diff --git a/pot/Cargo.toml b/pot/Cargo.toml
index 89cd310f..3a7604fa 100644
--- a/pot/Cargo.toml
+++ b/pot/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,12 +14,9 @@ default = []
 
 [dependencies]
 serde = { version = "1.0.136", features = ["derive"] }
-thiserror = "1.0.30"
 tracing = { version = "0.1.30", optional = true }
 byteorder = "1.4.3"
-bytes = "1.1.0"
 half = "2.2.1"
-derive-where = "1.0.0"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 tracing-subscriber = "0.3.8"
@@ -33,7 +30,7 @@ thousands = "0.2.0"
 ciborium = "0.2.0"
 bincode = "1.3.3"
 rmp-serde = "1.1.0"
-criterion = { version = "0.4", features = ["html_reports"] }
+criterion = { version = "0.5", features = ["html_reports"] }
 serde_bytes = "0.11.5"
 serde_json = "1.0.78"
 approx = "0.5.1"
diff --git a/pot/src/de.rs b/pot/src/de.rs
index 7641ebc0..8cc593fc 100644
--- a/pot/src/de.rs
+++ b/pot/src/de.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ use std::collections::VecDeque;
 use std::fmt::Debug;
 
 use byteorder::ReadBytesExt;
-use derive_where::derive_where;
 use format::Kind;
 use serde::de::{
     self, DeserializeSeed, EnumAccess, Error as _, MapAccess, SeqAccess, VariantAccess, Visitor,
@@ -18,15 +17,23 @@ use crate::reader::{IoReader, Reader, SliceReader};
 use crate::{Error, Result};
 
 /// Deserializer for the Pot format.
-#[derive_where(Debug)]
 pub struct Deserializer<'s, 'de, R: Reader<'de>> {
-    #[derive_where(skip)]
     input: R,
     symbols: SymbolMap<'s, 'de>,
     peeked_atom: VecDeque<Atom<'de>>,
     remaining_budget: usize,
 }
 
+impl<'s, 'de, R: Reader<'de>> Debug for Deserializer<'s, 'de, R> {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        f.debug_struct("Deserializer")
+            .field("symbols", &self.symbols)
+            .field("peeked_atom", &self.peeked_atom)
+            .field("remaining_budget", &self.remaining_budget)
+            .finish()
+    }
+}
+
 impl<'s, 'de> Deserializer<'s, 'de, SliceReader<'de>> {
     /// Returns a new deserializer for `input`.
     pub(crate) fn from_slice(input: &'de [u8], maximum_bytes_allocatable: usize) -> Result<Self> {
@@ -823,7 +830,6 @@ impl<'de> SeqAccess<'de> for EmptyList {
     }
 }
 
-#[derive_where(Debug)]
 struct AtomList<'a, 's, 'de, R: Reader<'de>> {
     de: &'a mut Deserializer<'s, 'de, R>,
     consumed: usize,
@@ -864,6 +870,17 @@ impl<'a, 's, 'de, R: Reader<'de>> AtomList<'a, 's, 'de, R> {
     }
 }
 
+impl<'a, 's, 'de, R: Reader<'de>> Debug for AtomList<'a, 's, 'de, R> {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        f.debug_struct("AtomList")
+            .field("de", &self.de)
+            .field("consumed", &self.consumed)
+            .field("count", &self.count)
+            .field("eof", &self.eof)
+            .finish()
+    }
+}
+
 impl<'a, 's, 'de, R: Reader<'de>> SeqAccess<'de> for AtomList<'a, 's, 'de, R> {
     type Error = Error;
 
diff --git a/pot/src/error.rs b/pot/src/error.rs
index f2650fa6..9321d57c 100644
--- a/pot/src/error.rs
+++ b/pot/src/error.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-use std::fmt::Display;
+use std::fmt::{Debug, Display};
+use std::io;
 use std::str::Utf8Error;
 use std::string::FromUtf8Error;
 
@@ -7,52 +8,74 @@ use serde::{de, ser};
 use crate::format::Kind;
 
 /// All errors that Pot may return.
-#[derive(thiserror::Error, Debug)]
+#[derive(Debug)]
 pub enum Error {
     /// Payload is not a Pot payload.
-    #[error("not a pot: invalid header")]
     NotAPot,
     /// Data was written with an incompatible version.
-    #[error("incompatible version")]
     IncompatibleVersion,
     /// A generic error occurred.
-    #[error("{0}")]
     Message(String),
     /// Extra data appeared at the end of the input.
-    #[error("extra data at end of input")]
     TrailingBytes,
     /// Expected more data but encountered the end of the input.
-    #[error("unexpected end of file")]
     Eof,
     /// A numerical value could not be handled without losing precision or truncation.
-    #[error("numerical data cannot fit")]
     ImpreciseCastWouldLoseData,
     /// An IO error occurred.
-    #[error("io error: {0}")]
-    Io(#[from] std::io::Error),
+    Io(io::Error),
     /// A sequence of unknown size cannot be serialized.
-    #[error("serializing sequences of unknown size is unsupported")]
     SequenceSizeMustBeKnown,
     /// String data contained invalid UTF-8 characters.
-    #[error("invalid utf8: {0}")]
     InvalidUtf8(String),
     /// An unknown kind was encountered. Generally a sign that something else has been parsed incorrectly.
-    #[error("invalid kind: {0}")]
     InvalidKind(u8),
     /// Encountered an unexpected atom kind.
-    #[error("encountered atom kind {0:?}, expected {1:?}")]
     UnexpectedKind(Kind, Kind),
     /// A requested symbol id was not found.
-    #[error("unknown symbol {0}")]
     UnknownSymbol(u64),
     /// An atom header was incorrectly formatted.
-    #[error("an atom header was incorrectly formatted")]
     InvalidAtomHeader,
     /// The amount of data read exceeds the configured maximum number of bytes.
-    #[error("the deserialized value is larger than the allowed allocation limit")]
     TooManyBytesRead,
 }
 
+impl Display for Error {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            Error::NotAPot => f.write_str("not a pot: invalid header"),
+            Error::IncompatibleVersion => f.write_str("incompatible version"),
+            Error::Message(message) => f.write_str(message),
+            Error::TrailingBytes => f.write_str("extra data at end of input"),
+            Error::Eof => f.write_str("unexpected end of file"),
+            Error::ImpreciseCastWouldLoseData => f.write_str("numerical data cannot fit"),
+            Error::Io(io) => write!(f, "io error: {io}"),
+            Error::SequenceSizeMustBeKnown => {
+                f.write_str("serializing sequences of unknown size is unsupported")
+            }
+            Error::InvalidUtf8(err) => write!(f, "invalid utf8: {err}"),
+            Error::InvalidKind(kind) => write!(f, "invalid kind: {kind}"),
+            Error::UnexpectedKind(encountered, expected) => write!(
+                f,
+                "encountered atom kind {encountered:?}, expected {expected:?}"
+            ),
+            Error::UnknownSymbol(sym) => write!(f, "unknown symbol {sym}"),
+            Error::InvalidAtomHeader => f.write_str("an atom header was incorrectly formatted"),
+            Error::TooManyBytesRead => {
+                f.write_str("the deserialized value is larger than the allowed allocation limit")
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl std::error::Error for Error {}
+
+impl From<io::Error> for Error {
+    fn from(err: io::Error) -> Self {
+        Self::Io(err)
+    }
+}
+
 impl ser::Error for Error {
     fn custom<T: Display>(msg: T) -> Self {
         Self::Message(msg.to_string())
diff --git a/pot/src/ser.rs b/pot/src/ser.rs
index 8d4eee3a..980d4a82 100644
--- a/pot/src/ser.rs
+++ b/pot/src/ser.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ use std::ops::{Deref, DerefMut};
 use std::usize;
 
 use byteorder::WriteBytesExt;
-use derive_where::derive_where;
 use serde::{ser, Serialize};
 #[cfg(feature = "tracing")]
 use tracing::instrument;
@@ -12,14 +11,21 @@ use crate::format::{self, Kind, Special, CURRENT_VERSION};
 use crate::{Error, Result};
 
 /// A Pot serializer.
-#[derive_where(Debug)]
 pub struct Serializer<'a, W: WriteBytesExt> {
     symbol_map: SymbolMapRef<'a>,
-    #[derive_where(skip)]
     output: W,
     bytes_written: usize,
 }
 
+impl<'a, W: WriteBytesExt> Debug for Serializer<'a, W> {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        f.debug_struct("Serializer")
+            .field("symbol_map", &self.symbol_map)
+            .field("bytes_written", &self.bytes_written)
+            .finish()
+    }
+}
+
 impl<'a, W: WriteBytesExt> Serializer<'a, W> {
     /// Returns a new serializer outputting written bytes into `output`.
     pub fn new(output: W) -> Result<Self> {
diff --git a/pot/src/value.rs b/pot/src/value.rs
index a6ddfb0e..54e40ec4 100644
--- a/pot/src/value.rs
+++ b/pot/src/value.rs
@@ -1897,11 +1897,10 @@ impl<'de> MapAccess<'de> for MappingsDeserializer<'de> {
 }
 
 /// An error from deserializing a type using [`Value::deserialize_as`].
-#[derive(thiserror::Error, Debug, PartialEq)]
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
 pub enum ValueError {
     /// A kind of data was expected, but the [`Value`] cannot be interpreted as
     /// that kind.
-    #[error("expected {kind} but got {value}")]
     Expected {
         /// The kind of data expected.
         kind: &'static str,
@@ -1909,10 +1908,20 @@ pub enum ValueError {
         value: Value<'static>,
     },
     /// A custom deserialization error. These errors originate outside of Pot.
-    #[error("{0}")]
     Custom(String),
 }
 
+impl std::error::Error for ValueError {}
+
+impl Display for ValueError {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            ValueError::Expected { kind, value } => write!(f, "expected {kind} but got {value}"),
+            ValueError::Custom(msg) => f.write_str(msg),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 impl serde::de::Error for ValueError {
     fn custom<T>(msg: T) -> Self
     where