diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index deaab0a4..a6b91fea 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -10,7 +10,12 @@ UV_RUN=uv run
 
 all: help
 
-dev:
+
+src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py: src/ssvc/utils/ssvc_namespace_pattern.abnf
+	echo "# AUTOGENERATED, DO NOT CHANGE manually, see Makefile" >$@
+	uv run --group codegen abnf-to-regexp --format python-nested -i $< >>$@
+
+dev: src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
 	@echo "Set up dev environment..."
 	uv sync --dev
 
@@ -18,32 +23,32 @@ mdlint_fix:
 	@echo "Running markdownlint..."
 	markdownlint --config .markdownlint.yml --fix .
 
-test:
+test: src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
 	@echo "Running tests locally..."
 	$(UV_RUN) pytest -v
 
-docker_test:
+docker_test: src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
 	@echo "Building the latest test image..."
 	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) build test
 	@echo "Running tests in Docker..."
 	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) run --rm test
 
-docs_local:
+docs_local: src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
 	@echo "Building and running docs locally..."
 	$(UV_RUN) mkdocs serve
 
-docs:
+docs: src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
 	@echo "Building and running docs in Docker..."
 	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) up docs
 
-api:
+api: src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
 	@echo "Building and running API in Docker..."
 	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) up api
 
-api_dev:
+api_dev: src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
 	$(UV_RUN) uvicorn ssvc.api.main:app --reload
 
-up:
+up: src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
 	@echo "Starting Docker services..."
 	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) up -d
 
@@ -51,7 +56,7 @@ down:
 	@echo "Stopping Docker services..."
 	$(DOCKER_COMPOSE) down
 
-regenerate_json:
+regenerate_json: src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
 	@echo "Regenerating JSON files..."
 	rm -rf data/json/decision_points
 	export PYTHONPATH=$(PWD)/src && ./src/ssvc/doctools.py --datadir=./data --overwrite
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 3fd4c214..bd171b6b 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ COPY . /app
 ENV PYTHONPATH=/app/src
 
 # install requirements
-RUN uv sync --frozen
+RUN uv sync --frozen --no-dev
 
 FROM dependencies AS test
 
@@ -19,10 +19,10 @@ ENV PYTHONPATH=/app/src
 # Install pytest and dev dependencies
 RUN uv sync --frozen --dev
 # Run the unit tests
-CMD ["uv", "run", "pytest"]
+CMD ["uv", "run", "--no-sync", "pytest"]
 
 FROM dependencies AS docs
-CMD ["uv", "run", "mkdocs", "serve", "--dev-addr", "0.0.0.0:8000"]
+CMD ["uv", "run", "--no-sync", "mkdocs", "serve", "--dev-addr", "0.0.0.0:8000"]
 
 FROM dependencies AS registry_api
-CMD ["uv", "run", "uvicorn", "ssvc.api.main:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8000"]
+CMD ["uv", "run", "--no-sync", "uvicorn", "ssvc.api.main:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8000"]
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 4c438fe0..83eb7b8d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@ dependencies = [
     "pydantic>=2.11.7",
     "semver>=3.0.4",
     "fastapi[all,standard]>=0.116.1",
-    "abnf-to-regexp>=1.2.0",
 ]
 dynamic = ["version",]
 
@@ -93,3 +92,6 @@ dev = [
     "linkchecker>=10.6.0",
     "pytest>=8.4.1",
 ]
+codegen = [
+    "abnf-to-regexp>=1.2.0",
+]
diff --git a/src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py b/src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd9d9233
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ssvc/utils/namespace_patterns.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# AUTOGENERATED, DO NOT CHANGE manually, see Makefile
+alnum = '[a-zA-Z0-9]'
+lower = '[a-z]'
+alnumlow = f'({lower}|[0-9])'
+dash = '-'
+alnumlowdash = f'({alnumlow}|{dash})'
+label = f'{alnumlow}(({alnumlowdash}){{0,61}}{alnumlow})?'
+reverse_dns = f'{label}(\\.{label})+'
+dot = '\\.'
+specialchar = f'({dot}|{dash})'
+fragment_seg = f'({alnumlow})+({specialchar}({alnumlow})+)*'
+x_name = f'{reverse_dns}#{fragment_seg}'
+x_base = f'x_{x_name}'
+ns_core = f'{lower}{alnumlow}(({specialchar})?({alnumlow})+)+'
+reg_base = f'{ns_core}(#{fragment_seg})?'
+base_ns = f'({x_base}|{reg_base})'
+singleton = '[0-9A-WY-Za-wy-z]'
+bcp47 = (
+    '(([a-zA-Z]{2,3}(-[a-zA-Z]{3}(-[a-zA-Z]{3}){0,2})?|[a-z'
+    'A-Z]{4,8})(-[a-zA-Z]{4})?(-([a-zA-Z]{2}|[0-9]{3}))?(-'
+    f'(({alnum}){{5,8}}|[0-9]({alnum}){{3}}))*(-{singleton}(-'
+    f'({alnum}){{2,8}})+)*(-[xX](-({alnum}){{2,8}})+)?|[xX](-'
+    f'({alnum}){{2,8}})+|i-default|i-mingo)'
+)
+translation = f'\\.({reverse_dns}|{x_name})\\${bcp47}'
+ext_seg = f'({bcp47}|\\.{x_name}|{translation})'
+lang_ext = f'(/|/{bcp47})'
+extensions = f'{lang_ext}((/{ext_seg})+)?'
+namespace = f'{base_ns}({extensions})?'
diff --git a/src/ssvc/utils/patterns.py b/src/ssvc/utils/patterns.py
index 2f24373a..9f4c677c 100644
--- a/src/ssvc/utils/patterns.py
+++ b/src/ssvc/utils/patterns.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 Provides python regular expressions and utility functions for SSVC-related patterns.
 """
 
+
 #  Copyright (c) 2026 Carnegie Mellon University.
 #  NO WARRANTY. THIS CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY AND SOFTWARE
 #  ENGINEERING INSTITUTE MATERIAL IS FURNISHED ON AN "AS-IS" BASIS.
@@ -21,10 +22,8 @@
 #  This Software includes and/or makes use of Third-Party Software each
 #  subject to its own license.
 #  DM24-0278
-from io import StringIO
-from pathlib import Path
 
-from abnf_to_regexp.main import run as run_abnf_to_regexp, Params, Format
+import ssvc.utils.namespace_patterns as namespace_patterns
 
 # from https://semver.org/
 VERSION_PATTERN = r"^(0|[1-9]\d*)\.(0|[1-9]\d*)\.(0|[1-9]\d*)(?:-((?:0|[1-9]\d*|\d*[a-zA-Z-][0-9a-zA-Z-]*)(?:\.(?:0|[1-9]\d*|\d*[a-zA-Z-][0-9a-zA-Z-]*))*))?(?:\+([0-9a-zA-Z-]+(?:\.[0-9a-zA-Z-]+)*))?$"
@@ -34,44 +33,14 @@
 BCP_47_PATTERN = r"(([A-Za-z]{2,3}(-[A-Za-z]{3}(-[A-Za-z]{3}){0,2})?|[A-Za-z]{4,8})(-[A-Za-z]{4})?(-([A-Za-z]{2}|[0-9]{3}))?(-([A-Za-z0-9]{5,8}|[0-9][A-Za-z0-9]{3}))*(-[A-WY-Za-wy-z0-9](-[A-Za-z0-9]{2,8})+)*(-[Xx](-[A-Za-z0-9]{1,8})+)?|[Xx](-[A-Za-z0-9]{1,8})+|[Ii]-[Dd][Ee][Ff][Aa][Uu][Ll][Tt]|[Ii]-[Mm][Ii][Nn][Gg][Oo])"
 """A regular expression pattern for BCP-47 language tags."""
 
-
 # --- Namespace Regex Components ---
-
-# --- Length constraint ---
+# ---- Length constraint ----
 LENGTH_CHECK_PATTERN = r"(?=.{3,1000}$)"
 
+# ---- define base patterns to be compatible with previously existing tests
+BASE_PATTERN = namespace_patterns.ns_core
+BASE_NS_PATTERN = namespace_patterns.base_ns
+EXT_SEGMENT_PATTERN = namespace_patterns.fragment_seg
 
-# use abnf-to-regexp as library to catch the output str of the equivalent of
-#  abnf-to-regexp --format python-nested -i ssvc_namespace_pattern.abnf
-# and execute it as python code
-
-_abnf_python_code = StringIO()
-_err = StringIO()
-_input_pth = Path(__file__).parent / "ssvc_namespace_pattern.abnf"
-_params = Params(
-    input_path=_input_pth,
-    output_path=None,
-    fmt=Format.PYTHON_NESTED,
-)
-
-if (
-    run_abnf_to_regexp(params=_params, stdout=_abnf_python_code, stderr=_err)
-    > 0
-):
-    raise RuntimeError(
-        f"Reading of {_input_pth} failed with {_err.getvalue()}"
-    )
-
-exec(_abnf_python_code.getvalue())
-
-#  we do not need them anymore
-del _abnf_python_code
-del _err
-
-# --- define base patterns to be compatible with previously existing tests
-BASE_PATTERN = ns_core
-BASE_NS_PATTERN = base_ns
-EXT_SEGMENT_PATTERN = fragment_seg
-
-# --- Combine all parts into the full namespace pattern ---
-NS_PATTERN_STR = rf"^{namespace}$"
+# ---- Combine all parts into the full namespace pattern ----
+NS_PATTERN_STR = rf"^{namespace_patterns.namespace}$"
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 6be03e7b..13ca544c 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -171,7 +171,6 @@ wheels = [
 name = "certcc-ssvc"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
-    { name = "abnf-to-regexp" },
     { name = "fastapi", extra = ["all", "standard"] },
     { name = "jsonschema" },
     { name = "markdown-exec", extra = ["ansi"] },
@@ -194,6 +193,9 @@ dependencies = [
 ]
 
 [package.dev-dependencies]
+codegen = [
+    { name = "abnf-to-regexp" },
+]
 dev = [
     { name = "black" },
     { name = "linkchecker" },
@@ -202,7 +204,6 @@ dev = [
 
 [package.metadata]
 requires-dist = [
-    { name = "abnf-to-regexp", specifier = ">=1.2.0" },
     { name = "fastapi", extras = ["all", "standard"], specifier = ">=0.116.1" },
     { name = "jsonschema", specifier = ">=4.25.1" },
     { name = "markdown-exec", extras = ["ansi"], specifier = ">=1.11.0" },
@@ -225,6 +226,9 @@ requires-dist = [
 ]
 
 [package.metadata.requires-dev]
+codegen = [
+    { name = "abnf-to-regexp", specifier = ">=1.2.0" },
+]
 dev = [
     { name = "black", specifier = ">=25.9.0" },
     { name = "linkchecker", specifier = ">=10.6.0" },