diff --git a/letta/orm/message.py b/letta/orm/message.py
index 41551fb5..89d6cc15 100644
--- a/letta/orm/message.py
+++ b/letta/orm/message.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class Message(SqlalchemyBase, OrganizationMixin, AgentMixin):
         if self.text and not model.content:
             model.content = [PydanticTextContent(text=self.text)]
         # If there are no tool calls, set tool_calls to None
-        if len(self.tool_calls) == 0:
+        if self.tool_calls is None or len(self.tool_calls) == 0:
             model.tool_calls = None
         return model
 
diff --git a/letta/server/db.py b/letta/server/db.py
index 4d103a96..a6ffcd4f 100644
--- a/letta/server/db.py
+++ b/letta/server/db.py
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ class DatabaseRegistry:
             self._setup_pool_monitoring(async_engine, "default_async")
 
             self._async_session_factories["default"] = async_sessionmaker(
-                expire_on_commit=True,
+                expire_on_commit=False,
                 close_resets_only=False,
                 autocommit=False,
                 autoflush=False,