diff --git a/backend/danswer/chat/load_yamls.py b/backend/danswer/chat/load_yamls.py
index 959139f13..3320a02f2 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/chat/load_yamls.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/chat/load_yamls.py
@@ -82,12 +82,8 @@ def load_personas_from_yaml(
                 persona_id=(-1 * p_id) if p_id is not None else None,
                 name=persona["name"],
                 description=persona["description"],
-                num_chunks=persona.get("num_chunks")
-                if persona.get("num_chunks") is not None
-                else default_chunks,
-                use_recent_documents=persona["use_recent_documents"]
-                if persona["use_recent_documents"] is not None
-                else False,
+                num_chunks=persona.get("num_chunks", default_chunks),
+                use_recent_documents=persona.get("use_recent_documents", False),
                 num_days=persona.get("num_days"),
                 llm_relevance_filter=persona.get("llm_relevance_filter"),
                 starter_messages=persona.get("starter_messages"),
diff --git a/backend/danswer/llm/answering/answer.py b/backend/danswer/llm/answering/answer.py
index 97523bd77..11bd18379 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/llm/answering/answer.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/llm/answering/answer.py
@@ -248,20 +248,8 @@ class Answer:
             )
 
             if tool.name() == SearchTool.NAME:
-                final_context_documents = None
-                for response in tool_runner.tool_responses():
-                    if response.id == FINAL_CONTEXT_DOCUMENTS:
-                        final_context_documents = cast(list[LlmDoc], response.response)
-                    yield response
+                self._update_prompt_builder_for_search_tool(prompt_builder, [])
 
-                if final_context_documents is None:
-                    raise RuntimeError(
-                        "SearchTool did not return final context documents"
-                    )
-
-                self._update_prompt_builder_for_search_tool(
-                    prompt_builder, final_context_documents
-                )
             elif tool.name() == ImageGenerationTool.NAME:
                 prompt_builder.update_user_prompt(
                     build_image_generation_user_prompt(