diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint.yml b/.github/workflows/lint.yml
index ddc7214..73c9b3f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,6 @@ jobs:
         with:
           go-version: stable
       - name: golangci-lint
-        uses: golangci/golangci-lint-action@v6
+        uses: golangci/golangci-lint-action@v7
         with:
-          version: v1.60
\ No newline at end of file
+          version: v2.11.3
diff --git a/.golangci.yml b/.golangci.yml
index 083e762..bd005c9 100644
--- a/.golangci.yml
+++ b/.golangci.yml
@@ -1,69 +1,50 @@
-# options for analysis running
-run:
-  # timeout for analysis, e.g. 30s, 5m, default is 1m
-  deadline: 2m
-
-issues:
-  # Only report issues for changes since master
-  new-from-rev: origin/master
-
-# output configuration options
-output:
-  # colored-line-number|line-number|json|tab|checkstyle|code-climate, default is "colored-line-number"
-  format: colored-line-number
-
-linters-settings:
-  errcheck:
-    # report about not checking of errors in type assertions: `a := b.(MyStruct)`;
-    # default is false: such cases aren't reported by default.
-    check-type-assertions: true
-
-  # Function length check
-  funlen:
-    lines: 60
-    statements: 40
-
-  # Report deeply nested if statements
-  nestif:
-    # minimal complexity of if statements to report, 5 by default
-    min-complexity: 4
-
-  gofmt:
-    # simplify code: gofmt with `-s` option, true by default
-    simplify: true
+version: "2"
 
-  golint:
-    # minimal confidence for issues, default is 0.8
-    min-confidence: 0.8
-
-  govet:
-    # report about shadowed variables
-    check-shadowing: true
-    enable-all: true
-    disable:
-      # Do not check field memory alignment because in most cases the performance gain is not worth the headache
-      - fieldalignment
+run:
+  timeout: 2m
 
 linters:
-  # Disable the default linters so we can explicitly name the linters we want
-  disable-all: true
-
-  # List of enabled linters
+  default: none
   enable:
-    #####################
-    # Default linters
-    #####################
-    - gofmt
-    # Checks error handling
     - errcheck
-    # Linter for Go source code that specializes in simplifying a code
-    - gosimple
-    # Vet examines Go source code and reports suspicious constructs, such as Printf calls whose
-    # arguments do not align with the format string
     - govet
-    # Detects when assignments to existing variables are not used
     - ineffassign
-    # Static code analytics
     - staticcheck
-    # Unused checks
-    - unused
\ No newline at end of file
+    - unused
+  settings:
+    errcheck:
+      check-type-assertions: true
+    funlen:
+      lines: 60
+      statements: 40
+    govet:
+      disable:
+        - fieldalignment
+      enable-all: true
+    nestif:
+      min-complexity: 4
+  exclusions:
+    generated: lax
+    presets:
+      - comments
+      - common-false-positives
+      - legacy
+      - std-error-handling
+    paths:
+      - third_party$
+      - builtin$
+      - examples$
+issues:
+  new-from-rev: origin/master
+formatters:
+  enable:
+    - gofmt
+  settings:
+    gofmt:
+      simplify: true
+  exclusions:
+    generated: lax
+    paths:
+      - third_party$
+      - builtin$
+      - examples$
diff --git a/internal/examples/memory/main.go b/internal/examples/memory/main.go
index b189e05..664212f 100644
--- a/internal/examples/memory/main.go
+++ b/internal/examples/memory/main.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"os/signal"
@@ -18,12 +19,16 @@ type myMessage struct {
 
 func (e *myMessage) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
 	var raw map[string]any
-	err := json.Unmarshal(data, &raw)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &raw); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	e.name = raw["name"].(string)
+	name, ok := raw["name"].(string)
+	if !ok {
+		return fmt.Errorf("missing or invalid field: name")
+	}
+
+	e.name = name
 
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/internal/examples/memory/main_test.go b/internal/examples/memory/main_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4682f9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/examples/memory/main_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestMyMessage_UnmarshalJSON_Success(t *testing.T) {
+	var m myMessage
+	err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{"name":"hello"}`), &m)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "hello", m.name)
+}
+
+func TestMyMessage_UnmarshalJSON_MissingField(t *testing.T) {
+	var m myMessage
+	err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{}`), &m)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "missing or invalid field: name")
+}
+
+func TestMyMessage_UnmarshalJSON_WrongType(t *testing.T) {
+	var m myMessage
+	err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{"name": 42}`), &m)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "missing or invalid field: name")
+}
+
+func TestMyMessage_UnmarshalJSON_InvalidJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	var m myMessage
+	err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`not-json`), &m)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+}
+
+func TestMyMessage_MarshalJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	m := myMessage{name: "hello"}
+	data, err := json.Marshal(&m)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.JSONEq(t, `{"name":"hello"}`, string(data))
+}
diff --git a/internal/examples/sqs/message.go b/internal/examples/sqs/message.go
index 56e3343..a3be867 100644
--- a/internal/examples/sqs/message.go
+++ b/internal/examples/sqs/message.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package sqs
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 )
 
 type MyEvent struct {
@@ -10,12 +11,16 @@ type MyEvent struct {
 
 func (e *MyEvent) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
 	var raw map[string]any
-	err := json.Unmarshal(data, &raw)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &raw); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	e.Name = raw["name"].(string)
+	name, ok := raw["name"].(string)
+	if !ok {
+		return fmt.Errorf("missing or invalid field: name")
+	}
+
+	e.Name = name
 
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/internal/examples/sqs/message_test.go b/internal/examples/sqs/message_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea9c21f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/examples/sqs/message_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+package sqs
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestMyEvent_UnmarshalJSON_Success(t *testing.T) {
+	var e MyEvent
+	err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{"name":"test-event"}`), &e)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "test-event", e.Name)
+}
+
+func TestMyEvent_UnmarshalJSON_MissingField(t *testing.T) {
+	var e MyEvent
+	err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{}`), &e)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "missing or invalid field: name")
+}
+
+func TestMyEvent_UnmarshalJSON_WrongType(t *testing.T) {
+	var e MyEvent
+	err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{"name": 42}`), &e)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "missing or invalid field: name")
+}
+
+func TestMyEvent_UnmarshalJSON_InvalidJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	var e MyEvent
+	err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`not-json`), &e)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+}
+
+func TestMyEvent_MarshalJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	e := MyEvent{Name: "test-event"}
+	data, err := json.Marshal(&e)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.JSONEq(t, `{"name":"test-event"}`, string(data))
+}
diff --git a/sqs/sqs.go b/sqs/sqs.go
index de2afdd..b8ff138 100644
--- a/sqs/sqs.go
+++ b/sqs/sqs.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package sqs
 
 import (
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
@@ -37,12 +36,7 @@ func New(options ...Option) (*Driver, error) {
 	}
 
 	if driver.sqsClient == nil {
-		clientCredentials, err := getCredentials()
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-
-		client, err := createClient(driver.url, driver.region, clientCredentials)
+		client, err := createClient(driver.url, driver.region, getCredentials())
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -59,16 +53,18 @@ func New(options ...Option) (*Driver, error) {
 	return driver, nil
 }
 
-func getCredentials() (*credentials.Credentials, error) {
+// getCredentials returns explicit credentials when the legacy env vars are set,
+// or nil to fall through to the AWS SDK default credential chain (which supports
+// ECS/Pod Identity, instance profiles, env vars, and shared credentials files).
+func getCredentials() *credentials.Credentials {
 	if os.Getenv("AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE") != "" {
-		return credentials.NewSharedCredentials("", ""), nil
-	} else if os.Getenv("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID") != "" && os.Getenv("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY") != "" {
-		return credentials.NewEnvCredentials(), nil
+		return credentials.NewSharedCredentials("", "")
 	}
-
-	return nil, errors.New(
-		"missing AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE and AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID/AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY env vars",
-	)
+	if os.Getenv("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID") != "" && os.Getenv("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY") != "" {
+		return credentials.NewEnvCredentials()
+	}
+	// nil tells the SDK to use its built-in default chain, including Pod Identity.
+	return nil
 }
 
 func createClient(queueUrl string, region string, clientCredentials *credentials.Credentials) (*sqs.SQS, error) {
diff --git a/sqs/sqs_test.go b/sqs/sqs_test.go
index 7adf42f..86ee312 100644
--- a/sqs/sqs_test.go
+++ b/sqs/sqs_test.go
@@ -55,7 +55,34 @@ func (suite *SQSTestSuite) TestNewWithDefaultOptions() {
 	_, err := sqs.New()
 
 	suite.Error(err)
-	suite.Contains(err.Error(), "missing")
+	suite.Contains(err.Error(), "error creating sqs client")
+}
+
+// TestNewWithEnvCredentials verifies that static key/secret env vars are accepted.
+func (suite *SQSTestSuite) TestNewWithEnvCredentials() {
+	os.Setenv("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID", "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE")
+	os.Setenv("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY", "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY")
+
+	_, err := sqs.New(
+		sqs.WithUrl("https://sqs.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com"),
+		sqs.WithRegion("us-east-1"),
+	)
+
+	suite.Nil(err)
+}
+
+// TestNewWithNoCredentialEnvVars verifies that the driver can be created when no
+// explicit credential env vars are set, falling through to the AWS SDK default
+// credential chain (which covers Pod Identity, instance profiles, etc.).
+func (suite *SQSTestSuite) TestNewWithNoCredentialEnvVars() {
+	_, err := sqs.New(
+		sqs.WithUrl("https://sqs.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com"),
+		sqs.WithRegion("us-east-1"),
+	)
+
+	// The driver should be created without error — credential resolution is
+	// deferred to the first actual API call, not at construction time.
+	suite.Nil(err)
 }
 
 func (suite *SQSTestSuite) TestNew_InvalidQueueURL() {