diff --git a/bbot/core/config/models.py b/bbot/core/config/models.py
index 9376207216..91cb188cdc 100644
--- a/bbot/core/config/models.py
+++ b/bbot/core/config/models.py
@@ -113,87 +113,6 @@ def _field_submodel(field):
     return None
 
 
-_COLLECTION_NAMES = frozenset({"list", "List", "tuple", "Tuple", "set", "Set", "frozenset", "dict", "Dict"})
-_TRUE_WORDS = frozenset({"true", "1", "yes", "on"})
-_FALSE_WORDS = frozenset({"false", "0", "no", "off"})
-
-
-def accepted_types_from_string(src: str) -> frozenset:
-    """Base type-names a stringified annotation accepts (no exec, pure AST).
-
-    Used to normalize module Config annotations captured at preload time into
-    a set of base type-names that `coerce_value` can act on.
-
-    >>> accepted_types_from_string("bool")
-    frozenset({'bool'})
-    >>> accepted_types_from_string("Optional[int]")
-    frozenset({'int'})
-    >>> accepted_types_from_string("Union[str, list[str]]")
-    frozenset({'str', 'list'})
-    >>> accepted_types_from_string('Literal["manual", "x"]')
-    frozenset({'str'})
-    """
-    import ast as _ast
-
-    try:
-        root = _ast.parse(src, mode="eval").body
-    except SyntaxError:
-        return frozenset()
-
-    def walk(n):
-        t: set = set()
-        if isinstance(n, _ast.Name):
-            t.add(n.id)
-        elif isinstance(n, _ast.Attribute):
-            t.add(n.attr)
-        elif isinstance(n, _ast.BinOp) and isinstance(n.op, _ast.BitOr):
-            t |= walk(n.left) | walk(n.right)
-        elif isinstance(n, _ast.Subscript):
-            base = getattr(n.value, "id", getattr(n.value, "attr", None))
-            elts = n.slice.elts if isinstance(n.slice, _ast.Tuple) else [n.slice]
-            if base in ("Optional", "Union"):
-                for e in elts:
-                    t |= walk(e)
-            elif base == "Literal":
-                t |= {type(e.value).__name__ for e in elts if isinstance(e, _ast.Constant)}
-            elif base == "Annotated":
-                if elts:
-                    t |= walk(elts[0])
-            else:
-                t.add(base)
-        return t
-
-    return frozenset(x for x in walk(root) if x != "NoneType")
-
-
-def accepted_types_from_annotation(annotation) -> frozenset:
-    """Base type-names a real annotation object accepts.
-
-    Used for the static global models (BBOTConfig, WebConfig, etc.) where the
-    annotation is a live type object, not a string.
-    """
-    import typing
-
-    origin = typing.get_origin(annotation)
-    if origin is typing.Literal:
-        return frozenset(type(a).__name__ for a in typing.get_args(annotation))
-    args = typing.get_args(annotation) if origin is typing.Union else (annotation,)
-    out: set = set()
-    for a in args:
-        if a is type(None):
-            continue
-        ao = typing.get_origin(a)
-        if ao is typing.Literal:
-            out |= {type(x).__name__ for x in typing.get_args(a)}
-        elif ao is typing.Annotated or (hasattr(typing, "Annotated") and typing.get_origin(a) is typing.Annotated):
-            inner_args = typing.get_args(a)
-            if inner_args:
-                out |= accepted_types_from_annotation(inner_args[0])
-        else:
-            out.add(getattr(ao or a, "__name__", str(ao or a)))
-    return frozenset(out)
-
-
 def _yaml_scalar(value):
     """yaml.safe_load a raw string, but never coerce to date/time. Non-strings pass through."""
     import datetime as _dt
@@ -210,41 +129,41 @@ def _yaml_scalar(value):
     return value if isinstance(parsed, (_dt.date, _dt.time)) else parsed
 
 
-def coerce_value(value, accepted):
-    """Coerce one config value toward its declared type.
+def coerce_value(value, adapter):
+    """Coerce one config value toward its declared type via a pydantic TypeAdapter.
 
-    `value` may be a raw CLI string OR an already-parsed YAML value.
-    `accepted` is the frozenset of base type-names for the target field, or
-    None/empty when the field is unknown (fall back to default YAML behavior;
-    unknown keys are still caught by validation).
+    `value` may be a raw CLI string OR an already-parsed YAML value. `adapter` is
+    the field's TypeAdapter (from the config type index), or None when the field is
+    unknown -- then fall back to YAML scalar parsing; unknown keys are still caught
+    by validation. Returns `value` unchanged if it can't be validated as the declared
+    type, so the schema pass reports the real error instead of coercion hiding it.
     """
-    is_raw = isinstance(value, str)
-    if not accepted:
-        return _yaml_scalar(value) if is_raw else value
-    if "str" in accepted and not (accepted & _COLLECTION_NAMES):
-        if is_raw:
-            return value
-        if value is None or isinstance(value, (list, dict, set)):
-            return value
-        return str(value)
-    if accepted == frozenset({"bool"}):
-        v = _yaml_scalar(value) if is_raw else value
-        if isinstance(v, bool):
-            return v
-        if isinstance(v, (int, float)):
-            return bool(v)
-        if isinstance(v, str):
-            low = v.strip().lower()
-            if low in _TRUE_WORDS:
-                return True
-            if low in _FALSE_WORDS:
-                return False
-        return v
-    if is_raw:
-        return _yaml_scalar(value)
-    if "str" in accepted and isinstance(value, os.PathLike):
-        return str(value)
-    return value
+    from pydantic import ValidationError
+
+    # pydantic won't coerce os.PathLike -> str, so do it up front.
+    if isinstance(value, os.PathLike):
+        value = str(value)
+
+    if adapter is None:
+        return _yaml_scalar(value) if isinstance(value, str) else value
+
+    if isinstance(value, str):
+        parsed = _yaml_scalar(value)
+        # Keep the raw string for scalar fields (lossless: "1.10", "0755", dates,
+        # bad YAML); only the parsed form can satisfy a list/dict-typed field.
+        primary = parsed if isinstance(parsed, (list, dict)) else value
+        fallback = parsed if primary is value else value
+        for candidate in (primary, fallback):
+            try:
+                return adapter.validate_python(candidate)
+            except ValidationError:
+                pass
+        return value
+
+    try:
+        return adapter.validate_python(value)
+    except ValidationError:
+        return value
 
 
 def coerce_config(config, index, prefix=""):
@@ -557,8 +476,6 @@ class PresetSchema(BaseModel):
     "ScopeConfig",
     "SeverityLiteral",
     "WebConfig",
-    "accepted_types_from_annotation",
-    "accepted_types_from_string",
     "coerce_config",
     "coerce_value",
     "field_flags",
diff --git a/bbot/core/modules.py b/bbot/core/modules.py
index 3838913352..f0ec78aa04 100644
--- a/bbot/core/modules.py
+++ b/bbot/core/modules.py
@@ -523,41 +523,55 @@ def config_schema(self):
 
     @property
     def config_type_index(self):
-        """{dotted_config_path: frozenset(base_type_names)} for every known option.
-
-        Global keys come from the static BBOTConfig tree; per-module keys from
-        the preloaded AST annotation strings. No module Config is exec'd.
+        """{dotted_config_path: TypeAdapter} for every known config option.
+
+        Built by walking the materialized config schema (`config_schema`, i.e.
+        global config + every module's exec'd Config), so a single pydantic
+        TypeAdapter per leaf field drives coercion -- no hand-rolled type-name
+        parsing. Adapters are memoized by annotation (many fields share e.g.
+        `Optional[str]`). Nested models are recursed into via `_field_submodel`,
+        so `modules.<name>.<option>` keys fall out of the same walk.
         """
         if self._config_type_index is None:
-            from bbot.core.config.models import (
-                BBOTConfig,
-                BaseModuleConfig,
-                accepted_types_from_annotation,
-                accepted_types_from_string,
-                _field_submodel,
-            )
+            from pydantic import ConfigDict, TypeAdapter
+            from bbot.core.config.models import _field_submodel
+
+            # coerce_numbers_to_str lets a numeric YAML value (e.g. password: 12345678)
+            # validate against a str field; pydantic is otherwise lax-but-not-that-lax.
+            adapter_config = ConfigDict(coerce_numbers_to_str=True)
+            adapter_cache = {}
+
+            def make_adapter(annotation):
+                try:
+                    if annotation in adapter_cache:
+                        return adapter_cache[annotation]
+                    hashable = True
+                except TypeError:
+                    hashable = False
+                try:
+                    adapter = TypeAdapter(annotation, config=adapter_config)
+                except Exception as e:
+                    log.debug(f"config_type_index: no TypeAdapter for {annotation!r}: {e}")
+                    adapter = None
+                if hashable:
+                    adapter_cache[annotation] = adapter
+                return adapter
 
             index = {}
 
-            def walk_static(model, prefix=""):
+            def walk(model, prefix=""):
                 for fname, field in model.model_fields.items():
+                    sub = _field_submodel(field)
                     for key in {fname, getattr(field, "alias", None)} - {None}:
                         dotted = f"{prefix}.{key}" if prefix else key
-                        sub = _field_submodel(field)
-                        if sub is not None and fname != "modules":
-                            walk_static(sub, dotted)
+                        if sub is not None:
+                            walk(sub, dotted)
                         else:
-                            index[dotted] = accepted_types_from_annotation(field.annotation)
-
-            walk_static(BBOTConfig)
-
-            universal = {n: f.annotation for n, f in BaseModuleConfig.model_fields.items()}
-            for name, data in self._preloaded.items():
-                for field, ann_str in data.get("options_types", {}).items():
-                    index[f"modules.{name}.{field}"] = accepted_types_from_string(ann_str)
-                for field, ann in universal.items():
-                    index.setdefault(f"modules.{name}.{field}", accepted_types_from_annotation(ann))
+                            adapter = make_adapter(field.annotation)
+                            if adapter is not None:
+                                index[dotted] = adapter
 
+            walk(self.config_schema)
             self._config_type_index = index
         return self._config_type_index
 
diff --git a/bbot/scanner/preset/args.py b/bbot/scanner/preset/args.py
index 86565ade7a..b29dd09b8f 100644
--- a/bbot/scanner/preset/args.py
+++ b/bbot/scanner/preset/args.py
@@ -8,18 +8,18 @@
 from bbot.core.helpers.misc import chain_lists
 
 
-def _parse_cli_value(raw: str, accepted=None):
+def _parse_cli_value(raw: str, adapter=None):
     """Parse the RHS of a `-c a.b.c=value` argument.
 
-    `accepted` is the frozenset of base type-names for the target field (from the
-    config type index), or None when the field is unknown.  Coercion follows the
-    declared type: string fields keep the literal text (lossless), bool fields
-    produce a real bool, int/float fields use YAML, and unknown fields fall back to
-    plain YAML coercion.
+    `adapter` is the target field's pydantic TypeAdapter (from the config type
+    index), or None when the field is unknown. Coercion follows the declared type:
+    string fields keep the literal text (lossless), bool fields produce a real bool,
+    int/float fields parse via YAML, and unknown fields fall back to plain YAML
+    coercion.
     """
     if raw == "":
         return ""
-    return coerce_value(raw, accepted)
+    return coerce_value(raw, adapter)
 
 
 def parse_dotted_cli(entries, index=None):
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ def parse_dotted_cli(entries, index=None):
         path = path.strip()
         if not path:
             raise ValueError(f'Empty key in "{entry}"')
-        accepted = index.get(path) if index is not None else None
-        dotted_set(result, path, _parse_cli_value(raw.strip(), accepted))
+        adapter = index.get(path) if index is not None else None
+        dotted_set(result, path, _parse_cli_value(raw.strip(), adapter))
     return result