diff --git a/.idea/artifacts/render_ws_war.xml b/.idea/artifacts/render_ws_war.xml
index c4b564bda..63d5073c2 100644
--- a/.idea/artifacts/render_ws_war.xml
+++ b/.idea/artifacts/render_ws_war.xml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <component name="ArtifactManager">
   <artifact type="war" name="render-ws:war">
     <output-path>$PROJECT_DIR$/render-ws/target</output-path>
-    <root id="archive" name="render-ws-0.4.0-SNAPSHOT.war">
+    <root id="archive" name="render-ws-2.0.0-SNAPSHOT.war">
       <element id="artifact" artifact-name="render-ws:war exploded" />
     </root>
   </artifact>
diff --git a/.idea/artifacts/render_ws_war_exploded.xml b/.idea/artifacts/render_ws_war_exploded.xml
index 497e8bf13..862d6f3eb 100644
--- a/.idea/artifacts/render_ws_war_exploded.xml
+++ b/.idea/artifacts/render_ws_war_exploded.xml
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 <component name="ArtifactManager">
   <artifact type="exploded-war" name="render-ws:war exploded">
-    <output-path>$PROJECT_DIR$/render-ws/target/render-ws-0.4.0-SNAPSHOT</output-path>
+    <output-path>$PROJECT_DIR$/render-ws/target/render-ws-2.0.0-SNAPSHOT</output-path>
     <root id="root">
       <element id="directory" name="WEB-INF">
         <element id="directory" name="classes">
           <element id="module-output" name="render-ws" />
         </element>
         <element id="directory" name="lib">
-          <element id="archive" name="render-app-0.4.0-SNAPSHOT.jar">
+          <element id="archive" name="render-app-2.0.0-SNAPSHOT.jar">
             <element id="module-output" name="render-app" />
           </element>
           <element id="library" level="project" name="Maven: mpicbg:mpicbg_:1.0.1" />
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
         </element>
       </element>
       <element id="directory" name="META-INF">
-        <element id="file-copy" path="$PROJECT_DIR$/render-ws/target/render-ws-0.4.0-SNAPSHOT/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF" />
+        <element id="file-copy" path="$PROJECT_DIR$/render-ws/target/render-ws-2.0.0-SNAPSHOT/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF" />
       </element>
       <element id="javaee-facet-resources" facet="render-ws/web/Web" />
     </root>
diff --git a/.idea/compiler.xml b/.idea/compiler.xml
index a535b9369..ff3c33b2b 100644
--- a/.idea/compiler.xml
+++ b/.idea/compiler.xml
@@ -62,13 +62,13 @@
       </profile>
     </annotationProcessing>
     <bytecodeTargetLevel>
-      <module name="docs" target="1.7" />
+      <module name="docs" target="1.8" />
       <module name="render" target="1.5" />
-      <module name="render-app" target="1.7" />
-      <module name="render-ws" target="1.7" />
-      <module name="render-ws-java-client" target="1.7" />
-      <module name="render-ws-spark-client" target="1.7" />
-      <module name="trakem2-scripts" target="1.7" />
+      <module name="render-app" target="1.8" />
+      <module name="render-ws" target="1.8" />
+      <module name="render-ws-java-client" target="1.8" />
+      <module name="render-ws-spark-client" target="1.8" />
+      <module name="trakem2-scripts" target="1.8" />
     </bytecodeTargetLevel>
   </component>
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.idea/misc.xml b/.idea/misc.xml
index 648b6ac09..5d3d392c0 100644
--- a/.idea/misc.xml
+++ b/.idea/misc.xml
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
       </value>
     </option>
   </component>
-  <component name="ProjectRootManager" version="2" languageLevel="JDK_1_7" default="false" assert-keyword="true" jdk-15="true" project-jdk-name="1.7" project-jdk-type="JavaSDK">
+  <component name="ProjectRootManager" version="2" languageLevel="JDK_1_8" default="false" assert-keyword="true" jdk-15="true" project-jdk-name="1.8" project-jdk-type="JavaSDK">
     <output url="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/out" />
   </component>
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/docs.iml b/docs/docs.iml
index aca3388e1..8791df58a 100644
--- a/docs/docs.iml
+++ b/docs/docs.iml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <module org.jetbrains.idea.maven.project.MavenProjectsManager.isMavenModule="true" type="JAVA_MODULE" version="4">
-  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_7" inherit-compiler-output="false">
+  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_8" inherit-compiler-output="false">
     <output url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/classes" />
     <output-test url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/test-classes" />
     <content url="file://$MODULE_DIR$">
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 5d8cf2de3..3da20321b 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -104,10 +104,10 @@
             <plugins>
                 <plugin>
                     <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
-                    <version>2.5</version>
+                    <version>3.6.1</version>
                     <configuration>
-                        <source>1.7</source>
-                        <target>1.7</target>
+                        <source>1.8</source>
+                        <target>1.8</target>
                     </configuration>
                 </plugin>
             </plugins>
diff --git a/render-app/render-app.iml b/render-app/render-app.iml
index 2031d3e45..6f87a6a62 100644
--- a/render-app/render-app.iml
+++ b/render-app/render-app.iml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <module org.jetbrains.idea.maven.project.MavenProjectsManager.isMavenModule="true" type="JAVA_MODULE" version="4">
-  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_7" inherit-compiler-output="false">
+  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_8" inherit-compiler-output="false">
     <output url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/classes" />
     <output-test url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/test-classes" />
     <content url="file://$MODULE_DIR$">
diff --git a/render-ws-java-client/render-ws-java-client.iml b/render-ws-java-client/render-ws-java-client.iml
index 587db8528..b615002de 100644
--- a/render-ws-java-client/render-ws-java-client.iml
+++ b/render-ws-java-client/render-ws-java-client.iml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <module org.jetbrains.idea.maven.project.MavenProjectsManager.isMavenModule="true" type="JAVA_MODULE" version="4">
-  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_7" inherit-compiler-output="false">
+  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_8" inherit-compiler-output="false">
     <output url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/classes" />
     <output-test url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/test-classes" />
     <content url="file://$MODULE_DIR$">
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
     </content>
     <orderEntry type="inheritedJdk" />
     <orderEntry type="sourceFolder" forTests="false" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: io.swagger:swagger-annotations:1.5.12" level="project" />
     <orderEntry type="module" module-name="render-app" />
     <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: mpicbg:mpicbg_:1.0.1" level="project" />
     <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: mpicbg:mpicbg:1.0.1" level="project" />
diff --git a/render-ws-spark-client/render-ws-spark-client.iml b/render-ws-spark-client/render-ws-spark-client.iml
index 2b4edca39..4fe7f86e3 100644
--- a/render-ws-spark-client/render-ws-spark-client.iml
+++ b/render-ws-spark-client/render-ws-spark-client.iml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <module org.jetbrains.idea.maven.project.MavenProjectsManager.isMavenModule="true" type="JAVA_MODULE" version="4">
-  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_7" inherit-compiler-output="false">
+  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_8" inherit-compiler-output="false">
     <output url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/classes" />
     <output-test url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/test-classes" />
     <content url="file://$MODULE_DIR$">
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
     </content>
     <orderEntry type="inheritedJdk" />
     <orderEntry type="sourceFolder" forTests="false" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: io.swagger:swagger-annotations:1.5.12" level="project" />
     <orderEntry type="module" module-name="render-ws-java-client" />
     <orderEntry type="module" module-name="render-app" />
     <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: mpicbg:mpicbg_:1.0.1" level="project" />
diff --git a/render-ws/render-ws.iml b/render-ws/render-ws.iml
index 5b983929c..c4ad374be 100644
--- a/render-ws/render-ws.iml
+++ b/render-ws/render-ws.iml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
       </configuration>
     </facet>
   </component>
-  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_7" inherit-compiler-output="false">
+  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_8" inherit-compiler-output="false">
     <output url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/classes" />
     <output-test url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/test-classes" />
     <content url="file://$MODULE_DIR$">
@@ -28,17 +28,6 @@
     </content>
     <orderEntry type="inheritedJdk" />
     <orderEntry type="sourceFolder" forTests="false" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: io.swagger:swagger-annotations:1.5.12" level="project" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: io.swagger:swagger-jaxrs:1.5.12" level="project" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: io.swagger:swagger-core:1.5.12" level="project" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat:jackson-dataformat-yaml:2.8.4" level="project" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: org.yaml:snakeyaml:1.15" level="project" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: io.swagger:swagger-models:1.5.12" level="project" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: org.reflections:reflections:0.9.10" level="project" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: org.javassist:javassist:3.19.0-GA" level="project" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" scope="TEST" name="Maven: de.flapdoodle.embed:de.flapdoodle.embed.mongo:1.50.5" level="project" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" scope="TEST" name="Maven: de.flapdoodle.embed:de.flapdoodle.embed.process:1.50.2" level="project" />
-    <orderEntry type="library" scope="TEST" name="Maven: org.apache.commons:commons-compress:1.10" level="project" />
     <orderEntry type="module" module-name="render-app" />
     <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: mpicbg:mpicbg_:1.0.1" level="project" />
     <orderEntry type="library" name="Maven: mpicbg:mpicbg:1.0.1" level="project" />
diff --git a/trakem2-scripts/trakem2-scripts.iml b/trakem2-scripts/trakem2-scripts.iml
index f4433f252..f11a8cfcc 100644
--- a/trakem2-scripts/trakem2-scripts.iml
+++ b/trakem2-scripts/trakem2-scripts.iml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <module org.jetbrains.idea.maven.project.MavenProjectsManager.isMavenModule="true" type="JAVA_MODULE" version="4">
-  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_7" inherit-compiler-output="false">
+  <component name="NewModuleRootManager" LANGUAGE_LEVEL="JDK_1_8" inherit-compiler-output="false">
     <output url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/classes" />
     <output-test url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/target/test-classes" />
     <content url="file://$MODULE_DIR$">