diff --git a/bottomless/src/bottomless_wal.rs b/bottomless/src/bottomless_wal.rs
index 819256b588..213cf47360 100644
--- a/bottomless/src/bottomless_wal.rs
+++ b/bottomless/src/bottomless_wal.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use std::ffi::c_int;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
+use std::time::Instant;
 
 use crate::completion_progress::SavepointTracker;
 use libsql_sys::ffi::{SQLITE_BUSY, SQLITE_IOERR_WRITE};
@@ -91,6 +92,7 @@ impl<T: Wal> WrapWal<T> for BottomlessWalWrapper {
         Ok(num_frames)
     }
 
+    #[tracing::instrument(skip_all, fields(in_wal = in_wal, backfilled = backfilled))]
     fn checkpoint(
         &mut self,
         wrapped: &mut T,
@@ -104,8 +106,9 @@ impl<T: Wal> WrapWal<T> for BottomlessWalWrapper {
         in_wal: Option<&mut i32>,
         backfilled: Option<&mut i32>,
     ) -> Result<()> {
+        let before = Instant::now();
         {
-            tracing::trace!("bottomless checkpoint");
+            tracing::trace!("bottomless checkpoint: {mode:?}");
 
             /* In order to avoid partial checkpoints, passive checkpoint
              ** mode is not allowed. Only TRUNCATE checkpoints are accepted,
@@ -143,6 +146,7 @@ impl<T: Wal> WrapWal<T> for BottomlessWalWrapper {
                     );
                     return Err(Error::new(SQLITE_IOERR_WRITE));
                 }
+                tracing::debug!("commited after {:?}", before.elapsed());
                 if let Err(e) = runtime.block_on(replicator.wait_until_snapshotted()) {
                     tracing::error!(
                         "Failed to wait for S3 replicator to confirm database snapshot backup: {}",
@@ -150,6 +154,7 @@ impl<T: Wal> WrapWal<T> for BottomlessWalWrapper {
                     );
                     return Err(Error::new(SQLITE_IOERR_WRITE));
                 }
+                tracing::debug!("snapshotted after {:?}", before.elapsed());
 
                 Ok(())
             })??;
@@ -166,6 +171,8 @@ impl<T: Wal> WrapWal<T> for BottomlessWalWrapper {
             backfilled,
         )?;
 
+        tracing::debug!("underlying checkpoint call after {:?}", before.elapsed());
+
         #[allow(clippy::await_holding_lock)]
         // uncontended -> only gets called under a libSQL write lock
         {
@@ -173,7 +180,7 @@ impl<T: Wal> WrapWal<T> for BottomlessWalWrapper {
             self.try_with_replicator(|replicator| {
                 if let Err(e) = runtime.block_on(async move {
                     replicator.new_generation().await;
-                    replicator.snapshot_main_db_file().await
+                    replicator.snapshot_main_db_file(false).await
                 }) {
                     tracing::error!("Failed to snapshot the main db file during checkpoint: {e}");
                     return Err(Error::new(SQLITE_IOERR_WRITE));
@@ -182,6 +189,8 @@ impl<T: Wal> WrapWal<T> for BottomlessWalWrapper {
             })??;
         }
 
+        tracing::debug!("checkpoint finnished after {:?}", before.elapsed());
+
         Ok(())
     }
 }
diff --git a/bottomless/src/replicator.rs b/bottomless/src/replicator.rs
index 9d88392379..1a02a4690a 100644
--- a/bottomless/src/replicator.rs
+++ b/bottomless/src/replicator.rs
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ pub struct Replicator {
     join_set: JoinSet<()>,
     upload_progress: Arc<Mutex<CompletionProgress>>,
     last_uploaded_frame_no: Receiver<u32>,
+    skip_snapshot: bool,
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug)]
@@ -113,6 +114,8 @@ pub struct Options {
     pub s3_upload_max_parallelism: usize,
     /// Max number of retries for S3 operations
     pub s3_max_retries: u32,
+    /// Skip snapshot upload per checkpoint.
+    pub skip_snapshot: bool,
 }
 
 impl Options {
@@ -202,6 +205,17 @@ impl Options {
                 other
             ),
         };
+        let skip_snapshot = match env_var_or("LIBSQL_BOTTOMLESS_SKIP_SNAPSHOT", false)
+            .to_lowercase()
+            .as_ref()
+        {
+            "yes" | "true" | "1" | "y" | "t" => true,
+            "no" | "false" | "0" | "n" | "f" => false,
+            other => bail!(
+                "Invalid LIBSQL_BOTTOMLESS_SKIP_SNAPSHOT environment variable: {}",
+                other
+            ),
+        };
         let s3_max_retries = env_var_or("LIBSQL_BOTTOMLESS_S3_MAX_RETRIES", 10).parse::<u32>()?;
         let cipher = match encryption_cipher {
             Some(cipher) => Cipher::from_str(&cipher)?,
@@ -226,6 +240,7 @@ impl Options {
             region,
             bucket_name,
             s3_max_retries,
+            skip_snapshot,
         })
     }
 }
@@ -386,6 +401,7 @@ impl Replicator {
             encryption_config: options.encryption_config,
             max_frames_per_batch: options.max_frames_per_batch,
             s3_upload_max_parallelism: options.s3_upload_max_parallelism,
+            skip_snapshot: options.skip_snapshot,
             join_set,
             upload_progress,
             last_uploaded_frame_no,
@@ -901,7 +917,12 @@ impl Replicator {
     // Sends the main database file to S3 - if -wal file is present, it's replicated
     // too - it means that the local file was detected to be newer than its remote
     // counterpart.
-    pub async fn snapshot_main_db_file(&mut self) -> Result<Option<JoinHandle<()>>> {
+    pub async fn snapshot_main_db_file(&mut self, force: bool) -> Result<Option<JoinHandle<()>>> {
+        if self.skip_snapshot && !force {
+            tracing::trace!("database snapshot skipped");
+            let _ = self.snapshot_notifier.send(Ok(self.generation().ok()));
+            return Ok(None);
+        }
         if !self.main_db_exists_and_not_empty().await {
             let generation = self.generation()?;
             tracing::debug!(
@@ -1301,6 +1322,14 @@ impl Replicator {
                 );
                 match wal_pages.cmp(&last_consistent_frame) {
                     std::cmp::Ordering::Equal => {
+                        if local_counter == [0u8; 4] && wal_pages == 0 {
+                            if self.get_dependency(&generation).await?.is_some() {
+                                // empty generation and empty local state, but we have a dependency
+                                // to previous generation: restore required
+                                return Ok(None);
+                            }
+                        }
+
                         tracing::info!(
                             "Remote generation is up-to-date, reusing it in this session"
                         );
diff --git a/libsql-server/src/connection/connection_manager.rs b/libsql-server/src/connection/connection_manager.rs
index 18e3ee88f8..979a21592d 100644
--- a/libsql-server/src/connection/connection_manager.rs
+++ b/libsql-server/src/connection/connection_manager.rs
@@ -258,6 +258,7 @@ impl WrapWal<Sqlite3Wal> for ManagedConnectionWalWrapper {
         } else {
             mode
         };
+        tracing::debug!("attempted checkpoint mode: {mode:?}");
         let ret = wrapped.checkpoint(
             db,
             mode,
diff --git a/libsql-server/src/connection/libsql.rs b/libsql-server/src/connection/libsql.rs
index 2f793994e5..9001024b82 100644
--- a/libsql-server/src/connection/libsql.rs
+++ b/libsql-server/src/connection/libsql.rs
@@ -417,8 +417,9 @@ impl<W: Wal> Connection<W> {
         );
 
         unsafe {
-            extern "C" fn do_nothing(_: *mut c_void, _: c_int) -> c_int {
-                1
+            const MAX_RETRIES: c_int = 8;
+            extern "C" fn do_nothing(_: *mut c_void, n: c_int) -> c_int {
+                (n < MAX_RETRIES) as _
             }
             libsql_sys::ffi::sqlite3_busy_handler(
                 conn.handle(),
diff --git a/libsql-server/src/namespace/meta_store.rs b/libsql-server/src/namespace/meta_store.rs
index 18be5cf234..ec6546b640 100644
--- a/libsql-server/src/namespace/meta_store.rs
+++ b/libsql-server/src/namespace/meta_store.rs
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ pub async fn metastore_connection_maker(
                 max_batch_interval: config.backup_interval,
                 s3_upload_max_parallelism: 32,
                 s3_max_retries: 10,
+                skip_snapshot: false,
             };
             let mut replicator = bottomless::replicator::Replicator::with_options(
                 db_path.join("data").to_str().unwrap(),
@@ -137,7 +138,7 @@ pub async fn metastore_connection_maker(
             match action {
                 bottomless::replicator::RestoreAction::SnapshotMainDbFile => {
                     replicator.new_generation().await;
-                    if let Some(_handle) = replicator.snapshot_main_db_file().await? {
+                    if let Some(_handle) = replicator.snapshot_main_db_file(true).await? {
                         tracing::trace!(
                             "got snapshot handle after restore with generation upgrade"
                         );
diff --git a/libsql-server/src/namespace/mod.rs b/libsql-server/src/namespace/mod.rs
index e963e71ba5..66d546383c 100644
--- a/libsql-server/src/namespace/mod.rs
+++ b/libsql-server/src/namespace/mod.rs
@@ -924,7 +924,7 @@ pub async fn init_bottomless_replicator(
     match action {
         bottomless::replicator::RestoreAction::SnapshotMainDbFile => {
             replicator.new_generation().await;
-            if let Some(_handle) = replicator.snapshot_main_db_file().await? {
+            if let Some(_handle) = replicator.snapshot_main_db_file(true).await? {
                 tracing::trace!("got snapshot handle after restore with generation upgrade");
             }
             // Restoration process only leaves the local WAL file if it was
diff --git a/libsql-server/src/replication/primary/replication_logger_wal.rs b/libsql-server/src/replication/primary/replication_logger_wal.rs
index c7f49ce68d..6d7a268a81 100644
--- a/libsql-server/src/replication/primary/replication_logger_wal.rs
+++ b/libsql-server/src/replication/primary/replication_logger_wal.rs
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ impl ReplicationLoggerWalWrapper {
         self.buffer.clear();
     }
 
-    pub fn logger(&self) -> Arc<ReplicationLogger> {
+    pub(crate) fn logger(&self) -> Arc<ReplicationLogger> {
         self.logger.clone()
     }
 }