diff --git a/alchemiscale/interface/api.py b/alchemiscale/interface/api.py
index 3aff63a1..0784ea49 100644
--- a/alchemiscale/interface/api.py
+++ b/alchemiscale/interface/api.py
@@ -7,10 +7,13 @@
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Union
 from collections import Counter
 
-from fastapi import FastAPI, APIRouter, Body, Depends, HTTPException
+from fastapi import FastAPI, APIRouter, Body, Depends, HTTPException, Request
 from fastapi import status as http_status
 from fastapi.middleware.gzip import GZipMiddleware
 
+import json
+from gufe.tokenization import JSON_HANDLER
+
 from ..base.api import (
     GufeJSONResponse,
     scope_params,
@@ -100,18 +103,25 @@ def check_existence(
 
 
 @router.post("/networks", response_model=ScopedKey)
-def create_network(
+async def create_network(
     *,
-    network: List = Body(embed=True),
-    scope: Scope = Body(embed=True),
-    state: str = Body(embed=True),
+    request: Request,
     n4js: Neo4jStore = Depends(get_n4js_depends),
     token: TokenData = Depends(get_token_data_depends),
 ):
+    # we handle the request directly so we can decode with custom JSON decoder
+    # this is important for properly handling GUFE objects
+    body = await request.body()
+    body_ = json.loads(body.decode("utf-8"), cls=JSON_HANDLER.decoder)
+
+    scope = Scope.parse_obj(body_["scope"])
     validate_scopes(scope, token)
 
+    network = body_["network"]
     an = KeyedChain(network).to_gufe()
 
+    state = body_["state"]
+
     try:
         an_sk, _, _ = n4js.assemble_network(network=an, scope=scope, state=state)
     except ValueError as e:
diff --git a/alchemiscale/storage/statestore.py b/alchemiscale/storage/statestore.py
index f7a30c4d..fd9c8bbd 100644
--- a/alchemiscale/storage/statestore.py
+++ b/alchemiscale/storage/statestore.py
@@ -862,19 +862,26 @@ def query_networks(
             gufe_key_pattern=None if key is None else str(key),
         )
 
+        where_params = dict(
+            name_pattern="an.name",
+            org_pattern="an.`_org`",
+            campaign_pattern="an.`_campaign`",
+            project_pattern="an.`_project`",
+            state_pattern="nm.state",
+            gufe_key_pattern="an.`_gufe_key`",
+        )
+
+        conditions = []
+
         for k, v in query_params.items():
-            if v is None:
-                query_params[k] = ".*"
+            if v is not None:
+                conditions.append(f"{where_params[k]} =~ ${k}")
 
-        q = """
+        where_clause = "WHERE " + " AND ".join(conditions) if len(conditions) else ""
+
+        q = f"""
             MATCH (an:AlchemicalNetwork)<-[:MARKS]-(nm:NetworkMark)
-            WHERE
-                    an.name =~ $name_pattern
-                AND an.`_gufe_key` =~ $gufe_key_pattern
-                AND an.`_org` =~ $org_pattern
-                AND an.`_campaign` =~ $campaign_pattern
-                AND an.`_project` =~ $project_pattern
-                AND nm.state =~ $state_pattern
+            {where_clause}
             RETURN an._scoped_key as sk
         """
 
diff --git a/alchemiscale/tests/integration/compute/client/test_compute_client.py b/alchemiscale/tests/integration/compute/client/test_compute_client.py
index 185eada4..99777c41 100644
--- a/alchemiscale/tests/integration/compute/client/test_compute_client.py
+++ b/alchemiscale/tests/integration/compute/client/test_compute_client.py
@@ -162,10 +162,17 @@ def test_claim_taskhub_task(
 
         taskhub_sks = compute_client.query_taskhubs([scope_test])
 
+        remaining_tasks = n4js_preloaded.get_taskhub_unclaimed_tasks(taskhub_sks[0])
+        assert len(remaining_tasks) == 3
+
         # claim a single task; should get highest priority task
         task_sks = compute_client.claim_taskhub_tasks(
             taskhub_sks[0], compute_service_id=compute_service_id
         )
+
+        remaining_tasks = n4js_preloaded.get_taskhub_unclaimed_tasks(taskhub_sks[0])
+        assert len(remaining_tasks) == 2
+
         all_tasks = n4js_preloaded.get_taskhub_tasks(taskhub_sks[0], return_gufe=True)
 
         assert len(task_sks) == 1
diff --git a/alchemiscale/tests/integration/compute/conftest.py b/alchemiscale/tests/integration/compute/conftest.py
index 86beb1ce..d66b20c5 100644
--- a/alchemiscale/tests/integration/compute/conftest.py
+++ b/alchemiscale/tests/integration/compute/conftest.py
@@ -81,8 +81,10 @@ def n4js_preloaded(
     n4js: Neo4jStore = n4js_fresh
 
     # Set up tasks from select set of transformations
+    # we need to use second_network_an2 because its edges
+    # are a subset of network_tyk2's edges
     transformations = sorted(
-        filter(lambda x: type(x) is not NonTransformation, network_tyk2.edges)
+        filter(lambda x: type(x) is not NonTransformation, second_network_an2.edges)
     )[0:3]
 
     # set starting contents for many of the tests in this module
diff --git a/alchemiscale/tests/integration/storage/test_statestore.py b/alchemiscale/tests/integration/storage/test_statestore.py
index ca6a0b2d..2632524b 100644
--- a/alchemiscale/tests/integration/storage/test_statestore.py
+++ b/alchemiscale/tests/integration/storage/test_statestore.py
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ def test_get_network(self, n4js, network_tyk2, scope_test):
 
     def test_query_networks(self, n4js, network_tyk2, scope_test, multiple_scopes):
         an = network_tyk2
-        an2 = AlchemicalNetwork(edges=list(an.edges)[:-2], name="incomplete")
+        an2 = AlchemicalNetwork(edges=list(an.edges)[:-2], name=None)
 
         sk: ScopedKey = n4js.assemble_network(an, scope_test)[0]
         sk2: ScopedKey = n4js.assemble_network(an2, scope_test)[0]
diff --git a/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-client.yml b/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-client.yml
index f2ed56e1..6f583986 100644
--- a/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-client.yml
+++ b/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-client.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ channels:
   - jaimergp/label/unsupported-cudatoolkit-shim
   - conda-forge
   - openeye
+
 dependencies:
   - pip
   - python =3.10
diff --git a/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-compute.yml b/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-compute.yml
index 2e033e00..56b21cef 100644
--- a/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-compute.yml
+++ b/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-compute.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ name: alchemiscale-compute
 channels:
   - conda-forge
   - openeye
+
 dependencies:
   - pip
   - python =3.10
diff --git a/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-server.yml b/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-server.yml
index 8dee891b..f8909d40 100644
--- a/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-server.yml
+++ b/devtools/conda-envs/alchemiscale-server.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ channels:
   - jaimergp/label/unsupported-cudatoolkit-shim
   - conda-forge
   - openeye
+
 dependencies:
   - pip
   - python =3.10
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ dependencies:
   # alchemiscale dependencies
   - gufe=0.9.5
   - openfe=0.14.0
+
   - openmmforcefields>=0.12.0
   - requests
   - click
diff --git a/devtools/conda-envs/docs.yml b/devtools/conda-envs/docs.yml
index 6e20b645..b0718227 100644
--- a/devtools/conda-envs/docs.yml
+++ b/devtools/conda-envs/docs.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 name: alchemiscale-docs
 channels:
   - conda-forge
+
 dependencies:
   - sphinx>=5.0,<6
   - sphinx_rtd_theme
diff --git a/devtools/conda-envs/test.yml b/devtools/conda-envs/test.yml
index 14b41d89..fdab69d7 100644
--- a/devtools/conda-envs/test.yml
+++ b/devtools/conda-envs/test.yml
@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@ name: alchemiscale-test
 channels:
   - jaimergp/label/unsupported-cudatoolkit-shim
   - conda-forge
+
 dependencies:
   - pip
 
   # alchemiscale dependencies
-  - gufe>=0.9.5
-  - openfe>=0.14.0
+  - gufe>=1.0.0
+  - openfe>=1.0.1
   - openmmforcefields>=0.12.0
   - pydantic<2.0
 
diff --git a/docs/operations.rst b/docs/operations.rst
index 5b050985..0a14610e 100644
--- a/docs/operations.rst
+++ b/docs/operations.rst
@@ -69,15 +69,20 @@ Creating a database dump
 
 **With the Neo4j service shut down**, navigate to the directory containing your database data, set ``$BACKUPS_DIR`` to the absolute path of your choice and ``$NEO4J_VERSION`` to the version of Neo4j you are using, then run::
 
+    # create the dump `neo4j.dump`
     docker run --rm \
                -v $(pwd):/var/lib/neo4j/data \
                -v ${BACKUPS_DIR}:/tmp \
                --entrypoint /bin/bash \
                neo4j:${NEO4J_VERSION} \
-               -c "neo4j-admin dump --to /tmp/neo4j-$(date -I).dump"
+               -c "neo4j-admin database dump --to-path /tmp neo4j"
 
-This will create a new database dump in the ``$BACKUPS_DIR`` directory.
+    # create a copy of the dump with a timestamp
+    cp ${BACKUPS_DIR}/neo4j.dump ${BACKUPS_DIR}/neo4j-$(date -I).dump
 
+This will create a new database dump in the ``$BACKUPS_DIR`` directory.
+Note that this command will fail if ``neo4j.dump`` already exists in this directory.
+It is recommended to copy this file to one with a timestamp (e.g. ``neo4j-$(date -I).dump``), as above.
 
 Restoring from a database dump
 ==============================
@@ -86,12 +91,16 @@ To later restore from a database dump, navigate to the directory containing your
 
 **With the Neo4j service shut down**, choose ``$DUMP_DATE`` and set ``$NEO4J_VERSION`` to the version of Neo4j you are using, then run::
 
+    # create a copy of the timestamped dump to `neo4j.dump`
+    cp ${BACKUPS_DIR}/neo4j-$(date -I).dump ${BACKUPS_DIR}/neo4j.dump 
+
+    # load the dump `neo4j.dump`
     docker run --rm \
                -v $(pwd):/var/lib/neo4j/data \
                -v ${BACKUPS_DIR}:/tmp \
                --entrypoint /bin/bash \
                neo4j:${NEO4J_VERSION} \
-               -c "neo4j-admin load --from /tmp/neo4j-${DUMP_DATE}.dump"
+               -c "neo4j-admin database load --from-path=/tmp neo4j"
 
 You may need to perform a ``chown -R`` following this operation to set correct ownership of the newly-loaded database contents.