diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 5ff4aeb..310948c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v5
       - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
-      - run: uv run pyright
+      - run: uv run --with pyqt6 pyright
 
   test:
     name: ${{ matrix.platform }} py${{ matrix.python-version }}
@@ -152,11 +152,11 @@ jobs:
       dependency-extras: "testing"
       qt: ${{ matrix.qt }}
       pytest-args: 'src/napari/_qt/_qapp_model src/napari/_app_model src/napari/utils/_tests/test_key_bindings.py --import-mode=importlib -k "not async and not qt_dims_2"'
-      python-version: "3.10"
+      python-version: "3.11"
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        qt: ["pyqt5", "pyside2"]
+        qt: ["pyqt5", "pyside6"]
 
   build-and-inspect-package:
     name: Build & inspect package.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d446e00..79a3b18 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ pyqt5 = [
     "pyqt5-qt5==5.15.2; sys_platform == 'win32'",
     "pyqt5-qt5>=5.15.4; sys_platform != 'win32'",
 ]
-pyqt6 = ["app-model[qt]", "PyQt6>=6.4.0"]
+pyqt6 = ["app-model[qt]", "PyQt6>=6.4.0", "pyqt6-qt6>=6.4.0"]
 pyside2 = ["app-model[qt]", "PySide2>=5.15.2.1"]
 pyside6 = ["app-model[qt]", "PySide6>=6.6.0"]
 
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ dev = [
     "mypy>=1.13.0",
     "pdbpp>=0.11.6; sys_platform != 'win32'",
     "pre-commit-uv>=4",
-    "pyqt6>=6.8.0",
+    # "pyqt6>=6.8.0",
     "rich>=13.9.4",
     "pyright>=1.1.402",
 ]
diff --git a/src/app_model/backends/qt/_qkeymap.py b/src/app_model/backends/qt/_qkeymap.py
index bcaf0db..01ddcad 100644
--- a/src/app_model/backends/qt/_qkeymap.py
+++ b/src/app_model/backends/qt/_qkeymap.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 from functools import reduce
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
-from qtpy import API, QT_VERSION  # pyright: ignore[reportAttributeAccessIssue]
 from qtpy.QtCore import QCoreApplication, Qt
 from qtpy.QtGui import QKeySequence
 
@@ -86,8 +85,9 @@ def simple_keybinding_to_qint(skb: SimpleKeyBinding) -> int:
         return int(out)
 
 
-if QT6 and not (API == "pyside6" and int(QT_VERSION[2]) < 4):
-
+if QT6:
+    # note: this doesn't work on pyside6 < 6.5 ...
+    # but we don't support that anymore
     def _get_qmods(key: QKeyCombination) -> Qt.KeyboardModifier:
         return key.keyboardModifiers()
 
diff --git a/src/app_model/types/_keys/_keybindings.py b/src/app_model/types/_keys/_keybindings.py
index ee8f5dc..af2ed7b 100644
--- a/src/app_model/types/_keys/_keybindings.py
+++ b/src/app_model/types/_keys/_keybindings.py
@@ -159,10 +159,12 @@ def _parse_input(cls, v: Any) -> "SimpleKeyBinding":
             return cls.from_int(v)
         raise TypeError(f"invalid type: {type(v)}")
 
-    @model_validator(mode="after")  # type: ignore
+    @model_validator(mode="before")
     @classmethod
-    def _model_val(cls, instance: "SimpleKeyBinding") -> "SimpleKeyBinding":
-        return cls._parse_input(instance)
+    def _model_val(cls, val: "SimpleKeyBinding") -> "SimpleKeyBinding":
+        if not isinstance(val, (SimpleKeyBinding, dict)):
+            return cls._parse_input(val)
+        return val
 
 
 MIN1 = {"min_length": 1}