diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index b5ee398f..67afc874 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ jobs:
         MEMGPT_SERVER_PASS: test_server_token
         MEMGPT_CONFIG_PATH: configs/server_config.yaml
 
-      run: docker compose up &
+      run: docker compose up -d
 
     - name: Run server tests
       env:
diff --git a/memgpt/server/rest_api/agents/index.py b/memgpt/server/rest_api/agents/index.py
index d71df7b7..1a86b1a3 100644
--- a/memgpt/server/rest_api/agents/index.py
+++ b/memgpt/server/rest_api/agents/index.py
@@ -57,26 +57,21 @@ def setup_agents_index_router(server: SyncServer, interface: QueuingInterface, p
         interface.clear()
 
         try:
-            try:
-                # print("YYY", request.config)
-                agent_state = server.create_agent(
-                    user_id=user_id,
-                    # **request.config
-                    # TODO turn into a pydantic model
-                    name=request.config["name"],
-                    preset=request.config["preset"] if "preset" in request.config else None,
-                    persona_name=request.config["persona_name"] if "persona_name" in request.config else None,
-                    human_name=request.config["human_name"] if "human_name" in request.config else None,
-                    persona=request.config["persona"] if "persona" in request.config else None,
-                    human=request.config["human"] if "human" in request.config else None,
-                    # llm_config=LLMConfigModel(
-                    # model=request.config['model'],
-                    # )
-                    function_names=request.config["function_names"].split(",") if "function_names" in request.config else None,
-                )
-            except:
-                print(f"Failed to create agent from provided config:\n{request.config}")
-                raise
+            agent_state = server.create_agent(
+                user_id=user_id,
+                # **request.config
+                # TODO turn into a pydantic model
+                name=request.config["name"],
+                preset=request.config["preset"] if "preset" in request.config else None,
+                persona_name=request.config["persona_name"] if "persona_name" in request.config else None,
+                human_name=request.config["human_name"] if "human_name" in request.config else None,
+                persona=request.config["persona"] if "persona" in request.config else None,
+                human=request.config["human"] if "human" in request.config else None,
+                # llm_config=LLMConfigModel(
+                # model=request.config['model'],
+                # )
+                function_names=request.config["function_names"].split(",") if "function_names" in request.config else None,
+            )
             llm_config = LLMConfigModel(**vars(agent_state.llm_config))
             embedding_config = EmbeddingConfigModel(**vars(agent_state.embedding_config))
 
diff --git a/memgpt/server/rest_api/agents/message.py b/memgpt/server/rest_api/agents/message.py
index 3c1d0b67..3ea0d2f3 100644
--- a/memgpt/server/rest_api/agents/message.py
+++ b/memgpt/server/rest_api/agents/message.py
@@ -34,13 +34,22 @@ class UserMessageRequest(BaseModel):
         description="Timestamp to tag the message with (in ISO format). If null, timestamp will be created server-side on receipt of message.",
     )
 
-    @validator("timestamp")
-    def validate_timestamp(cls, value: Any) -> Any:
-        if value.tzinfo is None or value.tzinfo.utcoffset(value) is None:
-            raise ValueError("Timestamp must include timezone information.")
-        if value.tzinfo.utcoffset(value) != datetime.fromtimestamp(timezone.utc).utcoffset():
-            raise ValueError("Timestamp must be in UTC.")
-        return value
+    # @validator("timestamp", pre=True, always=True)
+    # def validate_timestamp(cls, value: Optional[datetime]) -> Optional[datetime]:
+    #    if value is None:
+    #        return value  # If the timestamp is None, just return None, implying default handling to set server-side
+
+    #    if not isinstance(value, datetime):
+    #        raise TypeError("Timestamp must be a datetime object with timezone information.")
+
+    #    if value.tzinfo is None or value.tzinfo.utcoffset(value) is None:
+    #        raise ValueError("Timestamp must be timezone-aware.")
+
+    #    # Convert timestamp to UTC if it's not already in UTC
+    #    if value.tzinfo.utcoffset(value) != timezone.utc.utcoffset(value):
+    #        value = value.astimezone(timezone.utc)
+
+    #    return value
 
 
 class UserMessageResponse(BaseModel):
diff --git a/tests/test_client.py b/tests/test_client.py
index 945419ab..ff739033 100644
--- a/tests/test_client.py
+++ b/tests/test_client.py
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ def run_server():
 @pytest.fixture(
     params=[
         {"base_url": local_service_url},
-        {"base_url": docker_compose_url},  # TODO: add when docker compose added to tests
+        # {"base_url": docker_compose_url},  # TODO: add when docker compose added to tests
         # {"base_url": None} # TODO: add when implemented
     ],
     scope="module",