diff --git a/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/app_base.py b/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/app_base.py
index 22529a66c2..5e767dfbef 100644
--- a/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/app_base.py
+++ b/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/app_base.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import logging
-import multiprocessing
 import time
 from typing import Any
 
@@ -163,7 +162,10 @@ def on_task_postrun(
 
 def on_celeryd_init(sender: Any = None, conf: Any = None, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
     """The first signal sent on celery worker startup"""
-    multiprocessing.set_start_method("spawn")  # fork is unsafe, set to spawn
+    # rkuo: commenting out as set_start_method seems to work here on macOS
+    # but not in the cloud and it is unclear why.
+    # logger.info(f"Multiprocessing start method - setting to spawn.")
+    # multiprocessing.set_start_method("spawn")  # fork is unsafe, set to spawn
 
 
 def wait_for_redis(sender: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
diff --git a/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/heavy.py b/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/heavy.py
index f45e6df9aa..ee8958e7dd 100644
--- a/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/heavy.py
+++ b/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/heavy.py
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ def on_celeryd_init(sender: Any = None, conf: Any = None, **kwargs: Any) -> None
 @worker_init.connect
 def on_worker_init(sender: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
     logger.info("worker_init signal received.")
+    multiprocessing.set_start_method("spawn")  # fork is unsafe, set to spawn
     logger.info(f"Multiprocessing start method: {multiprocessing.get_start_method()}")
 
     SqlEngine.set_app_name(POSTGRES_CELERY_WORKER_HEAVY_APP_NAME)
diff --git a/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/indexing.py b/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/indexing.py
index 9262b632dc..46282772ff 100644
--- a/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/indexing.py
+++ b/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/indexing.py
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ def on_celeryd_init(sender: Any = None, conf: Any = None, **kwargs: Any) -> None
 @worker_init.connect
 def on_worker_init(sender: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
     logger.info("worker_init signal received.")
+    multiprocessing.set_start_method("spawn")  # fork is unsafe, set to spawn
     logger.info(f"Multiprocessing start method: {multiprocessing.get_start_method()}")
 
     SqlEngine.set_app_name(POSTGRES_CELERY_WORKER_INDEXING_APP_NAME)
diff --git a/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/light.py b/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/light.py
index e6567b1477..11f1341a1e 100644
--- a/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/light.py
+++ b/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/light.py
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ def on_celeryd_init(sender: Any = None, conf: Any = None, **kwargs: Any) -> None
 @worker_init.connect
 def on_worker_init(sender: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
     logger.info("worker_init signal received.")
+    multiprocessing.set_start_method("spawn")  # fork is unsafe, set to spawn
     logger.info(f"Multiprocessing start method: {multiprocessing.get_start_method()}")
+    logger.info(f"Concurrency: {sender.concurrency}")
 
     SqlEngine.set_app_name(POSTGRES_CELERY_WORKER_LIGHT_APP_NAME)
     SqlEngine.init_engine(pool_size=sender.concurrency, max_overflow=8)
diff --git a/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/primary.py b/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/primary.py
index caa697f883..af2105b8c6 100644
--- a/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/primary.py
+++ b/backend/onyx/background/celery/apps/primary.py
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ def on_celeryd_init(sender: Any = None, conf: Any = None, **kwargs: Any) -> None
 @worker_init.connect
 def on_worker_init(sender: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
     logger.info("worker_init signal received.")
+    multiprocessing.set_start_method("spawn")  # fork is unsafe, set to spawn
     logger.info(f"Multiprocessing start method: {multiprocessing.get_start_method()}")
 
     SqlEngine.set_app_name(POSTGRES_CELERY_WORKER_PRIMARY_APP_NAME)
diff --git a/backend/onyx/background/celery/tasks/indexing/tasks.py b/backend/onyx/background/celery/tasks/indexing/tasks.py
index 9fd73972d0..b29dd1e8a0 100644
--- a/backend/onyx/background/celery/tasks/indexing/tasks.py
+++ b/backend/onyx/background/celery/tasks/indexing/tasks.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import multiprocessing
 import os
 import sys
 import time
@@ -853,11 +854,14 @@ def connector_indexing_proxy_task(
     search_settings_id: int,
     tenant_id: str | None,
 ) -> None:
-    """celery tasks are forked, but forking is unstable.  This proxies work to a spawned task."""
+    """celery tasks are forked, but forking is unstable.
+    This is a thread that proxies work to a spawned task."""
+
     task_logger.info(
         f"Indexing watchdog - starting: attempt={index_attempt_id} "
         f"cc_pair={cc_pair_id} "
-        f"search_settings={search_settings_id}"
+        f"search_settings={search_settings_id} "
+        f"multiprocessing={multiprocessing.get_start_method()}"
     )
 
     if not self.request.id: