in the maturin invocation below. linux container builds
+          # (manylinux/musllinux) get 3.14t from the docker image, so
+          # `python-install` is unset for those; macOS/windows host builds
+          # need it set explicitly so setup-python actually installs 3.14t.
+          # windows-11-arm 3.14t is intentionally absent — see the abi3
+          # windows-11-arm entry above (upstream-broken package).
+          - { os: ubuntu, platform: linux, target: x86_64,  manylinux: auto,           flavor: ft }
+          - { os: ubuntu, platform: linux, target: aarch64, manylinux: auto,           flavor: ft }
+          - { os: ubuntu, platform: linux, target: x86_64,  manylinux: musllinux_1_1,  flavor: ft }
+          - { os: ubuntu, platform: linux, target: aarch64, manylinux: musllinux_1_1,  flavor: ft }
+          - { os: macos,                   target: x86_64,  manylinux: auto,           flavor: ft, python-install: "3.14t" }
+          - { os: macos,                   target: aarch64, manylinux: auto,           flavor: ft, python-install: "3.14t" }
+          - { os: windows, ls: dir, target: x86_64, manylinux: auto, python-architecture: x64, python-install: "3.14t", flavor: ft }
         exclude:
           - os: windows
             target: aarch64
@@ -128,7 +148,13 @@ jobs:
           working-directory: ./bindings/python
           manylinux: ${{ matrix.manylinux || 'auto' }}
           container: ${{ matrix.container }}
-          args: --release --out dist --interpreter ${{ matrix.interpreter || '3.14 3.14t' }} ${{ matrix.extra-build-args }}
+          # `flavor=ft` builds drop the abi3 cargo feature so the resulting
+          # wheel is non-abi3 (free-threaded Python can't load limited-API
+          # extensions). `flavor=abi3` builds use defaults.
+          args: >-
+            --release --out dist
+            --interpreter ${{ matrix.flavor == 'ft' && '3.14t' || matrix.interpreter || '3.14' }}
+            ${{ matrix.flavor == 'ft' && '--no-default-features --features ext-module' || '' }}
           rust-toolchain: stable
           sccache: false
           docker-options: -e CI
@@ -141,7 +167,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - uses: actions/upload-artifact@043fb46d1a93c77aae656e7c1c64a875d1fc6a0a  # v7.0.1
         with:
-          name: pypi_files-${{ matrix.os }}-${{ matrix.target }}-${{ matrix.manylinux }}
+          name: pypi_files-${{ matrix.os }}-${{ matrix.target }}-${{ matrix.manylinux }}-${{ matrix.flavor || 'abi3' }}
           path: ./bindings/python/dist
   build-sdist:
     name: build sdist
diff --git a/bindings/python/pyproject.toml b/bindings/python/pyproject.toml
index c4354c9e4..e21434a02 100644
--- a/bindings/python/pyproject.toml
+++ b/bindings/python/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "tokenizers"
-requires-python = ">=3.9"
+requires-python = ">=3.10"
 authors = [
   { name = "Nicolas Patry", email = "patry.nicolas@protonmail.com" },
   { name = "Anthony Moi", email = "anthony@huggingface.co" },
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ classifiers = [
   "License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License",
   "Operating System :: OS Independent",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
-  "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13",
+  "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
   "Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Artificial Intelligence",
 ]