diff --git a/docs/hr/content/docs/setup/sandbox.md b/docs/hr/content/docs/setup/sandbox.md
index 0dd7fc18c1..b7e44b1532 100644
--- a/docs/hr/content/docs/setup/sandbox.md
+++ b/docs/hr/content/docs/setup/sandbox.md
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ make testenv_image
 > If you want to install additional `pip` dependencies in the image, you have to list them in `requirements.txt`.
 > 
 > The listed dependencies may refer to:
-> 1. standalone packages (e.g tensorflow)
+> 1. standalone packages (e.g `tensorflow>=2.15.0`)
 > 2. dependency groups listed in `pyproject.toml` (e.g `.[demo,server]`)
 
 
diff --git a/docs/hr/content/use_cases/productionization/sandbox-example.md b/docs/hr/content/use_cases/productionization/sandbox-example.md
index b4f0506c26..3220d1e878 100644
--- a/docs/hr/content/use_cases/productionization/sandbox-example.md
+++ b/docs/hr/content/use_cases/productionization/sandbox-example.md
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ make testenv_image
 > If you want to install additional `pip` dependencies in the image, you have to list them in `requirements.txt`.
 > 
 > The listed dependencies may refer to:
-> 1. standalone packages (e.g tensorflow)
+> 1. standalone packages (e.g `tensorflow>=2.15.0`)
 > 2. dependency groups listed in `pyproject.toml` (e.g `.[demo,server]`)
 
 Then start the environment with:
diff --git a/examples/sandbox-example.ipynb b/examples/sandbox-example.ipynb
index e29dc53a71..e51e13506a 100644
--- a/examples/sandbox-example.ipynb
+++ b/examples/sandbox-example.ipynb
@@ -59,22 +59,25 @@
     "- Change-data-capture (CDC) service\n",
     "- Jupyter notebook service\n",
     "\n",
-    "To set up this environment, navigate to your local copy of the `superduperdb` repository, edit the `requirements.txt` to look like this:\n",
     "\n",
-    "```\n",
-    ".[demo,server,apis]\n",
-    "```\n",
     "\n",
-    "(you can add any requirements you need in your system) and build the image with:\n",
+    "To build the docker image required to run the environment:\n",
     "\n",
     "```bash\n",
     "make testenv_image\n",
     "```\n",
     "\n",
+    "> If you want to install additional `pip` dependencies in the image, you have to list them in `requirements.txt`.\n",
+    "> \n",
+    "> The listed dependencies may refer to:\n",
+    "> 1. standalone packages (e.g `tensorflow>=2.15.0`)\n",
+    "> 2. dependency groups listed in `pyproject.toml` (e.g `.[demo,server]`)\n",
+    "\n",
+    "\n",
     "Then start the environment with:\n",
     "\n",
     "```bash\n",
-    "make testenv_init SUPERDUPERDB_DATA=sandbox\n",
+    "make testenv_init\n",
     "```\n",
     "\n",
     "This last command starts containers for each of the above services with `docker-compose`. You should see a bunch of logs for each service (mainly MongoDB).\n",
@@ -85,12 +88,12 @@
   },
   {
    "cell_type": "code",
-   "execution_count": 1,
+   "execution_count": 4,
    "id": "5355a5ac-6452-4a89-b0d9-fe18cb993fdd",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "end_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.783125835Z",
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:56.700300107Z"
+     "end_time": "2023-12-03T01:25:34.793458110Z",
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:25:34.747952687Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [
@@ -101,7 +104,7 @@
      "traceback": [
       "\u001B[0;31m---------------------------------------------------------------------------\u001B[0m",
       "\u001B[0;31mAssertionError\u001B[0m                            Traceback (most recent call last)",
-      "Cell \u001B[0;32mIn[1], line 9\u001B[0m\n\u001B[1;32m      6\u001B[0m \u001B[38;5;28;01mfrom\u001B[39;00m \u001B[38;5;21;01msuperduperdb\u001B[39;00m \u001B[38;5;28;01mimport\u001B[39;00m CFG\n\u001B[1;32m      8\u001B[0m \u001B[38;5;66;03m# check that config has been properly set-up\u001B[39;00m\n\u001B[0;32m----> 9\u001B[0m \u001B[38;5;28;01massert\u001B[39;00m CFG\u001B[38;5;241m.\u001B[39mdata_backend \u001B[38;5;241m==\u001B[39m \u001B[38;5;124m'\u001B[39m\u001B[38;5;124mmongodb://superduper:superduper@mongodb:27017/test_db\u001B[39m\u001B[38;5;124m'\u001B[39m\n",
+      "Cell \u001B[0;32mIn[4], line 9\u001B[0m\n\u001B[1;32m      6\u001B[0m \u001B[38;5;28;01mfrom\u001B[39;00m \u001B[38;5;21;01msuperduperdb\u001B[39;00m \u001B[38;5;28;01mimport\u001B[39;00m CFG\n\u001B[1;32m      8\u001B[0m \u001B[38;5;66;03m# check that config has been properly set-up\u001B[39;00m\n\u001B[0;32m----> 9\u001B[0m \u001B[38;5;28;01massert\u001B[39;00m CFG\u001B[38;5;241m.\u001B[39mdata_backend \u001B[38;5;241m==\u001B[39m \u001B[38;5;124m'\u001B[39m\u001B[38;5;124mmongodb://superduper:superduper@mongodb:27017/test_db\u001B[39m\u001B[38;5;124m'\u001B[39m\n",
       "\u001B[0;31mAssertionError\u001B[0m: "
      ]
     }
@@ -132,8 +135,7 @@
    "id": "ed9bfd66-6771-476e-ae44-360c05aa69ed",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "end_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.784130263Z",
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.783877029Z"
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756598510Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],
@@ -160,7 +162,8 @@
    "id": "bae34017-6259-42df-beae-1191ea0f6374",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.784872242Z"
+     "end_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.763833101Z",
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756660628Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],
@@ -189,7 +192,7 @@
    "id": "726143ee-61f1-4353-806b-a9c9384b569d",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.785785759Z"
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756688580Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],
@@ -216,7 +219,7 @@
    "id": "e6847b06-cf2e-4134-89df-9651f7fc8604",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.786751582Z"
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756715415Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],
@@ -248,7 +251,7 @@
    "id": "fdcbcc3f-f817-49dc-912c-aeb7c0f1916d",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.787530354Z"
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756734486Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],
@@ -283,7 +286,7 @@
    "id": "fbd3d575-709f-4b8a-bdda-dad21799a65b",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.788284643Z"
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756753722Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],
@@ -305,7 +308,7 @@
    "id": "98ec7560-99d9-401b-971c-e87bcde48e78",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.789613615Z"
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756768504Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],
@@ -330,7 +333,7 @@
    "metadata": {
     "scrolled": true,
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.789633296Z"
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756811931Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],
@@ -377,7 +380,7 @@
    "id": "5bc61e63-abd9-4556-90a4-cdcbf5b10978",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.830389175Z"
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756828358Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],
@@ -421,7 +424,7 @@
    "id": "b2df24bb-b394-4c14-99bf-c1dde1a486c0",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.830461965Z"
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756843988Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],
@@ -444,7 +447,7 @@
    "id": "2dd970cd-f01e-4105-85d6-1f39682c1e02",
    "metadata": {
     "ExecuteTime": {
-     "start_time": "2023-12-03T00:13:57.830491870Z"
+     "start_time": "2023-12-03T01:20:50.756859313Z"
     }
    },
    "outputs": [],