diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index ec1daccbe..51cf22dc4 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -379,18 +379,23 @@ workflows:
       - test-webapp:
           requires:
             - generate-graphql-schema
-  sci-test-on-demand:
-    jobs:
-      - generate-graphql-schema
-      - test-engine-sci:
-          requires:
-            - generate-graphql-schema
-          filters:
-            branches:
-              only:
-                - master
-                # Add additional branches to run sci-test against here. Clean up old branches if you notice any.
-                - feat/lithops-ds-sort-in-ram
+
+## sci-test on demand is currently failing as it either uses more RAM than CircleCI allows, or takes >15 minutes if
+## parallelism is reduced to minimize memory usage.
+## Re-test after https://github.com/metaspace2020/metaspace/issues/763 has been addressed
+#
+#  sci-test-on-demand:
+#    jobs:
+#      - generate-graphql-schema
+#      - test-engine-sci:
+#          requires:
+#            - generate-graphql-schema
+#          filters:
+#            branches:
+#              only:
+#                - master
+#                # Add additional branches to run sci-test against here. Clean up old branches if you notice any.
+#                - feat/lithops-ds-sort-in-ram
 
 
 ## Disabled until we have time to redo these tests
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pythonpublish.yml b/.github/workflows/pythonpublish.yml
index 648381bd5..48f113152 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pythonpublish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pythonpublish.yml
@@ -1,12 +1,7 @@
 name: Publish python-client
 
 on:
-  workflow_dispatch:  # Allow manual trigger
-  push:
-    paths:
-      - 'metaspace/python-client/metaspace/__init__.py'
-    branches:
-      - release
+  workflow_dispatch:  # Manual trigger
 
 jobs:
   deploy:
diff --git a/ansible/roles/sm_lithops_daemon/templates/sm-lithops-daemon.supervisor.j2 b/ansible/roles/sm_lithops_daemon/templates/sm-lithops-daemon.supervisor.j2
index 9bc5dfef0..a330406fa 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/sm_lithops_daemon/templates/sm-lithops-daemon.supervisor.j2
+++ b/ansible/roles/sm_lithops_daemon/templates/sm-lithops-daemon.supervisor.j2
@@ -9,3 +9,4 @@ redirect_stderr = true
 stdout_logfile = {{ sm_home }}/logs/{{ sm_lithops_daemon_app_name }}-%(process_num)s.log
 numprocs = {{ sm_lithops_daemon_nprocs }}
 startsecs = 10
+killasgroup = true  # Clean up child processes from multiprocessing
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/metaspace/engine/sm/engine/daemons/lithops.py b/metaspace/engine/sm/engine/daemons/lithops.py
index 1c924a0eb..be35ac974 100644
--- a/metaspace/engine/sm/engine/daemons/lithops.py
+++ b/metaspace/engine/sm/engine/daemons/lithops.py
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
 from traceback import format_exc
 
 from sm.engine.annotation_lithops.executor import LithopsStalledException
+from sm.engine.config import SMConfig
 from sm.engine.daemons.actions import DaemonActionStage, DaemonAction
 from sm.engine.dataset import DatasetStatus
-from sm.engine.errors import ImzMLError, AnnotationError
+from sm.engine.errors import AnnotationError
 from sm.engine.queue import QueueConsumer, QueuePublisher
-from sm.engine.config import SMConfig
 from sm.rest.dataset_manager import DatasetActionPriority
 
 
@@ -43,29 +43,30 @@ def _on_success(self, msg):
         self.logger.info(' SM lithops daemon: success')
         self._manager.post_to_slack('dart', f' [v] Annotation succeeded: {json.dumps(msg)}')
 
+    # pylint: disable=unused-argument
     def _on_failure(self, msg, e):
-        if isinstance(e, LithopsStalledException):
-            # Requeue the message so it retries, then exit the process and let supervisor restart it
-            if msg.get('retry_attempt', 0) < 1:
-                self.logger.info('Lithops stalled. Retrying')
-                self._lithops_queue_pub.publish(
-                    {**msg, 'retry_attempt': msg.get('retry_attempt', 0) + 1}
-                )
-            else:
-                self.logger.critical('Lithops stalled. Retrying on Spark')
-                self._annot_queue_pub.publish(msg)
-
+        exc = format_exc(limit=10)
+        # Requeue the message so it retries
+        if msg.get('retry_attempt', 0) < 1:
+            self.logger.warning(f'Lithops annotation failed, retrying.\n{exc}')
+            self._lithops_queue_pub.publish(
+                {**msg, 'retry_attempt': msg.get('retry_attempt', 0) + 1}
+            )
             self._manager.post_to_slack(
-                'bomb', f" [x] Lithops stall: {json.dumps(msg)}\n```{format_exc(limit=10)}```"
+                'bomb', f" [x] Annotation failed, retrying: {json.dumps(msg)}\n```{exc}```",
             )
-            os.kill(os.getpid(), signal.SIGINT)
-
         else:
-            self._manager.ds_failure_handler(msg, e)
+            self.logger.critical(f'Lithops annotation failed. Falling back to Spark\n{exc}')
+            self._annot_queue_pub.publish(msg)
+
+            self._manager.post_to_slack(
+                'bomb',
+                f" [x] Annotation failed, retrying on Spark: {json.dumps(msg)}\n```{exc}```",
+            )
 
-            if 'email' in msg:
-                traceback = e.__cause__.traceback if isinstance(e.__cause__, ImzMLError) else None
-                self._manager.send_failed_email(msg, traceback)
+        # Exit the process and let supervisor restart it, in case Lithops was left in
+        # an unrecoverable state
+        os.kill(os.getpid(), signal.SIGINT)
 
     def _callback(self, msg):
         try:
diff --git a/metaspace/engine/sm/engine/daemons/update.py b/metaspace/engine/sm/engine/daemons/update.py
index e3e8b9d5b..68010f237 100644
--- a/metaspace/engine/sm/engine/daemons/update.py
+++ b/metaspace/engine/sm/engine/daemons/update.py
@@ -9,8 +9,7 @@
 
 
 class SMUpdateDaemon:
-    """ Reads messages from the update queue and does indexing/update/delete
-    """
+    """Reads messages from the update queue and does indexing/update/delete"""
 
     logger = logging.getLogger('update-daemon')
 
@@ -37,7 +36,7 @@ def _on_success(self, msg):
         if msg['action'] in [DaemonAction.UPDATE, DaemonAction.INDEX]:
             msg['web_app_link'] = self._manager.create_web_app_link(msg)
 
-        if msg['action'] != DaemonAction.UPDATE:
+        if msg['action'] == DaemonAction.DELETE:
             self._manager.post_to_slack(
                 'dart', f' [v] Succeeded to {msg["action"]}: {json.dumps(msg)}'
             )
@@ -54,9 +53,6 @@ def _on_failure(self, msg, e):
     def _callback(self, msg):
         try:
             self.logger.info(f' SM update daemon received a message: {msg}')
-            self._manager.post_to_slack(
-                'new', f' [v] New {msg["action"]} message: {json.dumps(msg)}'
-            )
 
             ds = self._manager.load_ds(msg['ds_id'])
             self._manager.notify_update(ds.id, msg['action'], DaemonActionStage.STARTED)
diff --git a/metaspace/graphql/src/modules/auth/operation.ts b/metaspace/graphql/src/modules/auth/operation.ts
index 7876c0f46..8afedbc02 100644
--- a/metaspace/graphql/src/modules/auth/operation.ts
+++ b/metaspace/graphql/src/modules/auth/operation.ts
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ export const findUserByApiKey = async(apiKey: string, groups = false) => {
   return (await query.getOne()) || null
 }
 
-export const createExpiry = (minutes = 10): Moment => {
+export const createExpiry = (minutes = 60): Moment => {
   return utc().add(minutes, 'minutes')
 }