diff --git a/backend/danswer/auth/users.py b/backend/danswer/auth/users.py
index 8ff385c21..72be25cfe 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/auth/users.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/auth/users.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from danswer.configs.app_configs import SECRET_JWT_KEY
 from datetime import timedelta
 import contextlib
 import smtplib
@@ -250,11 +251,8 @@ async def create_user_session(user: User, tenant_id: str) -> str:
         "tenant_id": tenant_id,
         "exp": datetime.utcnow() + timedelta(seconds=SESSION_EXPIRE_TIME_SECONDS)
     }
-
-    # Encode the token
-    token = jwt.encode(payload, "JWT_SECRET_KEY", algorithm="HS256")
-
-
+    
+    token = jwt.encode(payload, SECRET_JWT_KEY, algorithm="HS256")
     return token
 
 
diff --git a/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py b/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py
index b9cf95f47..87fbf137b 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/configs/app_configs.py
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ DISABLE_GENERATIVE_AI = os.environ.get("DISABLE_GENERATIVE_AI", "").lower() == "
 WEB_DOMAIN = os.environ.get("WEB_DOMAIN") or "http://localhost:3000"
 
 
+SECRET_JWT_KEY = os.environ.get("SECRET_JWT_KEY") or "JWT_SECRET_KEY"
 #####
 # Auth Configs
 #####
diff --git a/backend/danswer/db/engine.py b/backend/danswer/db/engine.py
index 78fbb289b..67a2092f0 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/db/engine.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/db/engine.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import create_async_engine
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
 
+from danswer.configs.app_configs import SECRET_JWT_KEY
 from danswer.configs.app_configs import DEFAULT_SCHEMA
 from danswer.configs.app_configs import LOG_POSTGRES_CONN_COUNTS
 from danswer.configs.app_configs import LOG_POSTGRES_LATENCY
@@ -138,57 +139,22 @@ def init_sqlalchemy_engine(app_name: str) -> None:
     global POSTGRES_APP_NAME
     POSTGRES_APP_NAME = app_name
 
-_engines = {}
-# TODO validate that this is best practice
-def get_sqlalchemy_engine(schema: str = DEFAULT_SCHEMA) -> Engine:
-    if schema in _engines:
-        return _engines[schema]
+_engine = None
 
-    connection_string = build_connection_string(
-        db_api=SYNC_DB_API, app_name=POSTGRES_APP_NAME + "_sync"
-    )
-    engine = create_engine(
-        connection_string,
-        pool_size=40,
-        max_overflow=10,
-        pool_pre_ping=POSTGRES_POOL_PRE_PING,
-        pool_recycle=POSTGRES_POOL_RECYCLE,
-    )
-
-    @event.listens_for(engine, "connect")
-    def set_search_path(dbapi_connection, connection_record):
-        cursor = dbapi_connection.cursor()
-        cursor.execute(f'SET search_path TO "{schema}"')
-        cursor.close()
-        dbapi_connection.commit()
-
-    _engines[schema] = engine
-    return engine
-
-
-
-# def get_sqlalchemy_engine(schema: str = DEFAULT_SCHEMA) -> Engine:
-#     global _SYNC_ENGINE
-#     if _SYNC_ENGINE is None:
-#         connection_string = build_connection_string(
-#             db_api=SYNC_DB_API, app_name=POSTGRES_APP_NAME + "_sync"
-#         )
-#         _SYNC_ENGINE = create_engine(
-#             connection_string,
-#             pool_size=40,
-#             max_overflow=10,
-#             pool_pre_ping=POSTGRES_POOL_PRE_PING,
-#             pool_recycle=POSTGRES_POOL_RECYCLE,
-#         )
-
-#         @event.listens_for(_SYNC_ENGINE, "connect")
-#         def set_search_path(dbapi_connection, connection_record):
-#             cursor = dbapi_connection.cursor()
-#             cursor.execute(f"SET search_path TO {schema}")
-#             cursor.close()
-#             dbapi_connection.commit()
-
-#     return _SYNC_ENGINE
+def get_sqlalchemy_engine() -> Engine:
+    global _engine
+    if _engine is None:
+        connection_string = build_connection_string(
+            db_api=SYNC_DB_API, app_name=POSTGRES_APP_NAME + "_sync"
+        )
+        _engine = create_engine(
+            connection_string,
+            pool_size=40,
+            max_overflow=10,
+            pool_pre_ping=POSTGRES_POOL_PRE_PING,
+            pool_recycle=POSTGRES_POOL_RECYCLE,
+        )
+    return _engine
 
 
 def get_sqlalchemy_async_engine() -> AsyncEngine:
@@ -212,21 +178,19 @@ def get_sqlalchemy_async_engine() -> AsyncEngine:
 def get_session_context_manager() -> ContextManager[Session]:
     return contextlib.contextmanager(get_session)()
 
-
-
-
 def get_current_tenant_id(request: Request) -> str:
     if not MULTI_TENANT:
         return DEFAULT_SCHEMA
 
-    token = request.cookies.get("fastapiusersauth")
+    print(request.cookies)
+    token = request.cookies.get("tenant_details")
     if not token:
         logger.warning("No token found in cookies")
         raise HTTPException(status_code=401, detail="Authentication required")
 
     try:
         logger.info(f"Attempting to decode token: {token[:10]}...")  # Log only first 10 characters for security
-        payload = jwt.decode(token, "JWT_SECRET_KEY", algorithms=["HS256"])
+        payload = jwt.decode(token, SECRET_JWT_KEY, algorithms=["HS256"])
         logger.info(f"Decoded payload: {payload}")
         tenant_id = payload.get("tenant_id")
         if not tenant_id:
@@ -246,29 +210,8 @@ def get_current_tenant_id(request: Request) -> str:
 
 
 def get_session(tenant_id: str | None= Depends(get_current_tenant_id)) -> Generator[Session, None, None]:
-    print("")
-    print("\n\n\n\n")
-    with Session(get_sqlalchemy_engine(), expire_on_commit=False) as session:
-        session.execute(text(f'SET search_path TO "{tenant_id}"'))
-        print("SEARCH PATH IS ", tenant_id)
+    with Session(get_sqlalchemy_engine(schema=tenant_id), expire_on_commit=False) as session:
         yield session
-        session.execute(text('SET search_path TO "public"'))
-
-
-    # Logic to create or retrieve a database session for the given tenant_id
-
-
-
-# def get_session(schema: str = DEFAULT_SCHEMA) -> Generator[Session, None, None]:
-#     # The line below was added to monitor the latency caused by Postgres connections
-#     # during API calls.
-#     # with tracer.trace("db.get_session"):
-
-#     with Session(get_sqlalchemy_engine(), expire_on_commit=False) as session:
-#         session.execute(text(f"SET search_path TO {schema}"))
-#         yield session
-#         session.execute(text("SET search_path TO public"))
-
 
 async def get_async_session() -> AsyncGenerator[AsyncSession, None]:
     async with AsyncSession(
diff --git a/backend/danswer/one_shot_answer/answer_question.py b/backend/danswer/one_shot_answer/answer_question.py
index 85791ab1e..319375332 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/one_shot_answer/answer_question.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/one_shot_answer/answer_question.py
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ def stream_answer_objects(
     rephrased_query = query_req.query_override or thread_based_query_rephrase(
         user_query=query_msg.message,
         history_str=history_str,
+        db_session=db_session
     )
 
     # Given back ahead of the documents for latency reasons
diff --git a/backend/danswer/search/retrieval/search_runner.py b/backend/danswer/search/retrieval/search_runner.py
index 31582f908..519d64ec6 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/search/retrieval/search_runner.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/search/retrieval/search_runner.py
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ def retrieve_chunks(
 
         # Currently only uses query expansion on multilingual use cases
         query_rephrases = multilingual_query_expansion(
-            query.query, multilingual_expansion
+            query.query, multilingual_expansion, db_session=db_session
         )
         # Just to be extra sure, add the original query.
         query_rephrases.append(query.query)
diff --git a/backend/danswer/secondary_llm_flows/query_expansion.py b/backend/danswer/secondary_llm_flows/query_expansion.py
index 2b21af7da..9c4ef00e5 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/secondary_llm_flows/query_expansion.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/secondary_llm_flows/query_expansion.py
@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ from danswer.prompts.miscellaneous_prompts import LANGUAGE_REPHRASE_PROMPT
 from danswer.utils.logger import setup_logger
 from danswer.utils.text_processing import count_punctuation
 from danswer.utils.threadpool_concurrency import run_functions_tuples_in_parallel
-
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 logger = setup_logger()
 
 
-def llm_multilingual_query_expansion(query: str, language: str) -> str:
+def llm_multilingual_query_expansion(query: str, language: str, db_session: Session) -> str:
     def _get_rephrase_messages() -> list[dict[str, str]]:
         messages = [
             {
@@ -51,12 +51,13 @@ def llm_multilingual_query_expansion(query: str, language: str) -> str:
 def multilingual_query_expansion(
     query: str,
     expansion_languages: list[str],
+    db_session: Session,
     use_threads: bool = True,
 ) -> list[str]:
     languages = [language.strip() for language in expansion_languages]
     if use_threads:
         functions_with_args: list[tuple[Callable, tuple]] = [
-            (llm_multilingual_query_expansion, (query, language))
+            (llm_multilingual_query_expansion, (query, language, db_session))
             for language in languages
         ]
 
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ def multilingual_query_expansion(
 
     else:
         query_rephrases = [
-            llm_multilingual_query_expansion(query, language) for language in languages
+            llm_multilingual_query_expansion(query, language, db_session) for language in languages
         ]
         return query_rephrases
 
@@ -134,9 +135,10 @@ def history_based_query_rephrase(
 def thread_based_query_rephrase(
     user_query: str,
     history_str: str,
+    db_session: Session,
     llm: LLM | None = None,
     size_heuristic: int = 200,
-    punctuation_heuristic: int = 10,
+    punctuation_heuristic: int = 10
 ) -> str:
     if not history_str:
         return user_query
diff --git a/backend/danswer/secondary_llm_flows/query_validation.py b/backend/danswer/secondary_llm_flows/query_validation.py
index 190390b90..b219b525b 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/secondary_llm_flows/query_validation.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/secondary_llm_flows/query_validation.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import re
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 from collections.abc import Iterator
 
 from danswer.chat.models import DanswerAnswerPiece
@@ -46,7 +47,8 @@ def extract_answerability_bool(model_raw: str) -> bool:
 
 
 def get_query_answerability(
-    user_query: str, skip_check: bool = DISABLE_LLM_QUERY_ANSWERABILITY
+    db_session: Session,
+    user_query: str, skip_check: bool = DISABLE_LLM_QUERY_ANSWERABILITY, 
 ) -> tuple[str, bool]:
     if skip_check:
         return "Query Answerability Evaluation feature is turned off", True
@@ -67,7 +69,7 @@ def get_query_answerability(
 
 
 def stream_query_answerability(
-    user_query: str, skip_check: bool = DISABLE_LLM_QUERY_ANSWERABILITY
+   db_session: Session,  user_query: str, skip_check: bool = DISABLE_LLM_QUERY_ANSWERABILITY, 
 ) -> Iterator[str]:
     if skip_check:
         yield get_json_line(
diff --git a/backend/danswer/server/query_and_chat/query_backend.py b/backend/danswer/server/query_and_chat/query_backend.py
index 704b16d5e..670ee2863 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/server/query_and_chat/query_backend.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/server/query_and_chat/query_backend.py
@@ -117,13 +117,13 @@ def get_tags(
 
 @basic_router.post("/query-validation")
 def query_validation(
-    simple_query: SimpleQueryRequest, _: User = Depends(current_user)
+    simple_query: SimpleQueryRequest, _: User = Depends(current_user), db_session: Session = Depends(get_session)
 ) -> QueryValidationResponse:
     # Note if weak model prompt is chosen, this check does not occur and will simply return that
     # the query is valid, this is because weaker models cannot really handle this task well.
     # Additionally, some weak model servers cannot handle concurrent inferences.
     logger.notice(f"Validating query: {simple_query.query}")
-    reasoning, answerable = get_query_answerability(simple_query.query)
+    reasoning, answerable = get_query_answerability(db_session=db_session, user_query=simple_query.query)
     return QueryValidationResponse(reasoning=reasoning, answerable=answerable)
 
 
@@ -226,14 +226,14 @@ def get_search_session(
 # No search responses are answered with a conversational generative AI response
 @basic_router.post("/stream-query-validation")
 def stream_query_validation(
-    simple_query: SimpleQueryRequest, _: User = Depends(current_user)
+    simple_query: SimpleQueryRequest, _: User = Depends(current_user), db_session: Session = Depends(get_session)
 ) -> StreamingResponse:
     # Note if weak model prompt is chosen, this check does not occur and will simply return that
     # the query is valid, this is because weaker models cannot really handle this task well.
     # Additionally, some weak model servers cannot handle concurrent inferences.
     logger.notice(f"Validating query: {simple_query.query}")
     return StreamingResponse(
-        stream_query_answerability(simple_query.query), media_type="application/json"
+        stream_query_answerability(user_query=simple_query.query, db_session=db_session), media_type="application/json"
     )
 
 
diff --git a/backend/danswer/server/settings/api.py b/backend/danswer/server/settings/api.py
index 89259f99a..a8eb4f63c 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/server/settings/api.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/server/settings/api.py
@@ -105,8 +105,9 @@ async def create_tenant_schema(tenant_id: str) -> None:
         await session.commit()
         logger.info(f"Schema created for tenant: {tenant_id}")
 
-    with Session(get_sqlalchemy_engine(schema=tenant_id)) as db_session:
+    with Session(get_sqlalchemy_engine()) as db_session:
         try:
+            db_session.execute(text(f'Set search_path to "{tenant_id}"'))
             setup_postgres(db_session)
         except SQLAlchemyError as e:
             logger.error(f"Error while loading chat YAMLs for tenant {tenant_id}: {str(e)}")
@@ -114,8 +115,6 @@ async def create_tenant_schema(tenant_id: str) -> None:
         finally:
             db_session.execute(text('SET search_path TO "public"'))
 
-        # db_session.execute(text(f'SET search_path TO "public"'))
-
     logger.info(f"Migrations completed for tenant: {tenant_id}")
 
 
@@ -153,25 +152,21 @@ async def sso_callback(
     logger.info(f"Session token created for user: {user.email}")
 
     # Set the session cookie with proper flags
+    response = JSONResponse(content={"message": "Authentication successful"})
     response.set_cookie(
-        key="fastapiusersauth",
+        key="tenant_details",
         value=session_token,
         max_age=SESSION_EXPIRE_TIME_SECONDS,
         expires=SESSION_EXPIRE_TIME_SECONDS,
         path="/",
         domain=WEB_DOMAIN.split("://")[-1],
-        secure=True,
+        secure=False,  # Set to True in production with HTTPS
         httponly=True,
         samesite="lax",
     )
     logger.info("Session cookie set")
-
     logger.info("SSO callback completed successfully")
-    return JSONResponse(
-        content={"message": "Authentication successful"},
-        status_code=200
-    )
-
+    return response
 
 
 # @basic_router.post("/auth/sso-callback")
diff --git a/backend/ee/danswer/server/query_and_chat/chat_backend.py b/backend/ee/danswer/server/query_and_chat/chat_backend.py
index a613faaf6..f15d4aae8 100644
--- a/backend/ee/danswer/server/query_and_chat/chat_backend.py
+++ b/backend/ee/danswer/server/query_and_chat/chat_backend.py
@@ -223,6 +223,7 @@ def handle_send_message_simple_with_history(
     rephrased_query = req.query_override or thread_based_query_rephrase(
         user_query=query,
         history_str=history_str,
+        db_session=db_session
     )
 
     full_chat_msg_info = CreateChatMessageRequest(
diff --git a/web/src/app/admin/settings/interfaces.ts b/web/src/app/admin/settings/interfaces.ts
index b3f07522f..f12d5156f 100644
--- a/web/src/app/admin/settings/interfaces.ts
+++ b/web/src/app/admin/settings/interfaces.ts
@@ -47,3 +47,31 @@ export interface CombinedSettings {
   isMobile?: boolean;
   webVersion: string | null;
 }
+
+
+export const defaultCombinedSettings: CombinedSettings = {
+  settings: {
+    chat_page_enabled: true,
+    search_page_enabled: true,
+    default_page: "search",
+    maximum_chat_retention_days: 30,
+    notifications: [],
+    needs_reindexing: false,
+  },
+  enterpriseSettings: {
+    application_name: "Danswer",
+    use_custom_logo: false,
+    use_custom_logotype: false,
+    custom_lower_disclaimer_content: null,
+    custom_header_content: null,
+    custom_popup_header: null,
+    custom_popup_content: null,
+  },
+  cloudSettings: {
+    numberOfSeats: 0,
+    planType: BillingPlanType.FREE,
+  },
+  customAnalyticsScript: null,
+  isMobile: false,
+  webVersion: null,
+};
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/web/src/app/auth/sso-callback/page.tsx b/web/src/app/auth/sso-callback/page.tsx
index 9e34ce8da..2709c36af 100644
--- a/web/src/app/auth/sso-callback/page.tsx
+++ b/web/src/app/auth/sso-callback/page.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 "use client";
+import Cookies from "js-cookie";
 import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
 import { useRouter, useSearchParams } from "next/navigation";
 import { Card, Text } from "@tremor/react";
@@ -32,7 +33,16 @@ export default function SSOCallback() {
         );
         if (response.ok) {
           setAuthStatus("Authentication successful!");
-        
+          const sessionCookie = Cookies.get('tenant_details');
+          console.log("Session cookie:", sessionCookie);
+
+          console.log("All cookies:", document.cookie);
+
+          // Log response headers
+          response.headers.forEach((value, key) => {
+            console.log(`${key}: ${value}`);
+          });
+          return;
           // Redirect to the dashboard
           router.replace("/admin/plan");
         } else {
diff --git a/web/src/app/layout.tsx b/web/src/app/layout.tsx
index acf870f92..46f8d7b9e 100644
--- a/web/src/app/layout.tsx
+++ b/web/src/app/layout.tsx
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import { Metadata } from "next";
 import { buildClientUrl } from "@/lib/utilsSS";
 import { Inter } from "next/font/google";
 import Head from "next/head";
-import { EnterpriseSettings } from "./admin/settings/interfaces";
+import { CombinedSettings, defaultCombinedSettings, EnterpriseSettings } from "./admin/settings/interfaces";
 import { Card } from "@tremor/react";
 import { HeaderTitle } from "@/components/header/HeaderTitle";
 import { Logo } from "@/components/Logo";
@@ -53,46 +53,47 @@ export default async function RootLayout({
 }: {
   children: React.ReactNode;
 }) {
-// 00a89749-beab-489a-8b72-88aa3d646274
-// 01fb5963-9ab3-4585-900a-438480857427
+  // 00a89749-beab-489a-8b72-88aa3d646274
+  // 01fb5963-9ab3-4585-900a-438480857427
   // return <>{children}</>
 
-//   SELECT table_name, column_name, data_type, character_maximum_length
-// FROM information_schema.columns
-// WHERE table_schema = '00a89749-beab-489a-8b72-88aa3d646274'
-// ORDER BY table_name, ordinal_position;
+  //   SELECT table_name, column_name, data_type, character_maximum_length
+  // FROM information_schema.columns
+  // WHERE table_schema = '00a89749-beab-489a-8b72-88aa3d646274'
+  // ORDER BY table_name, ordinal_position;
 
 
-  const combinedSettings = await fetchSettingsSS();
-  if (!combinedSettings) {
-    // return <>{children}</>
-    // Just display a simple full page error if fetching fails.
+  const combinedSettings: CombinedSettings | null = await fetchSettingsSS()
 
-    return (
-      <html lang="en" className={`${inter.variable} font-sans`}>
-        <Head>
-          <title>Settings Unavailable | Danswer</title>
-        </Head>
-        <body className="bg-background text-default">
-          <div className="flex flex-col items-center justify-center min-h-screen">
-            <div className="mb-2 flex items-center max-w-[175px]">
-              <HeaderTitle>Danswer</HeaderTitle>
-              <Logo height={40} width={40} />
-            </div>
+  // if (!combinedSettings) {
+  // return <>{children}</>
+  // // Just display a simple full page error if fetching fails.
 
-            <Card className="p-8 max-w-md">
-              <h1 className="text-2xl font-bold mb-4 text-error">Error</h1>
-              <p className="text-text-500">
-                Your Danswer instance was not configured properly and your
-                settings could not be loaded. Please contact your admin to fix
-                this error.
-              </p>
-            </Card>
-          </div>
-        </body>
-      </html>
-    );
-  }
+  // return (
+  //   <html lang="en" className={`${inter.variable} font-sans`}>
+  //     <Head>
+  //       <title>Settings Unavailable | Danswer</title>
+  //     </Head>
+  //     <body className="bg-background text-default">
+  //       <div className="flex flex-col items-center justify-center min-h-screen">
+  //         <div className="mb-2 flex items-center max-w-[175px]">
+  //           <HeaderTitle>Danswer</HeaderTitle>
+  //           <Logo height={40} width={40} />
+  //         </div>
+
+  //         <Card className="p-8 max-w-md">
+  //           <h1 className="text-2xl font-bold mb-4 text-error">Error</h1>
+  //           <p className="text-text-500">
+  //             Your Danswer instance was not configured properly and your
+  //             settings could not be loaded. Please contact your admin to fix
+  //             this error.
+  //           </p>
+  //         </Card>
+  //       </div>
+  //     </body>
+  //   </html>
+  // );
+  // }
 
   return (
     <html lang="en">
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ export default async function RootLayout({
         />
       </Head>
 
-      {CUSTOM_ANALYTICS_ENABLED && combinedSettings.customAnalyticsScript && (
+      {CUSTOM_ANALYTICS_ENABLED && combinedSettings && combinedSettings.customAnalyticsScript && (
         <head>
           <script
             type="text/javascript"
@@ -119,10 +120,10 @@ export default async function RootLayout({
           className={`text-default bg-background ${
             // TODO: remove this once proper dark mode exists
             process.env.THEME_IS_DARK?.toLowerCase() === "true" ? "dark" : ""
-          }`}
+            }`}
         >
           <UserProvider>
-            <SettingsProvider settings={combinedSettings}>
+            <SettingsProvider settings={combinedSettings || defaultCombinedSettings}>
               {children}
             </SettingsProvider>
           </UserProvider>
diff --git a/web/src/components/settings/lib.ts b/web/src/components/settings/lib.ts
index ac4d911df..783917c5a 100644
--- a/web/src/components/settings/lib.ts
+++ b/web/src/components/settings/lib.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export async function fetchCustomAnalyticsScriptSS() {
 }
 
 export async function fetchSettingsSS(): Promise<CombinedSettings | null> {
+  console.log("\n\n\n\nfetch settings")
   const tasks = [fetchStandardSettingsSS()];
   if (SERVER_SIDE_ONLY__PAID_ENTERPRISE_FEATURES_ENABLED) {
     tasks.push(fetchEnterpriseSettingsSS());