diff --git a/.ci/test_suites.json b/.ci/test_suites.json
index eb6b15e5909e..3a15dd205c5b 100644
--- a/.ci/test_suites.json
+++ b/.ci/test_suites.json
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
   {
     "name": "unit",
     "exclude_tags": "flaky,ipv6",
+    "venv_script": "kong-dev-venv.sh",
     "specs": ["spec/01-unit/"]
   },
   {
@@ -10,11 +11,13 @@
     "environment": {
       "KONG_TEST_DATABASE": "postgres"
     },
+    "venv_script": "kong-dev-venv.sh",
     "specs": ["spec/02-integration/"]
   },
   {
     "name": "dbless",
     "exclude_tags": "flaky,ipv6,postgres,db",
+    "venv_script": "kong-dev-venv.sh",
     "specs": [
       "spec/02-integration/02-cmd/",
       "spec/02-integration/05-proxy/",
@@ -29,6 +32,7 @@
   {
     "name": "plugins",
     "exclude_tags": "flaky,ipv6",
+    "venv_script": "kong-dev-venv.sh",
     "specs": ["spec/03-plugins/"]
   }
 ]
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml b/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml
index 1aa7fc23a580..210d7a3b61b6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml
@@ -111,12 +111,13 @@ jobs:
         repo-path: Kong/gateway-action-storage/main/.ci/runtimes.json
 
     - name: Schedule tests
-      uses: Kong/gateway-test-scheduler/schedule@b91bd7aec42bd13748652929f087be81d1d40843 # v1
+      uses: Kong/gateway-test-scheduler/schedule@69f0c2a562ac44fc3650b8bfa62106b34094b5ce # v3
       with:
         test-suites-file: .ci/test_suites.json
         test-file-runtime-file: .ci/runtimes.json
         output-prefix: test-chunk.
         runner-count: ${{ env.RUNNER_COUNT }}
+        static-mode: ${{ github.run_attempt > 1 }}
 
     - name: Upload schedule files
       uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
@@ -225,6 +226,24 @@ jobs:
           unzip -o /tmp/aws-sam-cli.zip -d /tmp/aws-sam-cli
           sudo /tmp/aws-sam-cli/install --update
 
+    - name: Update PATH
+      run: |
+        echo "$BUILD_ROOT/kong-dev/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+        echo "$BUILD_ROOT/kong-dev/openresty/nginx/sbin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+        echo "$BUILD_ROOT/kong-dev/openresty/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+
+    - name: Debug (nginx)
+      run: |
+        echo nginx: $(which nginx)
+        nginx -V 2>&1 | sed -re 's/ --/\n--/g'
+        ldd $(which nginx)
+
+    - name: Debug (luarocks)
+      run: |
+        echo luarocks: $(which luarocks)
+        luarocks --version
+        luarocks config
+
     - name: Create kong_ro user in Postgres
       run: |
         psql -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 -h localhost --username kong <<\EOD
@@ -280,12 +299,12 @@ jobs:
         DD_CIVISIBILITY_AGENTLESS_ENABLED: true
         DD_TRACE_GIT_METADATA_ENABLED: true
         DD_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.DATADOG_API_KEY }}
-      uses: Kong/gateway-test-scheduler/runner@b91bd7aec42bd13748652929f087be81d1d40843 # v1
+      uses: Kong/gateway-test-scheduler/runner@69f0c2a562ac44fc3650b8bfa62106b34094b5ce # v3
       with:
         tests-to-run-file: test-chunk.${{ matrix.runner }}.json
         failed-test-files-file: ${{ env.FAILED_TEST_FILES_FILE }}
         test-file-runtime-file: ${{ env.TEST_FILE_RUNTIME_FILE }}
-        setup-venv: . ${{ env.BUILD_ROOT }}/kong-dev-venv.sh
+        setup-venv-path: ${{ env.BUILD_ROOT }}
 
     - name: Upload test rerun information
       if: always()
@@ -312,6 +331,11 @@ jobs:
         path: |
           luacov.stats.out
 
+    - name: Get kernel message
+      if: failure()
+      run: |
+        sudo dmesg -T
+
   pdk-tests:
     name: PDK tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
diff --git a/.github/workflows/update-test-runtime-statistics.yml b/.github/workflows/update-test-runtime-statistics.yml
index 43e4017a518a..928718a5cd11 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/update-test-runtime-statistics.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/update-test-runtime-statistics.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
           token: ${{ secrets.PAT }}
 
       - name: Process statistics
-        uses: Kong/gateway-test-scheduler/analyze@b91bd7aec42bd13748652929f087be81d1d40843 # v1
+        uses: Kong/gateway-test-scheduler/analyze@69f0c2a562ac44fc3650b8bfa62106b34094b5ce # v3
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PAT }}
         with:
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index af0ff49c7996..abeac75ec637 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 OS := $(shell uname | awk '{print tolower($$0)}')
 MACHINE := $(shell uname -m)
 
-DEV_ROCKS = "busted 2.2.0" "busted-htest 1.0.0" "luacheck 1.1.2" "lua-llthreads2 0.1.6" "ldoc 1.5.0" "luacov 0.15.0"
+DEV_ROCKS = "busted 2.2.0" "busted-hjtest 0.0.5" "luacheck 1.1.2" "lua-llthreads2 0.1.6" "ldoc 1.5.0" "luacov 0.15.0"
 WIN_SCRIPTS = "bin/busted" "bin/kong" "bin/kong-health"
 BUSTED_ARGS ?= -v
 TEST_CMD ?= bin/busted $(BUSTED_ARGS)
diff --git a/spec/busted-ci-helper.lua b/spec/busted-ci-helper.lua
index a28b2f367eff..699d894dfa22 100644
--- a/spec/busted-ci-helper.lua
+++ b/spec/busted-ci-helper.lua
@@ -7,12 +7,22 @@ local socket_unix = require 'socket.unix'
 local busted_event_path = os.getenv("BUSTED_EVENT_PATH")
 
 -- Function to recursively copy a table, skipping keys associated with functions
-local function copyTable(original, copied)
-  copied = copied or {}
+local function copyTable(original, copied, cache, max_depth, current_depth)
+  copied        = copied or {}
+  cache         = cache  or {}
+  max_depth     = max_depth or 5
+  current_depth = current_depth or 1
+
+  if cache[original] then return cache[original] end
+  cache[original] = copied
 
   for key, value in pairs(original) do
     if type(value) == "table" then
-      copied[key] = copyTable(value, {})
+      if current_depth < max_depth then
+        copied[key] = copyTable(value, {}, cache, max_depth, current_depth + 1)
+      end
+    elseif type(value) == "userdata" then
+      copied[key] = tostring(value)
     elseif type(value) ~= "function" then
       copied[key] = value
     end
@@ -43,6 +53,8 @@ if busted_event_path then
       for i, original in ipairs{...} do
         if type(original) == "table" then
           args[i] = copyTable(original)
+        elseif type(original) == "userdata" then
+          args[i] = tostring(original)
         elseif type(original) ~= "function" then
           args[i] = original
         end