diff --git a/src/reportengine/configparser.py b/src/reportengine/configparser.py
index accf9c9..bce1482 100644
--- a/src/reportengine/configparser.py
+++ b/src/reportengine/configparser.py
@@ -13,15 +13,14 @@
 import json
 from copy import copy
 
-import ruamel.yaml
+from ruamel.yaml import YAMLError
 
 from reportengine import namespaces
-from reportengine.utils import ChainMap, get_classmembers
+from reportengine.utils import ChainMap, get_classmembers, yaml_rt
 from reportengine import templateparser
 from reportengine.baseexceptions import ErrorWithAlternatives, AsInputError
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-yaml=ruamel.yaml.YAML(typ='safe')
 
 _config_token = 'parse_'
 _produce_token = 'produce_'
@@ -801,10 +800,10 @@ def __contains__(self, item):
     @classmethod
     def from_yaml(cls, o, *args, **kwargs):
         try:
-            return cls(yaml.load(o), *args, **kwargs)
-        except ruamel.yaml.YAMLError as e:
+            return cls(yaml_rt.load(o), *args, **kwargs)
+        except YAMLError as e:
             raise ConfigError(f"Failed to parse yaml file: {e}")
 
     def dump_lockfile(self):
         with open(self.environment.input_folder/"lockfile.yaml", "w+") as f:
-            yaml.dump(self.lockfile, stream=f)
+            yaml_rt.dump(self.lockfile, stream=f)
diff --git a/src/reportengine/report.py b/src/reportengine/report.py
index eb0043e..8f8c317 100644
--- a/src/reportengine/report.py
+++ b/src/reportengine/report.py
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 """
 from __future__ import generator_stop
 
-import os
 import os.path as osp
 import logging
 import subprocess
@@ -41,7 +40,6 @@
 
 import dask.distributed
 import jinja2
-import ruamel.yaml
 
 from . import configparser
 from . resourcebuilder import target_map
@@ -52,10 +50,9 @@
 from . import styles
 from . import filefinder
 from . import floatformatting
-
+from . utils import yaml_rt
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-yaml=ruamel.yaml.YAML(typ='safe')
 
 
 __all__ = ('report', 'Config')
@@ -214,7 +211,13 @@ def meta_file(output_path, meta:(dict, type(None))=None):
     path = output_path/fname
     with open(path, 'w') as f:
         f.write('\n')
-        yaml.dump(meta, f)
+        #Using round_trip_dump is important here because the input dict may be a
+        #recursive commented map, which yaml.dump (or safe_dumo) doesn't know
+        #how to process correctly.
+        yaml_rt.explicit_start=True
+        yaml_rt.explicit_end=True
+        yaml_rt.default_flow_style=False
+        yaml_rt.dump(meta, f)
     return fname
 
 def pandoc_template(*, templatename='report.template', output_path):
diff --git a/src/reportengine/templateparser.py b/src/reportengine/templateparser.py
index fd27daf..27ba91d 100644
--- a/src/reportengine/templateparser.py
+++ b/src/reportengine/templateparser.py
@@ -9,12 +9,12 @@
 from collections import namedtuple
 import logging
 
-import ruamel.yaml
+from ruamel.yaml import YAMLError
 
+from reportengine.utils import yaml_safe
 from reportengine.targets import FuzzyTarget
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-yaml=ruamel.yaml.YAML(typ='safe')
 
 
 #TODO: Do a real tokenizer/lexer/parser? Would avoid having r'\s*?'
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ def parse_assignments(args):
             k = m.group(1)
             vstring = m.group(2)
             try:
-                v = yaml.load(vstring)
-            except ruamel.yaml.YAMLError:
+                v = yaml_safe.load(vstring)
+            except YAMLError:
                 raise ValueError(f"Couldn't process assignment value '{vstring}'")
             res.append((k, v))
         else:
diff --git a/src/reportengine/tests/test_app.py b/src/reportengine/tests/test_app.py
index 42ea2f9..f825d9b 100644
--- a/src/reportengine/tests/test_app.py
+++ b/src/reportengine/tests/test_app.py
@@ -8,9 +8,7 @@
 import ruamel.yaml
 
 from reportengine import app
-from reportengine.tests.utils import tmp
-
-yaml=ruamel.yaml.YAML(typ='safe')
+from reportengine.utils import yaml_safe
 
 
 runcard =\
@@ -61,7 +59,7 @@ def test_app_runs(tmp):
 
     #Test meta round trip
     with open(output_path/'meta.yaml') as f:
-        meta = yaml.load(f)
+        meta = yaml_safe.load(f)
     assert meta['author'] == "Zahari Kassabov"
     assert meta['keywords'] == ["test", "debug"]
 
diff --git a/src/reportengine/tests/test_configparser.py b/src/reportengine/tests/test_configparser.py
index 8693884..2986990 100644
--- a/src/reportengine/tests/test_configparser.py
+++ b/src/reportengine/tests/test_configparser.py
@@ -8,14 +8,11 @@
 from collections import OrderedDict
 import unittest
 
-import ruamel.yaml
-
-from reportengine.utils import ChainMap
+from reportengine.utils import ChainMap, yaml_safe
 from reportengine import namespaces
 from reportengine.configparser import (Config, BadInputType, element_of,
                                        named_element_of, ConfigError)
 
-yaml=ruamel.yaml.YAML(typ='safe')
 
 class BaseConfig(Config):
 
@@ -196,7 +193,7 @@ def test_rewrite_actions():
     c = BaseConfig(inp)
     r = c.parse_actions_(inp['actions_'])
     suggested_yaml = c._rewrite_old_actions(r)
-    newacts = yaml.load(suggested_yaml)
+    newacts = yaml_safe.load(suggested_yaml)
     newr = c.parse_actions_(newacts['actions_'])
     assert newr == r
 
diff --git a/src/reportengine/utils.py b/src/reportengine/utils.py
index fa9bae8..a2d5e5a 100644
--- a/src/reportengine/utils.py
+++ b/src/reportengine/utils.py
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@
 import re
 import importlib.util
 import pathlib
+from ruamel.yaml import YAML
+
+yaml_rt = YAML(typ="rt")
+yaml_safe = YAML(typ="safe")
 
 #TODO: Support metaclass attributes?
 def get_classmembers(cls, *, predicate=None):