diff --git a/alphastats/gui/pages/04_Analysis.py b/alphastats/gui/pages/04_Analysis.py
index a6f70d0c..8188d28f 100644
--- a/alphastats/gui/pages/04_Analysis.py
+++ b/alphastats/gui/pages/04_Analysis.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ def show_start_llm_button(method: str) -> None:
 
     msg = (
         "(this will overwrite the existing LLM analysis!)"
-        if StateKeys.LLM_INTEGRATION in st.session_state
+        if st.session_state.get(StateKeys.LLM_INTEGRATION, {}) != {}
         else ""
     )
 
diff --git a/alphastats/gui/pages/05_LLM.py b/alphastats/gui/pages/05_LLM.py
index 27d9b1b3..6d869a25 100644
--- a/alphastats/gui/pages/05_LLM.py
+++ b/alphastats/gui/pages/05_LLM.py
@@ -64,11 +64,10 @@ def llm_config():
                     api_key=st.session_state[StateKeys.OPENAI_API_KEY],
                     base_url=base_url,
                 )
-            st.success(
-                f"Connection to {api_type} successful!"
-            ) if error is None else st.error(
-                f"❌ Connection to {api_type} failed: {error}"
-            )
+                if error is None:
+                    st.success(f"Connection to {api_type} successful!")
+                else:
+                    st.error(f"❌ Connection to {api_type} failed: {str(error)}")
 
         if model_before != st.session_state[StateKeys.API_TYPE]:
             st.rerun(scope="app")
diff --git a/alphastats/gui/utils/llm_helper.py b/alphastats/gui/utils/llm_helper.py
index 801fa9ad..8895dd7c 100644
--- a/alphastats/gui/utils/llm_helper.py
+++ b/alphastats/gui/utils/llm_helper.py
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ def llm_connection_test(
 ) -> Optional[str]:
     """Test the connection to the LLM API, return None in case of success, error message otherwise."""
     try:
-        llm = LLMIntegration(api_type, base_url=base_url, api_key=api_key)
+        llm = LLMIntegration(
+            api_type, base_url=base_url, api_key=api_key, load_tools=False
+        )
         llm.chat_completion("Hello there!")
         return None
 
diff --git a/alphastats/llm/llm_integration.py b/alphastats/llm/llm_integration.py
index dfac63aa..4ebe3fdf 100644
--- a/alphastats/llm/llm_integration.py
+++ b/alphastats/llm/llm_integration.py
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ def __init__(
         base_url: Optional[str] = None,
         api_key: Optional[str] = None,
         system_message: str = None,
+        load_tools: bool = True,
         dataset: Optional[DataSet] = None,
         gene_to_prot_id_map: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
     ):
@@ -77,12 +78,11 @@ def __init__(
         self._metadata = None if dataset is None else dataset.metadata
         self._gene_to_prot_id_map = gene_to_prot_id_map
 
-        self._tools = self._get_tools()
+        self._tools = self._get_tools() if load_tools else None
 
+        self._artifacts = {}
         self._messages = []  # the conversation history used for the LLM, could be truncated at some point.
         self._all_messages = []  # full conversation history for display
-        self._artifacts = {}
-
         if system_message is not None:
             self._append_message("system", system_message)