diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-no-metrics-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-no-metrics-tests.yml
index 0f3675d..7f03b23 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-no-metrics-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-no-metrics-tests.yml
@@ -14,14 +14,10 @@ jobs:
           go-version: "1.21"
           check-latest: true
           cache: false
-      - name: Set environment variable
-        run: echo "METRIC_DATABASE_ENABLED=false" >> $GITHUB_ENV
       - name: pull pre-built images
-        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose.yml pull
-      - name: check env vars
-        run: sudo echo "METRIC_DATABASE_ENABLED=$METRIC_DATABASE_ENABLED"
+        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose.yml -f ci.docker-compose-no-metrics-proxy.yml pull
       - name: build and start proxy service and it's dependencies
-        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose.yml up -d --build proxy redis
+        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose.yml -f ci.docker-compose-no-metrics-proxy.yml up -d --build proxy redis
       - name: wait for proxy service to be running
         run: bash ${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/scripts/wait-for-proxy-service-running.sh
         env:
@@ -29,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: run e2e tests
         run: SKIP_METRICS=true make e2e-test
       - name: print proxy service logs
-        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose.yml logs proxy
+        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose-no-metrics-proxy.yml logs proxy
         # because we especially want the logs if the test(s) fail 😅
         if: always()
       # Finally, "Post Run jpribyl/action-docker-layer-caching@v0.1.1",
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-tests.yml
index 54bf211..ab045dc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-tests.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ jobs:
           check-latest: true
           cache: true
       - name: pull pre-built images
-        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose.yml pull
+        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose.yml -f ci.docker-compose-proxy.yml pull
       # In this step, this action saves a list of existing images,
       # the cache is created without them in the post run.
       # It also restores the cache if it exists.
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ jobs:
         # Ignore the failure of a step and avoid terminating the job.
         continue-on-error: true
       - name: build and start proxy service and it's dependencies
-        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose.yml up -d --build
+        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose.yml -f ci.docker-compose-proxy.yml up -d --build
       - name: wait for proxy service to be running
         run: bash ${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/scripts/wait-for-proxy-service-running.sh
         env:
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: run e2e tests
         run: make e2e-test
       - name: print proxy service logs
-        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose.yml logs proxy
+        run: sudo docker compose -f ci.docker-compose-proxy.yml logs proxy
         # because we especially want the logs if the test(s) fail 😅
         if: always()
       # Finally, "Post Run jpribyl/action-docker-layer-caching@v0.1.1",
diff --git a/ci.docker-compose-no-metrics-proxy.yml b/ci.docker-compose-no-metrics-proxy.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7429db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci.docker-compose-no-metrics-proxy.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+---
+services:
+  # run proxy service to observe, route, and scale requests to kava api endpoints
+  proxy:
+    build:
+      dockerfile: ci.Dockerfile
+    env_file: .env
+    environment:
+      METRIC_DATABASE_ENABLED: "false"
+      PROXY_HEIGHT_BASED_ROUTING_ENABLED: "true"
+      PROXY_SHARDED_ROUTING_ENABLED: "true"
+      # use public testnet as backend origin server to avoid having
+      # to self-host a beefy Github Action runner
+      # to build and run a kava node each execution
+      PROXY_BACKEND_HOST_URL_MAP: localhost:7777>https://evmrpcdata.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io,localhost:7778>https://evmrpc.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
+      PROXY_PRUNING_BACKEND_HOST_URL_MAP: localhost:7777>https://evmrpc.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
+      # fake the shards by defining shards with existing backends
+      PROXY_SHARD_BACKEND_HOST_URL_MAP: localhost:7777>10|https://evmrpcdata.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io|20|https://evmrpcdata.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
+      EVM_QUERY_SERVICE_URL: https://evmrpc.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
+    ports:
+      - "${PROXY_HOST_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_PORT}"
+      - "${TEST_UNCONFIGURED_PROXY_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_PORT}"
+      - "${PROXY_CONTAINER_EVM_RPC_PRUNING_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_PORT}"
+      - "${PROXY_HOST_DEBUG_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_DEBUG_PORT}"
diff --git a/ci.docker-compose-proxy.yml b/ci.docker-compose-proxy.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fccb31b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci.docker-compose-proxy.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+---
+services:
+  # run proxy service to observe, route, and scale requests to kava api endpoints
+  proxy:
+    build:
+      dockerfile: ci.Dockerfile
+    env_file: .env
+    environment:
+      PROXY_HEIGHT_BASED_ROUTING_ENABLED: "true"
+      PROXY_SHARDED_ROUTING_ENABLED: "true"
+      # use public testnet as backend origin server to avoid having
+      # to self-host a beefy Github Action runner
+      # to build and run a kava node each execution
+      PROXY_BACKEND_HOST_URL_MAP: localhost:7777>https://evmrpcdata.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io,localhost:7778>https://evmrpc.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
+      PROXY_PRUNING_BACKEND_HOST_URL_MAP: localhost:7777>https://evmrpc.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
+      # fake the shards by defining shards with existing backends
+      PROXY_SHARD_BACKEND_HOST_URL_MAP: localhost:7777>10|https://evmrpcdata.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io|20|https://evmrpcdata.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
+      EVM_QUERY_SERVICE_URL: https://evmrpc.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
+    ports:
+      - "${PROXY_HOST_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_PORT}"
+      - "${TEST_UNCONFIGURED_PROXY_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_PORT}"
+      - "${PROXY_CONTAINER_EVM_RPC_PRUNING_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_PORT}"
+      - "${PROXY_HOST_DEBUG_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_DEBUG_PORT}"
diff --git a/ci.docker-compose.yml b/ci.docker-compose.yml
index afdee1d..4199164 100644
--- a/ci.docker-compose.yml
+++ b/ci.docker-compose.yml
@@ -16,25 +16,3 @@ services:
       - "${REDIS_HOST_PORT}:${REDIS_CONTAINER_PORT}"
     expose:
       - "${REDIS_CONTAINER_PORT}"
-  # run proxy service to observe, route, and scale requests to kava api endpoints
-  proxy:
-    build:
-      dockerfile: ci.Dockerfile
-    env_file: .env
-    environment:
-      METRIC_DATABASE_ENABLED: "${METRIC_DATABASE_ENABLED:-true}"
-      PROXY_HEIGHT_BASED_ROUTING_ENABLED: "true"
-      PROXY_SHARDED_ROUTING_ENABLED: "true"
-      # use public testnet as backend origin server to avoid having
-      # to self-host a beefy Github Action runner
-      # to build and run a kava node each execution
-      PROXY_BACKEND_HOST_URL_MAP: localhost:7777>https://evmrpcdata.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io,localhost:7778>https://evmrpc.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
-      PROXY_PRUNING_BACKEND_HOST_URL_MAP: localhost:7777>https://evmrpc.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
-      # fake the shards by defining shards with existing backends
-      PROXY_SHARD_BACKEND_HOST_URL_MAP: localhost:7777>10|https://evmrpcdata.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io|20|https://evmrpcdata.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
-      EVM_QUERY_SERVICE_URL: https://evmrpc.internal.testnet.proxy.kava.io
-    ports:
-      - "${PROXY_HOST_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_PORT}"
-      - "${TEST_UNCONFIGURED_PROXY_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_PORT}"
-      - "${PROXY_CONTAINER_EVM_RPC_PRUNING_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_PORT}"
-      - "${PROXY_HOST_DEBUG_PORT}:${PROXY_CONTAINER_DEBUG_PORT}"