diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 1a6b0e5a5..08cb9ab7e 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ repos:
                 # - '@trivago/prettier-plugin-sort-imports@3.2.0' # removing it since pre-commit install fails
 
     - repo: https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8
-      rev: 3.9.2
+      rev: 7.1.1
       hooks:
           - id: flake8
             files: "^querybook/(server|tests)/.*\\.py$"
diff --git a/querybook/server/lib/utils/utils.py b/querybook/server/lib/utils/utils.py
index 5206c23ca..77bb809c5 100644
--- a/querybook/server/lib/utils/utils.py
+++ b/querybook/server/lib/utils/utils.py
@@ -162,8 +162,10 @@ def get_default_args(func):
     }
 
 
-def str_to_bool(value: Optional[str]) -> bool:
+def str_to_bool(value: Optional[str | bool]) -> bool:
     if value is None:
         return False
+    if isinstance(value, bool):
+        return value
 
     return value.lower() in ("yes", "true", "t", "1")