diff --git a/.github/workflows/llmsecops-cicd.yml b/.github/workflows/llmsecops-cicd.yml
index e45747899..354089c79 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/llmsecops-cicd.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/llmsecops-cicd.yml
@@ -10,27 +10,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: 'checkout'
         uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683
       
-      - name: 'set up git LFS'
-        run: git lfs install
-      
       - name: 'set up Python'
         uses: actions/setup-python@v3
         with:
           python-version: '3.12'
       
-      - name: 'set up Python dependencies'
-        run: |
-          pip install -r ${{ github.workspace }}/requirements.txt
-      
-      - name: 'set up Microsoft Phi-3 Mini 4k LLM from HuggingFace'
-        id: setup_llm
-        run: |
-          pip install huggingface-hub[cli]
-          huggingface-cli download microsoft/Phi-3-mini-4k-instruct-onnx \
-            --include cpu_and_mobile/cpu-int4-rtn-block-32-acc-level-4/* \
-            --local-dir ${{ github.workspace }}/src/text_generation/adapters/llm
-        continue-on-error: false
-      
       - name: 'set up Garak'
         run: |
           pip install garak
@@ -39,7 +23,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: 'start HTTP server'
         id: start_server
         run: |
-          nohup python -m src.api.server > server.log 2>&1 &
+          nohup ./run.sh > server.log 2>&1 &
           server_pid=$!
           echo "Server PID: $server_pid"
           echo "server_pid=$server_pid" >> $GITHUB_ENV
@@ -71,8 +55,8 @@ jobs:
         id: run_tests
         run: |
           # Test curl with detailed error reporting
-          # curl_output=$(curl -X POST -i localhost:9999/api/conversations -d '{ "prompt": "describe a random planet in our solar system in 10 words or less" }' --connect-timeout 10 -v 2>&1) || true
-          # echo "$curl_output"
+          curl_output=$(curl -X POST -i localhost:9999/api/conversations -d '{ "prompt": "describe a random planet in our solar system in 10 words or less" }' --connect-timeout 10 -v 2>&1) || true
+          echo "$curl_output"
           
           garak -v \
             --config ${{ github.workspace }}/src/tools/garak.config.yml \
diff --git a/run.sh b/run.sh
index 6078c8b55..e4b0d9030 100755
--- a/run.sh
+++ b/run.sh
@@ -1,14 +1,33 @@
 #!/usr/bin/bash
 
-# create Python virtual environment
-python3.12 -m venv .env
-source .env/bin/activate
+# Local-only usage: ./script.sh --local
+
+# Parse command line arguments
+LOCAL=false
+
+while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
+    case $1 in
+        --local)
+            LOCAL=true
+            shift
+            ;;
+        *)
+            echo "Unknown option: $1"
+            exit 1
+            ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+if [ "$LOCAL" = true ]; then
+    # create Python virtual environment
+    python3.12 -m venv .env
+    source .env/bin/activate
+fi
 
 # the ONNX model/data require git Large File System support
 git lfs install
 
 # install Python dependencies
-# pip install huggingface-hub[cli] langchain langchain_huggingface langchain_community optimum[onnxruntime] faiss-cpu
 pip install -r ./requirements.txt
 
 # environment variables