diff --git a/llama_stack/ui/package.json b/llama_stack/ui/package.json
index f7e2758c9..fd6f6fbb7 100644
--- a/llama_stack/ui/package.json
+++ b/llama_stack/ui/package.json
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     "class-variance-authority": "^0.7.1",
     "clsx": "^2.1.1",
     "framer-motion": "^11.18.2",
-    "llama-stack-client": ""0.2.17",
+    "llama-stack-client": "^0.2.17",
     "lucide-react": "^0.510.0",
     "next": "15.3.3",
     "next-auth": "^4.24.11",
diff --git a/tests/integration/conftest.py b/tests/integration/conftest.py
index 9c30d984f..4f80c0e33 100644
--- a/tests/integration/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/integration/conftest.py
@@ -36,12 +36,15 @@ def pytest_sessionstart(session):
 
     # pull client instantiation to session start so all the complex logs during initialization
     # don't clobber the test one-liner outputs
-    print("instantiating llama_stack_client")
-    start_time = time.time()
-    with warnings.catch_warnings():
-        warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", category=DeprecationWarning)
-        session._llama_stack_client = instantiate_llama_stack_client(session)
-    print(f"llama_stack_client instantiated in {time.time() - start_time:.3f}s")
+
+    if not getattr(session.config, "skip_llama_stack_client_instantiation", False):
+        print("instantiating llama_stack_client")
+        start_time = time.time()
+        with warnings.catch_warnings():
+            warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", category=DeprecationWarning)
+
+            session._llama_stack_client = instantiate_llama_stack_client(session)
+        print(f"llama_stack_client instantiated in {time.time() - start_time:.3f}s")
 
 
 def pytest_runtest_teardown(item):
diff --git a/tests/integration/providers/utils/sqlstore/conftest.py b/tests/integration/providers/utils/sqlstore/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e3a521f92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/integration/providers/utils/sqlstore/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+# All rights reserved.
+#
+# This source code is licensed under the terms described in the LICENSE file in
+# the root directory of this source tree.
+
+
+def pytest_configure(config):
+    config.skip_llama_stack_client_instantiation = True