diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d35c747..fd67716 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -479,21 +479,20 @@ For full docs and demos, checkout <a href="https://django-cotton.com" target="_b
 
 **Note:** This comparison was created due to multiple requests, apologies for any mistakes or if I have missed something from other packages - please get in touch / create an issue!
 
-| **Feature**                                                                                         | **Cotton**                 | **django-components**                  | **Slippers**                                               | **Django Template Partials**                      |
-|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|
-| **Intro**                                                                                           | UI-focused, expressive syntax       | Holistic solution with backend logic   | Enhances DTL for reusable components                       | Define and reuse inline HTML partials             |
-| **Definition of ‘component’**                                                                       | An HTML template           | A backend class with template          | An HTML template                                           | Inline specified partial                          |
-| **Syntax Style**                                                                     | HTML-like                  | Django Template Tags                   | Django Template Tags with custom tags                      | Django Template Tags                              |
-| **Create component in one step?**                                                                   | ✅ <br> (place in folder) | ❌ <br> (create additional class file) | ❌ <br> (need to register in YAML file or with function)   | ✅ <br> (declare inline or load via include tag) |
-| **Slots** <br> Pass HTML content between tags                                             | ✅                        | ✅                                    | ✅                                                        | ❌                                                |
-| **Named Slots** <br> Designate a slot in the component template                                     | ✅                        | ✅                                    | ✅ (using ‘fragments’)                                      | ❌                                                |
-| **Dynamic Components** <br> Dynamically render components based on a variable or expression         | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
-| **Scoped Slots** <br> Reference component context in parent template                                | ❌                         | ✅                                    | ❌                                                         | ❌                                                |
-| **Dynamic Attributes** <br> Pass string literals of basic Python types                              | ✅                        | ❌                                     | ❌                                                         | ❌                                                |
-| **Boolean Attributes** <br> Pass valueless attributes as True                                       | ✅                        | ✅                                    | ❌                                                         | ❌                                                |
-| **Declare Variables in Component View** <br> Set defaults for UI states                             | ✅                        | ❌ <br> (Use class properties)         | ✅                                                        | ❌                                                |
-| **Implicit Attribute Passing** <br> Pass all defined attributes to an element                       | ✅                        | ❌                                     | ✅                                                        | ❌                                                |
-| **Django Template Expressions in Attribute Values** <br> Use Django expressions in attribute values | ✅                        | ❌                                     | ❌                                                         | ❌                                                |
-| **Auto-Registering Components** <br> Start using components without manual registration             | ✅                        | ❌ <br> (Create class with decorator)  | ❌ <br> (Register in YAML file or with helper function)    | ✅                                               |
-| **Attribute Merging** <br> Replace existing attributes with component attributes                    | ✅                        | ✅                                    | ❌                                                         | ❌                                                |
-| **Multi-line Component Tags** <br> Write component tags over multiple lines                         | ✅                        | ❌                                     | ❌                                                         | ❌                                                |
+| **Feature**                                                                                         | **Cotton**                 | **django-components**                  | **Slippers**                                               |
+|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|
+| **Intro**                                                                                           | UI-focused, expressive syntax       | Holistic solution with backend logic   | Enhances DTL for reusable components                       |
+| **Definition of ‘component’**                                                                       | An HTML template           | A backend class with template          | An HTML template                                           |
+| **Syntax Style**                                                                                     | HTML-like                  | Django Template Tags                   | Django Template Tags with custom tags                      |
+| **One-step package install**                                                                        | ✅                        | ❌                                    | ❌                                                        |
+| **Create component in one step?**                                                                   | ✅ <br> (place in folder) | ✅ <br> (Technically yes with single-file components) | ❌ <br> (need to register in YAML file or with function)   |
+| **Slots** <br> Pass HTML content between tags                                             | ✅                        | ✅                                    | ✅                                                        |
+| **Named Slots** <br> Designate a slot in the component template                                     | ✅                        | ✅                                    | ✅ (using ‘fragments’)                                      |
+| **Dynamic Components** <br> Dynamically render components based on a variable or expression         | ✅                        | ✅                                    | ❌                                                        |
+| **Scoped Slots** <br> Reference component context in parent template                                | ❌                         | ✅                                    | ❌                                                         |
+| **Dynamic Attributes** <br> Pass string literals of basic Python types                              | ✅                        | ❌                                    | ❌                                                         |
+| **Boolean Attributes** <br> Pass valueless attributes as True                                       | ✅                        | ✅                                    | ❌                                                         |
+| **Implicit Attribute Passing** <br> Pass all defined attributes to an element                       | ✅                        | ❌                                     | ✅                                                        |
+| **Django Template Expressions in Attribute Values** <br> Use Django expressions in attribute values | ✅                        | ❌                                    | ❌                                                         |
+| **Attribute Merging** <br> Replace existing attributes with component attributes                    | ✅                        | ✅                                    | ❌                                                         |
+| **Multi-line Component Tags** <br> Write component tags over multiple lines                         | ✅                        | ✅                                     | ❌                                                         |
diff --git a/django_cotton/exceptions.py b/django_cotton/exceptions.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3b872c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/django_cotton/exceptions.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+class CottonIncompleteDynamicComponentError(Exception):
+    pass
diff --git a/django_cotton/templatetags/_context_models.py b/django_cotton/templatetags/_context_models.py
index 47ea007..299d270 100644
--- a/django_cotton/templatetags/_context_models.py
+++ b/django_cotton/templatetags/_context_models.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ from django.template import Variable, TemplateSyntaxError, Context
 from django.template.base import VariableDoesNotExist, Template
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 
+from django_cotton.utils import ensure_quoted
+
 
 class UnprocessableDynamicAttr(Exception):
     pass
@@ -70,7 +72,9 @@ class Attrs(Mapping):
     def __str__(self):
         return mark_safe(
             " ".join(
-                f'{k}="{v}"' for k, v in self._attrs.items() if k not in self._exclude_from_str
+                f"{k}={ensure_quoted(v)}"
+                for k, v in self._attrs.items()
+                if k not in self._exclude_from_str
             )
         )
 
diff --git a/django_cotton/templatetags/tags.py b/django_cotton/templatetags/tags.py
index d488d70..33c78d5 100644
--- a/django_cotton/templatetags/tags.py
+++ b/django_cotton/templatetags/tags.py
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import ast
 import functools
 from typing import Union, List
 
@@ -9,23 +8,18 @@ from django.template.base import (
     VariableDoesNotExist,
     Node,
     TemplateSyntaxError,
-    Template,
 )
 from django.template.loader import get_template
+from django.utils.html import format_html_join
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 
+from django_cotton.exceptions import CottonIncompleteDynamicComponentError
 from django_cotton.templatetags._context_models import Attrs, DynamicAttr, UnprocessableDynamicAttr
+from django_cotton.utils import get_cotton_data
 
 register = Library()
 
 
-class CottonIncompleteDynamicComponentErrorV2(Exception):
-    pass
-
-
-class UnprocessableValue:
-    def __init__(self, original_value):
-        self.original_value = original_value
 
 
 class CottonComponentNode(Node):
@@ -85,33 +79,6 @@ class CottonComponentNode(Node):
 
         return output
 
-    def _process_dynamic_value(self, value, context):
-        """Process a dynamic value, attempting to resolve it as a variable, template string, or literal."""
-        try:
-            # Try to resolve as a variable
-            return Variable(value).resolve(context)
-        except VariableDoesNotExist:
-            try:
-                # Try to parse as a template string
-                template = Template(
-                    f"{{% with True as True and False as False and None as None %}}{value}{{% endwith %}}"
-                )
-                rendered_value = template.render(context)
-
-                # Check if the rendered value is different from the original
-                if rendered_value != value:
-                    return rendered_value
-                else:
-                    # If it's the same, move on to the next step
-                    raise ValueError("Template rendering did not change the value")
-            except (TemplateSyntaxError, ValueError):
-                try:
-                    # Try to parse as an AST literal
-                    return ast.literal_eval(value)
-                except (ValueError, SyntaxError):
-                    # Flag as unprocessable if none of the above worked
-                    return UnprocessableValue(value)
-
     def _get_cached_template(self, context, attrs):
         cache = context.render_context.get(self)
         if cache is None:
@@ -133,7 +100,7 @@ class CottonComponentNode(Node):
         """Generate the path to the template for the given component name."""
         if component_name == "component":
             if is_ is None:
-                raise CottonIncompleteDynamicComponentErrorV2(
+                raise CottonIncompleteDynamicComponentError(
                     'Cotton error: "<c-component>" should be accompanied by an "is" attribute.'
                 )
             component_name = is_
@@ -148,13 +115,6 @@ class CottonComponentNode(Node):
             return value[1:-1]
         return value
 
-
-def get_cotton_data(context):
-    if "cotton_data" not in context:
-        context["cotton_data"] = {"stack": [], "vars": {}}
-    return context["cotton_data"]
-
-
 @register.tag("comp")
 def cotton_component(parser, token):
     bits = token.split_contents()[1:]
@@ -291,3 +251,21 @@ def cotton_vars(parser, token):
     parser.delete_first_token()
 
     return CottonVarsNode(var_dict, empty_vars, nodelist)
+
+
+@register.filter
+def merge(attrs, args):
+    # attrs is expected to be a dictionary of existing attributes
+    # args is a string of additional attributes to merge, e.g., "class:extra-class"
+    for arg in args.split(","):
+        key, value = arg.split(":", 1)
+        if key in attrs:
+            attrs[key] = value + " " + attrs[key]
+        else:
+            attrs[key] = value
+    return format_html_join(" ", '{0}="{1}"', attrs.items())
+
+
+@register.filter
+def get_item(dictionary, key):
+    return dictionary.get(key)
diff --git a/django_cotton/tests/test_attributes.py b/django_cotton/tests/test_attributes.py
index a3a1049..4e7d6de 100644
--- a/django_cotton/tests/test_attributes.py
+++ b/django_cotton/tests/test_attributes.py
@@ -521,3 +521,51 @@ class AttributeHandlingTests(CottonTestCase):
         with self.settings(ROOT_URLCONF=self.url_conf()):
             response = self.client.get("/view/")
             self.assertTrue(response.status_code == 200)
+
+    def test_htmx_attribute_values_single_quote(self):
+        # tests for json-like values
+        self.create_template(
+            "cotton/htmx.html",
+            """
+            <div {{ attrs }}><div>
+            """,
+        )
+
+        self.create_template(
+            "htmx_view.html",
+            """
+            <c-htmx
+              hx-vals='{"id": "1"}'
+            />
+            """,
+            "view/",
+        )
+
+        # Override URLconf
+        with self.settings(ROOT_URLCONF=self.url_conf()):
+            response = self.client.get("/view/")
+            self.assertContains(response, """'{"id": "1"}'""")
+
+    def test_htmx_attribute_values_double_quote(self):
+        # tests for json-like values
+        self.create_template(
+            "cotton/htmx2.html",
+            """
+            <div {{ attrs }}><div>
+            """,
+        )
+
+        self.create_template(
+            "htmx_view2.html",
+            """
+            <c-htmx2
+              hx-vals="{'id': '1'}"
+            />
+            """,
+            "view/",
+        )
+
+        # Override URLconf
+        with self.settings(ROOT_URLCONF=self.url_conf()):
+            response = self.client.get("/view/")
+            self.assertContains(response, "\"{'id': '1'}\"")
diff --git a/django_cotton/utils.py b/django_cotton/utils.py
index 5e7a98d..4dcc4bc 100644
--- a/django_cotton/utils.py
+++ b/django_cotton/utils.py
@@ -12,7 +12,15 @@ def eval_string(value):
 
 
 def ensure_quoted(value):
-    if isinstance(value, str) and value.startswith('"') and value.endswith('"'):
-        return value
-    else:
-        return f'"{value}"'
+    if isinstance(value, str):
+        if value.startswith('{"') and value.endswith("}"):
+            return f"'{value}'"  # use single quotes for json-like strings
+        elif value.startswith('"') and value.endswith('"'):
+            return value  # already quoted
+    return f'"{value}"'  # default to double quotes
+
+
+def get_cotton_data(context):
+    if "cotton_data" not in context:
+        context["cotton_data"] = {"stack": [], "vars": {}}
+    return context["cotton_data"]