diff --git a/codebasin/util.py b/codebasin/util.py
index 122cbbc..e12220f 100644
--- a/codebasin/util.py
+++ b/codebasin/util.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2019-2024 Intel Corporation
+# Copyright (C) 2019-2025 Intel Corporation
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
 """
 Contains utility functions for common operations, including:
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-def ensure_ext(path: os.PathLike[str], extensions: Iterable[str]):
+def ensure_ext(path: os.PathLike[str], extensions: Iterable[str]) -> None:
     """
     Ensure that a path has one of the specified extensions.
 
@@ -33,11 +33,6 @@ def ensure_ext(path: os.PathLike[str], extensions: Iterable[str]):
     extensions: Iterable[str]
         The valid extensions to test against.
 
-    Returns
-    -------
-    bool
-        True if `path` is a file with one of the specified extensions.
-
     Raises
     ------
     TypeError
@@ -56,10 +51,10 @@ def ensure_ext(path: os.PathLike[str], extensions: Iterable[str]):
     extension = "".join(path.suffixes)
     if extension not in extensions:
         exts = ", ".join([f"'{ext}'" for ext in extensions])
-        raise ValueError(f"{path} does not have a valid extension: f{exts}")
+        raise ValueError(f"{path} does not have a valid extension: {exts}")
 
 
-def safe_open_write_binary(fname):
+def safe_open_write_binary(fname: os.PathLike[str]) -> typing.BinaryIO:
     """Open fname for (binary) writing. Truncate if not a symlink."""
     fpid = os.open(
         fname,
@@ -69,8 +64,34 @@ def safe_open_write_binary(fname):
     return os.fdopen(fpid, "wb")
 
 
-def valid_path(path):
-    """Return true if the path passed in is valid"""
+def valid_path(path: os.PathLike[str]) -> bool:
+    """
+    Check if a given file path is valid.
+
+    This function ensures that the file path does not contain
+    potentially dangerous characters such as null bytes (`\x00`)
+    or carriage returns/line feeds (`\n`, `\r`).
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    path : os.PathLike[str]
+        The file path to be validated.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    bool
+        A boolean value indicating whether the path is valid
+        (`True`) or invalid (`False`).
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> valid_path("/home/user/file.txt")
+    True
+    >>> valid_path("/home/user/\x00file.txt")
+    False
+    >>> valid_path("/home/user/file\n.txt")
+    False
+    """
     valid = True
 
     # Check for null byte character(s)
@@ -201,7 +222,10 @@ def _load_json(file_object: typing.TextIO, schema_name: str) -> object:
     return json_object
 
 
-def _load_toml(file_object: typing.TextIO, schema_name: str) -> object:
+def _load_toml(
+    file_object: typing.TextIO,
+    schema_name: str,
+) -> dict[str, typing.Any]:
     """
     Load TOML from file and validate it against a schema.
 
@@ -215,8 +239,9 @@ def _load_toml(file_object: typing.TextIO, schema_name: str) -> object:
 
     Returns
     -------
-    Object
-        The loaded TOML.
+    dict[str, Any]
+        The loaded TOML object, represented as a Python
+        dict with str key/value mappings.
 
     Raises
     ------