diff --git a/.envrc b/.envrc
index f5ce87435..47c5fefb2 100644
--- a/.envrc
+++ b/.envrc
@@ -48,6 +48,21 @@ if ! has readlink; then
 	exit 1
 fi
 
+if ! has pv; then
+	echo "pv is not installed"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! has lz4; then
+	echo "lz4 is not installed"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! has git-cliff; then
+	echo "git-cliff  is not installed"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
 if [ -z "$GOPATH" ]; then
 	GOPATH=$(go env GOPATH)
 	export GOPATH
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index e4c41638d..c9a9ac234 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - run: git fetch --prune --unshallow
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: ./script/tools.sh gha-deps
       - name: Detect required Go version
         run: |
           toolchain=$(./script/tools.sh gotoolchain | sed 's/go*//')
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@ jobs:
           # using PAT as homebrew is located in different repo
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
   test-network-upgrade-on-release:
-    runs-on: upgrade-tester
+    runs-on: self-hosted1
     needs:
       - publish
     steps:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
index 3f1b4ae40..8e46ef496 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
-          brew install bash direnv
+          brew install bash direnv pv lz4 git-cliff
           sudo chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash
       - name: Hook direnv to bash
         run: echo 'eval "$(direnv hook bash)"' >> $HOME/.bashrc
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - run: git fetch --prune --unshallow
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: ./script/tools.sh gha-deps
       - name: Detect required Go version
         run: |
           toolchain=$(./script/tools.sh gotoolchain | sed 's/go*//')
@@ -64,6 +66,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - run: git fetch --prune --unshallow
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: ./script/tools.sh gha-deps
       - name: Detect required Go version
         run: |
           toolchain=$(./script/tools.sh gotoolchain | sed 's/go*//')
@@ -82,6 +86,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - run: git fetch --prune --unshallow
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: ./script/tools.sh gha-deps
       - name: Detect required Go version
         run: |
           toolchain=$(./script/tools.sh gotoolchain | sed 's/go*//')
@@ -101,6 +107,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - run: git fetch --prune --unshallow
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: ./script/tools.sh gha-deps
       - name: Detect required Go version
         run: |
           toolchain=$(./script/tools.sh gotoolchain | sed 's/go*//')
@@ -119,6 +127,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: ./script/tools.sh gha-deps
       - run: git fetch --prune --unshallow
       - name: Detect required Go version
         run: |
@@ -140,6 +150,8 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: ./script/tools.sh gha-deps
       - name: Detect required Go version
         run: |
           toolchain=$(./script/tools.sh gotoolchain | sed 's/go*//')
@@ -165,6 +177,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - run: git fetch --prune --unshallow
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: ./script/tools.sh gha-deps
       - name: Detect required Go version
         run: |
           toolchain=$(./script/tools.sh gotoolchain | sed 's/go*//')
@@ -189,7 +203,7 @@ jobs:
         run: make release
 
   network-upgrade-names:
-    runs-on: upgrade-tester
+    runs-on: self-hosted1
     steps:
       - name: Cleanup build folder
         run: |
@@ -222,7 +236,7 @@ jobs:
               ./script/semver.sh validate "$upgrade"
           done <<< $(find "$dir" ! -path "$dir" -maxdepth 1 -type d -exec basename {} \;)
   network-upgrade:
-    runs-on: upgrade-tester
+    runs-on: self-hosted1
     steps:
       - name: Cleanup build folder
         run: |
diff --git a/make/test-upgrade.mk b/make/test-upgrade.mk
index 4b74a7ebd..ef42d976d 100644
--- a/make/test-upgrade.mk
+++ b/make/test-upgrade.mk
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ UPGRADE_BINARY_VERSION  ?= local
 REMOTE_TEST_WORKDIR     ?= ~/go/src/github.com/akash-network/node
 REMOTE_TEST_HOST        ?=
 
+COSMOVISOR  := /Users/amr/go/src/github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/tools/cosmovisor/cosmovisor
+
 $(AKASH_INIT):
 	$(ROOT_DIR)/script/upgrades.sh --workdir=$(AP_RUN_DIR) --gbv=$(GENESIS_BINARY_VERSION) --ufrom=$(UPGRADE_FROM) --uto=$(UPGRADE_TO) --config="$(PWD)/config.json" init
 	touch $@
diff --git a/script/tools.sh b/script/tools.sh
index 187775d38..53da753ac 100755
--- a/script/tools.sh
+++ b/script/tools.sh
@@ -6,117 +6,140 @@ SEMVER=$SCRIPT_DIR/semver.sh
 gomod="$SCRIPT_DIR/../go.mod"
 
 function get_gotoolchain() {
-    local gotoolchain
-    local goversion
-    local local_goversion
-
-    gotoolchain=$(grep -E '^toolchain go[0-9]{1,}.[0-9]{1,}.[0-9]{1,}$' < "$gomod" | cut -d ' ' -f 2 | tr -d '\n')
-    goversion=$(grep -E '^go [0-9]{1,}.[0-9]{1,}(.[0-9]{1,})?$' < "$gomod" | cut -d ' ' -f 2 | tr -d '\n')
-
-    if [[ ${gotoolchain} == "" ]]; then
-        # determine go toolchain from go version in go.mod
-        if which go > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
-            local_goversion=$(GOTOOLCHAIN=local go version | cut -d ' ' -f 3 | sed 's/go*//' | tr -d '\n')
-            if [[ $($SEMVER compare "v$local_goversion" v"$goversion") -ge 0 ]]; then
-                goversion=$local_goversion
-            else
-                local_goversion=
-            fi
-        fi
-
-        if [[ "$local_goversion" == "" ]]; then
-            goversion=$(curl -s "https://go.dev/dl/?mode=json&include=all" | jq -r --arg regexp "^go$goversion" '.[] | select(.stable == true) | select(.version | match($regexp)) | .version' | head -n 1 |  sed -e s/^go//)
-        fi
-
-        if [[ $goversion != "" ]] && [[ $($SEMVER compare "v$goversion" v1.21.0) -ge 0 ]]; then
-            gotoolchain=go${goversion}
-        else
-            gotoolchain=go$(grep -E '^go [0-9]{1,}.[0-9]{1,}$' < "$gomod" | cut -d ' ' -f 2 | tr -d '\n').0
-        fi
-    fi
-
-    echo -n "$gotoolchain"
+	local gotoolchain
+	local goversion
+	local local_goversion
+
+	gotoolchain=$(grep -E '^toolchain go[0-9]{1,}.[0-9]{1,}.[0-9]{1,}$' <"$gomod" | cut -d ' ' -f 2 | tr -d '\n')
+	goversion=$(grep -E '^go [0-9]{1,}.[0-9]{1,}(.[0-9]{1,})?$' <"$gomod" | cut -d ' ' -f 2 | tr -d '\n')
+
+	if [[ ${gotoolchain} == "" ]]; then
+		# determine go toolchain from go version in go.mod
+		if which go >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+			local_goversion=$(GOTOOLCHAIN=local go version | cut -d ' ' -f 3 | sed 's/go*//' | tr -d '\n')
+			if [[ $($SEMVER compare "v$local_goversion" v"$goversion") -ge 0 ]]; then
+				goversion=$local_goversion
+			else
+				local_goversion=
+			fi
+		fi
+
+		if [[ "$local_goversion" == "" ]]; then
+			goversion=$(curl -s "https://go.dev/dl/?mode=json&include=all" | jq -r --arg regexp "^go$goversion" '.[] | select(.stable == true) | select(.version | match($regexp)) | .version' | head -n 1 | sed -e s/^go//)
+		fi
+
+		if [[ $goversion != "" ]] && [[ $($SEMVER compare "v$goversion" v1.21.0) -ge 0 ]]; then
+			gotoolchain=go${goversion}
+		else
+			gotoolchain=go$(grep -E '^go [0-9]{1,}.[0-9]{1,}$' <"$gomod" | cut -d ' ' -f 2 | tr -d '\n').0
+		fi
+	fi
+
+	echo -n "$gotoolchain"
 }
 
 replace_paths() {
-    local file="${1}"
-    local cimport="${2}"
-    local nimport="${3}"
-    local sedcmd=sed
+	local file="${1}"
+	local cimport="${2}"
+	local nimport="${3}"
+	local sedcmd=sed
 
-    if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
-        sedcmd=gsed
-    fi
+	if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
+		sedcmd=gsed
+	fi
 
-    $sedcmd -ri "s~$cimport~$nimport~" "${file}"
+	$sedcmd -ri "s~$cimport~$nimport~" "${file}"
 }
 
 function replace_import_path() {
-    local next_major_version=$1
-    local curr_module_name
-    local curr_version
-    local new_module_name
-
-    curr_module_name=$(cd go || exit; go list -m)
-    curr_version=$(echo "$curr_module_name" | sed -n 's/.*v\([0-9]*\).*/\1/p')
-    new_module_name=${curr_module_name%/"v$curr_version"}/$next_major_version
-
-    echo "current import paths are $curr_module_name, replacing with $new_module_name"
-
-    declare -a modules_to_upgrade_manually
-
-    modules_to_upgrade_manually+=("./go/go.mod")
-
-    echo "preparing files to replace"
-
-    declare -a files
-
-    while IFS= read -r line; do
-        files+=("$line")
-    done < <(find . -type f -not \( \
-            -path "./install.sh" \
-        -or -path "./upgrades/*" \
-        -or -path "./.cache/*" \
-        -or -path "./dist/*" \
-        -or -path "./.git*" \
-        -or -name "*.md" \
-        -or -path "./.idea/*" \))
-
-    echo "updating all files"
-
-    for file in "${files[@]}"; do
-        if test -f "$file"; then
-            # skip files that need manual upgrading
-            for excluded_file in "${modules_to_upgrade_manually[@]}"; do
-                if [[ "$file" == *"$excluded_file"* ]]; then
-                    continue 2
-                fi
-            done
-
-            replace_paths "$file" "\"$curr_module_name" "\"$new_module_name"
-        fi
-    done
-
-    echo "updating go.mod"
-    for retract in $(cd go || exit; go mod edit --json | jq -cr '.Retract | if . != null then .[] else empty end'); do
-        local low
-        local high
-
-        low=$(jq -r '.Low' <<<"$retract")
-        high=$(jq -r '.High' <<<"$retract")
-        echo "    dropping retract: [$low, $high]"
-        go mod edit -dropretract=["$low","$high"]
-    done
-
-    replace_paths "./go/go.mod" "$curr_module_name" "$new_module_name"
+	local next_major_version=$1
+	local curr_module_name
+	local curr_version
+	local new_module_name
+
+	curr_module_name=$(
+		cd go || exit
+		go list -m
+	)
+	curr_version=$(echo "$curr_module_name" | sed -n 's/.*v\([0-9]*\).*/\1/p')
+	new_module_name=${curr_module_name%/"v$curr_version"}/$next_major_version
+
+	echo "current import paths are $curr_module_name, replacing with $new_module_name"
+
+	declare -a modules_to_upgrade_manually
+
+	modules_to_upgrade_manually+=("./go/go.mod")
+
+	echo "preparing files to replace"
+
+	declare -a files
+
+	while IFS= read -r line; do
+		files+=("$line")
+	done < <(find . -type f -not \( \
+		-path "./install.sh" \
+		-or -path "./upgrades/*" \
+		-or -path "./.cache/*" \
+		-or -path "./dist/*" \
+		-or -path "./.git*" \
+		-or -name "*.md" \
+		-or -path "./.idea/*" \))
+
+	echo "updating all files"
+
+	for file in "${files[@]}"; do
+		if test -f "$file"; then
+			# skip files that need manual upgrading
+			for excluded_file in "${modules_to_upgrade_manually[@]}"; do
+				if [[ "$file" == *"$excluded_file"* ]]; then
+					continue 2
+				fi
+			done
+
+			replace_paths "$file" "\"$curr_module_name" "\"$new_module_name"
+		fi
+	done
+
+	echo "updating go.mod"
+	for retract in $(
+		cd go || exit
+		go mod edit --json | jq -cr '.Retract | if . != null then .[] else empty end'
+	); do
+		local low
+		local high
+
+		low=$(jq -r '.Low' <<<"$retract")
+		high=$(jq -r '.High' <<<"$retract")
+		echo "    dropping retract: [$low, $high]"
+		go mod edit -dropretract=["$low","$high"]
+	done
+
+	replace_paths "./go/go.mod" "$curr_module_name" "$new_module_name"
+}
+
+function install_gha_dependencies() {
+	if [[ "$OSTYPE" == "linux-gnu"* ]]; then
+		sudo apt install pv lz4 npm jq curl unzip wget make
+		# version="1.0.0"
+		local version
+		version=2.6.0
+		wget -qO- "https://github.com/orhun/git-cliff/releases/download/v${version}/git-cliff-${version}-$(uname -m)-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz" | tar xvz -C /usr/local/bin --strip-components=1 git-cliff-${version}/git-cliff
+	elif [[ "$OSTYPE" == "darwin"* ]]; then
+		brew install bash direnv pv lz4 git-cliff
+		chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash
+	fi
 }
 
 case "$1" in
-gotoolchain)
-    get_gotoolchain
-    ;;
-replace-import-path)
-    shift
-    replace_import_path "$@"
-    ;;
+	gotoolchain)
+		get_gotoolchain
+		;;
+	replace-import-path)
+		shift
+		replace_import_path "$@"
+		;;
+	gha-deps)
+		shift
+		install_gha_dependencies
+		;;
 esac
diff --git a/script/upgrades.sh b/script/upgrades.sh
index 0a5b257df..10e3c0a8f 100755
--- a/script/upgrades.sh
+++ b/script/upgrades.sh
@@ -258,13 +258,6 @@ function init() {
 			cp "$validators_dir/.akash0/cosmovisor/upgrades/$UPGRADE_TO/bin/akash" "$upgrade_bin/akash"
 		fi
 
-		pushd "$(pwd)"
-		cd "$cosmovisor_dir"
-
-		ln -snf "current" "genesis"
-
-		popd
-
 		AKASH=$genesis_bin/akash
 
 		$AKASH init --home "$valdir" "$(jq -rc '.moniker' <<<"$val")" >/dev/null 2>&1
@@ -286,6 +279,7 @@ function init() {
 
 					tar_cmd=$(content_type "$(content_name "$GENESIS_ORIG")")
 
+					# shellcheck disable=SC2086
 					wget -nv -O - "$GENESIS_ORIG" | pv $pv_args | eval "$tar_cmd"
 				else
 					echo "unable to download genesis"
@@ -441,13 +435,6 @@ function bins() {
 			cp "$validators_dir/.akash0/cosmovisor/upgrades/$UPGRADE_TO/bin/akash" "$upgrade_bin/akash"
 		fi
 
-		pushd "$(pwd)"
-		cd "$cosmovisor_dir"
-
-		ln -snf "genesis" "current"
-
-		popd
-
 		((cnt++)) || true
 	done
 }
diff --git a/tests/upgrade/upgrade_test.go b/tests/upgrade/upgrade_test.go
index 4bbea9123..8c26a3dc8 100644
--- a/tests/upgrade/upgrade_test.go
+++ b/tests/upgrade/upgrade_test.go
@@ -546,13 +546,6 @@ func TestUpgrade(t *testing.T) {
 				fail = true
 			}
 		}
-
-		// select {
-		// case errs := <-vl.testErrsCh:
-		//
-		//
-		// case <-vl.ctx.Done():
-		// }
 	}
 
 	if fail {