diff --git a/agents-api/agents_api/activities/execute_system.py b/agents-api/agents_api/activities/execute_system.py
index e42891d92..bcf7855d2 100644
--- a/agents-api/agents_api/activities/execute_system.py
+++ b/agents-api/agents_api/activities/execute_system.py
@@ -18,8 +18,9 @@
 )
 from ..autogen.Sessions import CreateSessionRequest
 from ..autogen.Tools import SystemDef
+from ..common.protocol.remote import RemoteObject
 from ..common.protocol.tasks import StepContext
-from ..common.storage_handler import auto_blob_store
+from ..common.storage_handler import auto_blob_store, load_from_blob_store_if_remote
 from ..env import testing
 from ..models.developer import get_developer
 from .utils import get_handler
@@ -33,6 +34,10 @@ async def execute_system(
 ) -> Any:
     """Execute a system call with the appropriate handler and transformed arguments."""
     arguments: dict[str, Any] = system.arguments or {}
+
+    if set(arguments.keys()) == {"bucket", "key"}:
+        arguments = load_from_blob_store_if_remote(arguments)
+
     arguments["developer_id"] = context.execution_input.developer_id
 
     # Unbox all the arguments
diff --git a/agents-api/agents_api/common/storage_handler.py b/agents-api/agents_api/common/storage_handler.py
index 894b0ff72..132c44e79 100644
--- a/agents-api/agents_api/common/storage_handler.py
+++ b/agents-api/agents_api/common/storage_handler.py
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ def load_from_blob_store_if_remote(x: Any | RemoteObject) -> Any:
     elif isinstance(x, RemoteList):
         x = list(x)
 
+    elif isinstance(x, dict) and set(x.keys()) == {"bucket", "key"}:
+        fetched = s3.get_object(x["key"])
+        return deserialize(fetched)
+
     return x
 
 
diff --git a/agents-api/agents_api/models/utils.py b/agents-api/agents_api/models/utils.py
index ef38f9baf..92fcda152 100644
--- a/agents-api/agents_api/models/utils.py
+++ b/agents-api/agents_api/models/utils.py
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ def is_resource_busy(e: Exception) -> bool:
             return isinstance(e, HTTPException) and e.status_code == 429
 
         @retry(
-            stop=stop_after_attempt(2),
+            stop=stop_after_attempt(4),
             wait=wait_exponential(multiplier=1, min=4, max=10),
             retry=retry_if_exception(is_resource_busy),
         )
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ def wrapper(*args: P.args, client=None, **kwargs: P.kwargs) -> pd.DataFrame:
 
                 debug and print(repr(e))
 
-                if "busy" in str(getattr(e, "resp", e)).lower():
+                if "busy" in (str(e) + str(getattr(e, "resp", e))).lower():
                     raise HTTPException(
                         status_code=429, detail="Resource busy. Please try again later."
                     ) from e
diff --git a/agents-api/agents_api/workflows/task_execution/helpers.py b/agents-api/agents_api/workflows/task_execution/helpers.py
index 6d47b3a1f..09ecb6150 100644
--- a/agents-api/agents_api/workflows/task_execution/helpers.py
+++ b/agents-api/agents_api/workflows/task_execution/helpers.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 with workflow.unsafe.imports_passed_through():
     from ...activities import task_steps
     from ...autogen.openapi_model import (
+        EvaluateStep,
         TransitionTarget,
         Workflow,
         WorkflowStep,
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@ async def execute_if_else_branch(
     context: StepContext,
     execution_input: ExecutionInput,
     then_branch: WorkflowStep,
-    else_branch: WorkflowStep,
+    else_branch: WorkflowStep | None,
     condition: bool,
     previous_inputs: RemoteList | list[Any],
     user_state: dict[str, Any] = {},
@@ -98,6 +99,9 @@ async def execute_if_else_branch(
     workflow.logger.info(f"If-Else step: Condition evaluated to {condition}")
     chosen_branch = then_branch if condition else else_branch
 
+    if chosen_branch is None:
+        chosen_branch = EvaluateStep(evaluate={"output": "_"})
+
     if_else_wf_name = f"`{context.cursor.workflow}`[{context.cursor.step}].if_else"
     if_else_wf_name += ".then" if condition else ".else"
 
diff --git a/memory-store/docker-compose.yml b/memory-store/docker-compose.yml
index 51dcaea32..190d1b125 100644
--- a/memory-store/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/memory-store/docker-compose.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,14 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "9070:9070"
 
+    develop:
+      watch:
+        - action: sync+restart
+          path: ./options
+          target: /data/cozo.db/options
+        - action: rebuild
+          path: Dockerfile
+
     labels:
       ofelia.enabled: "true"
       ofelia.job-exec.backupcron.schedule: "@every 3h"
@@ -35,4 +43,4 @@ volumes:
   cozo_data:
     external: true
   cozo_backup:
-    external: true
\ No newline at end of file
+    external: true
diff --git a/memory-store/options b/memory-store/options
index 8a8e9b474..b11fcc62b 100644
--- a/memory-store/options
+++ b/memory-store/options
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@
   compaction_readahead_size=2097152
   strict_bytes_per_sync=false
   bytes_per_sync=1048576
-  max_background_jobs=16
+  max_background_jobs=32
   avoid_flush_during_shutdown=false
   max_background_flushes=-1
   delayed_write_rate=16777216
   max_open_files=-1
-  max_subcompactions=2
+  max_subcompactions=8
   writable_file_max_buffer_size=5048576
   wal_bytes_per_sync=0
   max_background_compactions=-1
@@ -100,10 +100,10 @@
   memtable_protection_bytes_per_key=0
   target_file_size_multiplier=1
   report_bg_io_stats=false
-  write_buffer_size=267108864
+  write_buffer_size=534217728
   memtable_huge_page_size=0
   max_successive_merges=0
-  max_write_buffer_number=25
+  max_write_buffer_number=50
   prefix_extractor=rocksdb.CappedPrefix.9
   bottommost_compression_opts={checksum=false;max_dict_buffer_bytes=0;enabled=false;max_dict_bytes=0;max_compressed_bytes_per_kb=896;parallel_threads=1;zstd_max_train_bytes=0;level=32767;use_zstd_dict_trainer=true;strategy=0;window_bits=-14;}
   paranoid_file_checks=false
diff --git a/scheduler/docker-compose.yml b/scheduler/docker-compose.yml
index 2c0cabacd..967fe5f40 100644
--- a/scheduler/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/scheduler/docker-compose.yml
@@ -107,3 +107,4 @@ services:
 
 volumes:
   temporal-db-data:
+    external: true