diff --git a/demo/openapi-3-1.yaml b/demo/openapi-3-1.yaml
index 6f6496aa..c905d4d8 100644
--- a/demo/openapi-3-1.yaml
+++ b/demo/openapi-3-1.yaml
@@ -964,8 +964,7 @@ components:
       properties:
         id:
           description: Category ID
-          allOf:
-            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id'
+          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id'
         name:
           description: Category name
           type: string
@@ -1015,12 +1014,10 @@ components:
       properties:
         id:
           description: Order ID
-          allOf:
-            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id'
+          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id'
         petId:
           description: Pet ID
-          allOf:
-            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id'
+          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id'
         quantity:
           type: integer
           format: int32
@@ -1065,12 +1062,10 @@ components:
             description: "Find more info here"
             url: "https://example.com"
           description: Pet ID
-          allOf:
-            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id'
+          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id'
         category:
           description: Categories this pet belongs to
-          allOf:
-            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Category'
+          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Category'
         name:
           description: The name given to a pet
           type: string
@@ -1087,8 +1082,7 @@ components:
             type: string
             format: url
         friend:
-          allOf:
-            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Pet'
+          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Pet'
         tags:
           description: Tags attached to the pet
           type: array
@@ -1117,8 +1111,7 @@ components:
       properties:
         id:
           description: Tag ID
-          allOf:
-            - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id'
+          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id'
         name:
           description: Tag name
           type: string
@@ -1133,6 +1126,7 @@ components:
         pet:
           oneOf:
             - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Pet'
+              title: Pettie
             - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Tag'
         username:
           description: User supplied username
@@ -1179,10 +1173,9 @@ components:
       content:
         application/json:
           schema:
-            allOf:
-              - description: My Pet
-                title: Pettie
-              - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Pet'
+            description: My Pet
+            title: Pettie
+            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Pet'
         application/xml:
           schema:
             type: 'object'
diff --git a/demo/playground/hmr-playground.tsx b/demo/playground/hmr-playground.tsx
index efd843ab..3901cfbd 100644
--- a/demo/playground/hmr-playground.tsx
+++ b/demo/playground/hmr-playground.tsx
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ const swagger = window.location.search.indexOf('swagger') > -1;
 const userUrl = window.location.search.match(/url=(.*)$/);
 
 const specUrl =
-  (userUrl && userUrl[1]) || (swagger ? 'swagger.yaml' : big ? 'big-openapi.json' : 'openapi.yaml');
+  (userUrl && userUrl[1]) || (swagger ? 'swagger.yaml' : big ? 'big-openapi.json' : 'openapi-3-1.yaml');
 
 const options: RedocRawOptions = { nativeScrollbars: false, maxDisplayedEnumValues: 3 };
 
diff --git a/src/services/OpenAPIParser.ts b/src/services/OpenAPIParser.ts
index b0d3a8f4..83a65fda 100644
--- a/src/services/OpenAPIParser.ts
+++ b/src/services/OpenAPIParser.ts
@@ -45,9 +45,9 @@ class RefCounter {
 export class OpenAPIParser {
   specUrl?: string;
   spec: OpenAPISpec;
-  mergeRefs: Set<string>;
 
   private _refCounter: RefCounter = new RefCounter();
+  private allowMergeRefs: boolean = false;
 
   constructor(
     spec: OpenAPISpec,
@@ -58,8 +58,7 @@ export class OpenAPIParser {
     this.preprocess(spec);
 
     this.spec = spec;
-
-    this.mergeRefs = new Set();
+    this.allowMergeRefs = spec.openapi.startsWith('3.1');
 
     const href = IS_BROWSER ? window.location.href : '';
     if (typeof specUrl === 'string') {
@@ -165,16 +164,36 @@ export class OpenAPIParser {
         return Object.assign({}, resolved, { 'x-circular-ref': true });
       }
       // deref again in case one more $ref is here
+      let result = resolved;
       if (this.isRef(resolved)) {
-        const res = this.deref(resolved);
+        result = this.deref(resolved);
         this.exitRef(resolved);
-        return res;
       }
-      return resolved;
+      return this.allowMergeRefs ? this.mergeRefs(obj, resolved) : result;
     }
     return obj;
   }
 
+  mergeRefs(ref, resolved) {
+    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
+    const { $ref, ...rest } = ref;
+    const keys = Object.keys(rest);
+    if (keys.length === 0) {
+      return resolved;
+    }
+    if (keys.some((k) => k !== 'description' && k !== 'title' && k !== 'externalDocs')) {
+      return {
+        allOf: [resolved, rest],
+      };
+    } else {
+      // small optimization
+      return {
+        ...resolved,
+        ...rest,
+      };
+    }
+  }
+
   shalowDeref<T extends object>(obj: OpenAPIRef | T): T {
     if (this.isRef(obj)) {
       return this.byRef<T>(obj.$ref)!;
@@ -234,7 +253,7 @@ export class OpenAPIParser {
           schema: subMerged,
         };
       })
-      .filter(child => child !== undefined) as Array<{
+      .filter((child) => child !== undefined) as Array<{
       $ref: string | undefined;
       schema: MergedOpenAPISchema;
     }>;
@@ -265,7 +284,7 @@ export class OpenAPIParser {
               { allOf: [receiver.properties[prop], subSchema.properties[prop]] },
               $ref + '/properties/' + prop,
             );
-            receiver.properties[prop] = mergedProp
+            receiver.properties[prop] = mergedProp;
             this.exitParents(mergedProp); // every prop resolution should have separate recursive stack
           }
         }
@@ -313,7 +332,7 @@ export class OpenAPIParser {
       const def = this.deref(schemas[defName]);
       if (
         def.allOf !== undefined &&
-        def.allOf.find(obj => obj.$ref !== undefined && $refs.indexOf(obj.$ref) > -1)
+        def.allOf.find((obj) => obj.$ref !== undefined && $refs.indexOf(obj.$ref) > -1)
       ) {
         res['#/components/schemas/' + defName] = [def['x-discriminator-value'] || defName];
       }
@@ -339,7 +358,7 @@ export class OpenAPIParser {
         const beforeAllOf = allOf.slice(0, i);
         const afterAllOf = allOf.slice(i + 1);
         return {
-          oneOf: sub.oneOf.map(part => {
+          oneOf: sub.oneOf.map((part) => {
             const merged = this.mergeAllOf({
               allOf: [...beforeAllOf, part, ...afterAllOf],
             });