diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 45b5450..60e763c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,3 +11,18 @@ venv/
 build/
 clanvas.egg-info/
 dist/
+
+.vscode/*
+!.vscode/settings.json
+!.vscode/tasks.json
+!.vscode/launch.json
+!.vscode/extensions.json
+!.vscode/*.code-snippets
+!*.code-workspace
+
+# Built Visual Studio Code Extensions
+*.vsix
+
+# test coverage
+.coverage
+.coverage.*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/clanvas/clanvas.py b/clanvas/clanvas.py
index d44904f..e64b4f8 100644
--- a/clanvas/clanvas.py
+++ b/clanvas/clanvas.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 import cmd2
 import colorama
 from canvasapi import Canvas
-from cmd2 import Cmd
+from cmd2 import Cmd, Settable
 
 from .completion import apply_completers
 from .config import InvalidClanvasConfigurationException, parse_clanvas_config_file
@@ -26,14 +26,28 @@ class Clanvas(cmd2.Cmd):
     CLANVAS_CATEGORY = 'Clanvas'
 
     def __init__(self, base_url, access_token, *args, **kwargs):
-        super(Clanvas, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+        # The `cmd2` library will attempt to inspect the object
+        # for attributes. Since one attribute is `prompt` defined
+        # as a property that checks for `self.canvas`, we need to
+        # ensure that `self.canvas` is initialized to avoid
+        # an AttributeError during initialization.
+        self.canvas = None
+
+        # Explicitly set allow_cli_args to False to prevent cmd2 from parsing CLI args
+        # Since we already handle CLI args in the main function
+        super(Clanvas, self).__init__(*args, allow_cli_args=False, **kwargs)
 
         self.default_to_shell = True
-        self.allow_cli_args = False
 
-        self.settable.update({'prompt_format': 'prompt format string'})
-        self.settable.update({'verbosity': 'default command verbosity (NORMAL/VERBOSE/DEBUG)'})
-        self.settable.pop('prompt')
+        self.add_settable(Settable('prompt_format', 
+                                   val_type=str, 
+                                   description = 'prompt format string', settable_object=self))
+        self.add_settable(Settable('verbosity', 
+                                   val_type=Verbosity.__getitem__, 
+                                   description='default command verbosity (NORMAL/VERBOSE/DEBUG)',
+                                   choices=(Verbosity.__members__.values()), 
+                                   settable_object=self))
 
         self.url = base_url
         self.host = urlparse(base_url).netloc
@@ -77,13 +91,13 @@ def list_assignments_cached(self, course_id):
         return sorted(course.get_assignments(), key=lambda t: t.created_at_date)
 
     def get_verbosity(self) -> Verbosity:
-        return Verbosity[self.verbosity]
+        return self.verbosity
 
     prompt_format = (Fore.LIGHTGREEN_EX + '{login_id}@{host}' + Style.RESET_ALL + ':'
                      + Fore.LIGHTYELLOW_EX + '{pwc}' + Style.RESET_ALL + ':' + Fore.LIGHTBLUE_EX
                      + '{pwd} ' + Style.RESET_ALL + '$ ').replace('\x1b', "\\x1b")
 
-    verbosity = 'NORMAL'
+    verbosity = Verbosity.NORMAL
 
     canvas_path = expanduser('~/canvas')
 
diff --git a/clanvas/outputter.py b/clanvas/outputter.py
index 87e5738..e4eb278 100644
--- a/clanvas/outputter.py
+++ b/clanvas/outputter.py
@@ -7,6 +7,22 @@ class Verbosity(Enum):
     VERBOSE = 2
     DEBUG = 3
 
+    def __str__(self):
+        return self.name
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return str(self)
+    
+    def __eq__(self, value):
+        if isinstance(value, str):
+            # Convert strings to Verbosity enum members before comparison
+            return super().__eq__(Verbosity.__getitem__(value))
+        
+        return super().__eq__(value)
+    
+    def __hash__(self):
+        return super().__hash__()   
+
 
 class Outputter:
     def __init__(self, printfn, verbosityfn):
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 636b0c7..0334755 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
     author='Mark Lalor',
     author_email='markwlalor@gmail.com',
     install_requires=[
-        'canvasapi==0.12.0', 'cmd2==0.9.12', 'tabulate>=0.8.3', 'tree-format>=0.1.2',
+        'canvasapi==3.3.0', 'cmd2==2.5.6', 'tabulate>=0.9.0', 'tree-format>=0.1.2',
         'html2text', 'colorama', 'pytz', 'tzlocal'
     ],
     extras_require={
diff --git a/tests/config/__init__.py b/tests/config/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29