diff --git a/tests/unit/conftest.py b/tests/unit/conftest.py
index 75afb3fa6..1c6138f3d 100644
--- a/tests/unit/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/unit/conftest.py
@@ -51,21 +51,19 @@ def retriever_mock() -> MagicMock:
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope="function")
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.VectorRetriever._verify_version")
-def vector_retriever(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock
-) -> VectorRetriever:
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
+def vector_retriever(mock_get_version: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock) -> VectorRetriever:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     return VectorRetriever(driver, "my-index")
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope="function")
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.VectorCypherRetriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def vector_cypher_retriever(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock
 ) -> VectorCypherRetriever:
-    retrieval_query = """
-        RETURN node.id AS node_id, node.text AS text, score
-        """
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
+    retrieval_query = "RETURN node.id AS node_id, node.text AS text, score"
     return VectorCypherRetriever(driver, "my-index", retrieval_query)
 
 
@@ -77,10 +75,11 @@ def hybrid_retriever(mock_get_version: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock) -> HybridRe
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope="function")
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.Text2CypherRetriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def t2c_retriever(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
 ) -> Text2CypherRetriever:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     return Text2CypherRetriever(driver, llm)
 
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/retrievers/test_text2cypher.py b/tests/unit/retrievers/test_text2cypher.py
index 05b1e5450..5f23164c8 100644
--- a/tests/unit/retrievers/test_text2cypher.py
+++ b/tests/unit/retrievers/test_text2cypher.py
@@ -30,42 +30,44 @@
 
 
 def test_t2c_retriever_initialization(driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock) -> None:
-    with patch(
-        "neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.Retriever._verify_version"
-    ) as mock_verify:
+    with patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version") as mock_get_version:
+        mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
         Text2CypherRetriever(driver, llm, neo4j_schema="dummy-text")
-        mock_verify.assert_called_once()
+        mock_get_version.assert_called_once()
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.Retriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 @patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.text2cypher.get_schema")
 def test_t2c_retriever_schema_retrieval(
     get_schema_mock: MagicMock,
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock,
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock,
     driver: MagicMock,
     llm: MagicMock,
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     Text2CypherRetriever(driver, llm)
     get_schema_mock.assert_called_once()
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.Retriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 @patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.text2cypher.get_schema")
 def test_t2c_retriever_schema_retrieval_failure(
     get_schema_mock: MagicMock,
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock,
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock,
     driver: MagicMock,
     llm: MagicMock,
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     get_schema_mock.side_effect = Neo4jError
     with pytest.raises(SchemaFetchError):
         Text2CypherRetriever(driver, llm)
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.Text2CypherRetriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_invalid_neo4j_schema(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     with pytest.raises(RetrieverInitializationError) as exc_info:
         Text2CypherRetriever(
             driver=driver,
@@ -77,10 +79,11 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_invalid_neo4j_schema(
     assert "Input should be a valid string" in str(exc_info.value)
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.Text2CypherRetriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_invalid_search_query(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     with pytest.raises(SearchValidationError) as exc_info:
         retriever = Text2CypherRetriever(
             driver=driver, llm=llm, neo4j_schema="dummy-text"
@@ -91,10 +94,11 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_invalid_search_query(
     assert "Input should be a valid string" in str(exc_info.value)
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.Text2CypherRetriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_invalid_search_examples(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     with pytest.raises(RetrieverInitializationError) as exc_info:
         Text2CypherRetriever(
             driver=driver,
@@ -107,13 +111,14 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_invalid_search_examples(
     assert "Initialization failed" in str(exc_info.value)
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.Text2CypherRetriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_happy_path(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock,
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock,
     driver: MagicMock,
     llm: MagicMock,
     neo4j_record: MagicMock,
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     t2c_query = "MATCH (n) RETURN n;"
     query_text = "may thy knife chip and shatter"
     neo4j_schema = "dummy-schema"
@@ -147,10 +152,11 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_happy_path(
     )
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.Text2CypherRetriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_cypher_error(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     t2c_query = "this is not a cypher query"
     neo4j_schema = "dummy-schema"
     examples = ["example-1", "example-2"]
@@ -165,14 +171,15 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_cypher_error(
     assert "Failed to get search result" in str(e)
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.Text2CypherRetriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_with_result_format_function(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock,
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock,
     driver: MagicMock,
     llm: MagicMock,
     neo4j_record: MagicMock,
     result_formatter: MagicMock,
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     retriever = Text2CypherRetriever(
         driver=driver, llm=llm, result_formatter=result_formatter
     )
@@ -197,13 +204,14 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_with_result_format_function(
     )
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.Retriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_initialization_with_custom_prompt(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock,
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock,
     driver: MagicMock,
     llm: MagicMock,
     neo4j_record: MagicMock,
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     prompt = "This is a custom prompt. {query_text}"
     retriever = Text2CypherRetriever(driver=driver, llm=llm, custom_prompt=prompt)
     driver.execute_query.return_value = (
@@ -216,13 +224,14 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_initialization_with_custom_prompt(
     llm.invoke.assert_called_once_with("This is a custom prompt. test")
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.Retriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_initialization_with_custom_prompt_and_schema_and_examples(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock,
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock,
     driver: MagicMock,
     llm: MagicMock,
     neo4j_record: MagicMock,
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     prompt = "This is a custom prompt. {query_text}"
     neo4j_schema = "dummy-schema"
     examples = ["example-1", "example-2"]
@@ -245,10 +254,11 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_initialization_with_custom_prompt_and_schema_and_examples
     llm.invoke.assert_called_once_with("This is a custom prompt. test")
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.Text2CypherRetriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_invalid_custom_prompt_type(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock, driver: MagicMock, llm: MagicMock
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     with pytest.raises(RetrieverInitializationError) as exc_info:
         Text2CypherRetriever(
             driver=driver,
@@ -259,13 +269,14 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_invalid_custom_prompt_type(
     assert "Input should be a valid string" in str(exc_info.value)
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.Retriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_with_custom_prompt_prompt_params(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock,
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock,
     driver: MagicMock,
     llm: MagicMock,
     neo4j_record: MagicMock,
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     prompt = "This is a custom prompt. {query_text} {examples_custom}"
     query = "test"
     examples = ["example A", "example B"]
@@ -283,13 +294,14 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_with_custom_prompt_prompt_params(
     )
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.Retriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 def test_t2c_retriever_with_custom_prompt_bad_prompt_params(
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock,
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock,
     driver: MagicMock,
     llm: MagicMock,
     neo4j_record: MagicMock,
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     prompt = "This is a custom prompt. {query_text} {examples}"
     query = "test"
     examples = ["example A", "example B"]
@@ -313,15 +325,16 @@ def test_t2c_retriever_with_custom_prompt_bad_prompt_params(
     )
 
 
-@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.Retriever._verify_version")
+@patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.base.get_version")
 @patch("neo4j_graphrag.retrievers.text2cypher.get_schema")
 def test_t2c_retriever_with_custom_prompt_and_schema(
     get_schema_mock: MagicMock,
-    _verify_version_mock: MagicMock,
+    mock_get_version: MagicMock,
     driver: MagicMock,
     llm: MagicMock,
     neo4j_record: MagicMock,
 ) -> None:
+    mock_get_version.return_value = ((5, 23, 0), False)
     prompt = "This is a custom prompt. {query_text} {schema}"
     query = "test"