diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 5530632be..67b989cb0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 name: PyTest
-on: push
+on: 
+  push:
+  pull_request:
 
 jobs:
   test:
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 1af103e17..27b31a139 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 peft @ git+https://github.com/huggingface/peft.git
 transformers @ git+https://github.com/huggingface/transformers.git
 bitsandbytes>=0.39.0
-attrdict
+addict
 fire
 PyYAML==6.0
 black
diff --git a/scripts/finetune.py b/scripts/finetune.py
index 8d7a18a4a..1d1eb9f95 100644
--- a/scripts/finetune.py
+++ b/scripts/finetune.py
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ from typing import Optional, List, Dict, Any, Union
 import fire
 import torch
 import yaml
-from attrdict import AttrDefault
 
 # add src to the pythonpath so we don't need to pip install this
 from axolotl.utils.tokenization import check_dataset_labels
 from axolotl.utils.validation import validate_config
+from axolotl.utils.dict import DictDefault
 
 project_root = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), ".."))
 src_dir = os.path.join(project_root, "src")
@@ -131,10 +131,10 @@ def train(
 
     # load the config from the yaml file
     with open(config, "r") as f:
-        cfg: AttrDefault = AttrDefault(lambda: None, yaml.load(f, Loader=yaml.Loader))
+        cfg: DictDefault = DictDefault(yaml.load(f, Loader=yaml.Loader))
     # if there are any options passed in the cli, if it is something that seems valid from the yaml,
     # then overwrite the value
-    cfg_keys = dict(cfg).keys()
+    cfg_keys = cfg.keys()
     for k in kwargs:
         # if not strict, allow writing to cfg even if it's not in the yml already
         if k in cfg_keys or cfg.strict is False:
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/dict.py b/src/axolotl/utils/dict.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e3a0a517d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/dict.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+from addict import Dict
+
+
+class DictDefault(Dict):
+    """
+    A Dict that returns None instead of returning empty Dict for missing keys.
+    """
+
+    def __missing__(self, key):
+        return None
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/models.py b/src/axolotl/utils/models.py
index fe9f18979..774802a7d 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/models.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/models.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ from axolotl.prompt_tokenizers import LLAMA_DEFAULT_PAD_TOKEN
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from peft import PeftModel, PeftConfig
-    from attrdict import AttrDefault
+    from axolotl.utils.dict import DictDefault
     from transformers import PreTrainedTokenizer
 
 
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ def load_model(
     adapter="lora",
     inference=False,
 ):
-    # type: (str, str, str, str, AttrDefault, Optional[str], bool) -> Tuple[PreTrainedModel, Optional[PeftConfig]]
+    # type: (str, str, str, str, DictDefault, Optional[str], bool) -> Tuple[PreTrainedModel, PreTrainedTokenizer, Optional[PeftConfig]]
 
     # TODO refactor as a kwarg
     load_in_8bit = cfg.load_in_8bit
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ def load_model(
 
 
 def load_adapter(model, cfg, adapter):
-    # type: (PreTrainedModel, AttrDefault, Optional[str]) -> Tuple[PreTrainedModel, Optional[PeftConfig]]
+    # type: (PreTrainedModel, DictDefault, Optional[str]) -> Tuple[PreTrainedModel, Optional[PeftConfig]]
 
     if adapter is None:
         return model, None
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ def load_adapter(model, cfg, adapter):
 
 
 def load_llama_adapter(model, cfg):
-    # type: (PreTrainedModel, AttrDefault) -> Tuple[PreTrainedModel, Optional[PeftConfig]]
+    # type: (PreTrainedModel, DictDefault) -> Tuple[PreTrainedModel, Optional[PeftConfig]]
     from peft import (
         AdaptionPromptConfig,
         get_peft_model,
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ def find_all_linear_names(bits, model):
 
 
 def load_lora(model, cfg):
-    # type: (PreTrainedModel, AttrDefault) -> Tuple[PreTrainedModel, Optional[PeftConfig]]
+    # type: (PreTrainedModel, DictDefault) -> Tuple[PreTrainedModel, Optional[PeftConfig]]
 
     from peft import (
         LoraConfig,
diff --git a/tests/test_dict.py b/tests/test_dict.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..81a528fe4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_dict.py
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+import unittest
+
+import pytest
+
+from axolotl.utils.dict import DictDefault
+
+
+class DictDefaultTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_dict_default(self):
+        cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "key_a": {"key_b": "value_a"},
+                "key_c": "value_c",
+                "key_d": ["value_d", "value_e"],
+            }
+        )
+
+        assert (
+            cfg.key_a.key_b == "value_a"
+        ), "DictDefault should return value for existing nested keys"
+
+        assert (
+            cfg.key_c == "value_c"
+        ), "DictDefault should return value for existing keys"
+
+        assert (
+            cfg.key_d[0] == "value_d"
+        ), "DictDefault should return value for existing keys in list"
+
+        assert (
+            "value_e" in cfg.key_d
+        ), "DictDefault should support in operator for existing keys in list"
+
+    def test_dict_or_operator(self):
+        cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "key_a": {"key_b": "value_a"},
+                "key_c": "value_c",
+                "key_d": ["value_d", "value_e"],
+                "key_f": "value_f",
+            }
+        )
+
+        cfg = cfg | DictDefault({"key_a": {"key_b": "value_b"}, "key_f": "value_g"})
+
+        assert (
+            cfg.key_a.key_b == "value_b"
+        ), "DictDefault should support OR operator for existing nested keys"
+
+        assert cfg.key_c == "value_c", "DictDefault should not delete existing key"
+
+        assert cfg.key_d == [
+            "value_d",
+            "value_e",
+        ], "DictDefault should not overwrite existing keys in list"
+
+        assert (
+            cfg.key_f == "value_g"
+        ), "DictDefault should support OR operator for existing key"
+
+    def test_dict_missingkey(self):
+        cfg = DictDefault({})
+
+        assert cfg.random_key is None, "DictDefault should return None for missing keys"
+
+    def test_dict_nested_missingparentkey(self):
+        """
+        Due to subclassing Dict, DictDefault will error if we try to access a nested key whose parent key does not exist.
+        """
+        cfg = DictDefault({})
+
+        with pytest.raises(
+            AttributeError,
+            match=r"'NoneType' object has no attribute 'another_random_key'",
+        ):
+            cfg.random_key.another_random_key
+
+    def test_dict_shorthand_assignment(self):
+        """
+        Shorthand assignment is said to not be supported if subclassed. However, their example raises error instead of None.
+        This test ensures that it is supported for current implementation.
+
+        Ref: https://github.com/mewwts/addict#default-values
+        """
+
+        cfg = DictDefault({"key_a": {"key_b": "value_a"}})
+
+        cfg.key_a.key_b = "value_b"
+
+        assert cfg.key_a.key_b == "value_b", "Shorthand assignment should be supported"