diff --git a/optimade/server/routers/landing.py b/optimade/server/routers/landing.py
index 3f4192329..c62eb2265 100644
--- a/optimade/server/routers/landing.py
+++ b/optimade/server/routers/landing.py
@@ -2,9 +2,8 @@
 
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from fastapi import Request
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Request
 from fastapi.responses import HTMLResponse
-from starlette.routing import Route, Router
 
 from optimade import __api_version__
 from optimade.server.config import ServerConfig
@@ -92,11 +91,11 @@ async def landing(request: Request):
     )
 
 
-router = Router(routes=[Route("/", endpoint=landing)])
-
-## This "fix" is taken directly from FastAPI's APIRouter implementation.
-# Handle on_startup/on_shutdown locally since Starlette removed support
-# Ref: https://github.com/Kludex/starlette/pull/3117
-# TODO: deprecate this once the lifespan (or alternative) interface is improved
-router.on_startup = []
-router.on_shutdown = []
+router = APIRouter(redirect_slashes=True)
+router.add_api_route(
+    "/",
+    landing,
+    methods=["GET"],
+    response_class=HTMLResponse,
+    include_in_schema=False,
+)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 609e8f1f9..c3cbb910f 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -75,11 +75,7 @@ server = [
 # Client minded
 aiida = ["aiida-core~=2.1"]
 
-http-client = [
-    "httpx~=0.23",
-    "rich>=13,<16",
-    "click~=8.1",
-]
+http-client = ["httpx~=0.23", "httpx2", "rich>=13,<16", "click~=8.1"]
 
 ase = ["ase~=3.22"]
 cif = ["numpy>=1.22,<3.0"]