fixing small fragilities from UnitaryHack2026

[lballerio]

This PR addresses #1476.

Checklist:

• Reviewers confirm new code works as expected.
• Tests are passing.
• Coverage does not decrease.
• Documentation is updated.

Warning

Do not merge before UnitaryHack2026 ends.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 37.43%. Comparing base (622c287) to head (5f216c3).

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #1477      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   37.46%   37.43%   -0.04%     
==========================================
  Files         114      114              
  Lines        5899     5896       -3     
==========================================
- Hits         2210     2207       -3     
  Misses       3689     3689              

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	37.43% <100.00%> (-0.04%)	⬇️

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

☔ View full report in Codecov by Harness.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

🚀 New features to boost your workflow:

• ❄️ Test Analytics: Detect flaky tests, report on failures, and find test suite problems.

[lballerio]

this PR can be closed since its changes have been rebased in #1499.