diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa8d85a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Cargo.lock
+target
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 6b8cbc3..fe3eeb7 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -5,20 +5,20 @@ authors = ["Ricardo Pieper <ricardopieper@live.com>"]
 edition = "2021"
 
 [dependencies]
-rand = "0.6.5"
-lazy_static = "1.3.0"
-raster = "0.2.0"
-clap = "2.33.0"
-num_cpus = "1.0"
-rayon = "1.6.0"
-time = "0.1.42"
-futures = "0.3"
-tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
-tokio-stream = "0.1"
 parking_lot = "0.12"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 criterion = "0.3"
+rayon = "1.6"
+clap = "2.34"
+raster = "0.2"
+tokio = { version = "1.24", features = ["full"] }
+tokio-stream = "0.1"
+rand = "0.6"
+lazy_static = "1.4"
+num_cpus = "1.15"
+time = "0.3"
+futures = "0.3"
 
 [[bench]]
 name = "mandelbrot_rustspp"
diff --git a/rust-toolchain.toml b/rust-toolchain.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d9a115b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust-toolchain.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[toolchain]
+channel = "nightly" # this is necessary for cargo-expand to work
diff --git a/src/blocks/in_block.rs b/src/blocks/in_block.rs
index 88cd532..88b5837 100644
--- a/src/blocks/in_block.rs
+++ b/src/blocks/in_block.rs
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@ use crate::*;
 use parking_lot::Mutex;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
 use std::sync::Arc;
-use std::thread;
-use std::thread::JoinHandle;
 use work_storage::{BlockingOrderedSet, BlockingQueue};
 use work_storage::{TimestampedWorkItem, WorkItem};
 
@@ -106,7 +104,7 @@ impl<
                         let collected = handler.process(val, order);
                         (*collected_list).push(collected);
                     }
-                    TimestampedWorkItem(WorkItem::Dropped, order) => (),
+                    TimestampedWorkItem(WorkItem::Dropped, _order) => (),
                     TimestampedWorkItem(WorkItem::Stop, _) => {
                         break;
                     }
@@ -134,7 +132,7 @@ impl<
                         let collected: TCollected = handler.process(val, order);
                         (*collected_list).push(collected);
                     }
-                    TimestampedWorkItem(WorkItem::Dropped, order) => {
+                    TimestampedWorkItem(WorkItem::Dropped, _order) => {
                         next_item += 1;
                     }
                     TimestampedWorkItem(WorkItem::Stop, _) => {
diff --git a/src/blocks/inout_block.rs b/src/blocks/inout_block.rs
index 04ec43a..404f0ba 100644
--- a/src/blocks/inout_block.rs
+++ b/src/blocks/inout_block.rs
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 use crate::blocks::*;
 use crate::work_storage::*;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
-use std::thread;
-use std::thread::JoinHandle;
 use std::{marker::PhantomData, sync::Arc};
 
 // Public API: A Input-Output node; transforms some value into another
@@ -80,12 +78,12 @@ impl<
 }
 
 impl<
-    TInput: 'static + Send,
-    TOutput: 'static,
-    TCollected: 'static,
-    TStage: InOut<TInput, TOutput> + Send + 'static,
-    TFactory: FnMut() -> TStage,
-    TNextStep: PipelineBlock<TOutput, TCollected> + Send + Sync + 'static,
+        TInput: 'static + Send,
+        TOutput: 'static,
+        TCollected: 'static,
+        TStage: InOut<TInput, TOutput> + Send + 'static,
+        TFactory: FnMut() -> TStage,
+        TNextStep: PipelineBlock<TOutput, TCollected> + Send + Sync + 'static,
     > InOutBlock<TInput, TOutput, TCollected, TStage, TFactory, TNextStep>
 {
     pub fn new(
@@ -110,7 +108,7 @@ impl<
             work_queue: BlockingQueue::new(),
             next_step: Arc::new(next_step),
             transformer_factory: transformer,
-            replicas: replicas,
+            replicas,
             _params: PhantomData,
         }
     }
@@ -123,7 +121,7 @@ impl<
             let queue = self.work_queue.clone();
             let alive_threads = alive_threads.clone();
 
-            let mut next_step = self.next_step.clone();
+            let next_step = self.next_step.clone();
             let mut transformer = (self.transformer_factory)();
 
             let monitor_loop = MonitorLoop::new(move || {