diff --git a/ee/api/Dockerfile b/ee/api/Dockerfile
index 34491edeb..33e5bfecf 100644
--- a/ee/api/Dockerfile
+++ b/ee/api/Dockerfile
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
-#FROM python:3.11-alpine
-FROM python:3.11-slim
+FROM python:3.11-alpine3.17
 LABEL Maintainer="KRAIEM Taha Yassine<tahayk2@gmail.com>"
-#RUN apk add --no-cache build-base libressl libffi-dev libressl-dev libxslt-dev libxml2-dev xmlsec-dev xmlsec tini
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y pkg-config libxmlsec1-dev gcc tini && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+RUN apk add --no-cache build-base libressl libffi-dev libressl-dev libxslt-dev libxml2-dev xmlsec-dev xmlsec tini
 
 ARG envarg
 ENV SOURCE_MAP_VERSION=0.7.4 \
@@ -18,8 +16,7 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir --upgrade -r requirements.txt
 COPY . .
 RUN mv env.default .env
 
-#RUN adduser -u 1001 openreplay -D
-RUN useradd -mu 1001 openreplay
+RUN adduser -u 1001 openreplay -D
 USER 1001
 
 ENTRYPOINT ["/sbin/tini", "--"]
diff --git a/ee/api/chalicelib/core/sessions_exp.py b/ee/api/chalicelib/core/sessions_exp.py
index 8896ea578..fce8811ea 100644
--- a/ee/api/chalicelib/core/sessions_exp.py
+++ b/ee/api/chalicelib/core/sessions_exp.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import json
+import ast
 from typing import List, Union
 
 import schemas
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ def search_sessions(data: schemas.SessionsSearchPayloadSchema, project_id, user_
 
             meta_keys = metadata.get(project_id=project_id)
             meta_map = ",map(%s) AS 'metadata'" \
-                       % ','.join([f"'{m['key']}',metadata_{m['index']}" for m in meta_keys])
+                       % ','.join([f"'{m['key']}',coalesce(metadata_{m['index']},'None')" for m in meta_keys])
             main_query = cur.mogrify(f"""SELECT COUNT(*) AS count,
                                                 COALESCE(JSONB_AGG(users_sessions) 
                                                     FILTER (WHERE rn>%(sessions_limit_s)s AND rn<=%(sessions_limit_e)s), '[]'::JSONB) AS sessions
@@ -238,10 +238,10 @@ def search_sessions(data: schemas.SessionsSearchPayloadSchema, project_id, user_
         for i, s in enumerate(sessions):
             sessions[i] = {**s.pop("last_session")[0], **s}
             sessions[i].pop("rn")
-            sessions[i]["metadata"] = json.loads(sessions[i]["metadata"].replace("'", '"'))
+            sessions[i]["metadata"] = ast.literal_eval(sessions[i]["metadata"])
     else:
         for i in range(len(sessions)):
-            sessions[i]["metadata"] = json.loads(sessions[i]["metadata"].replace("'", '"'))
+            sessions[i]["metadata"] = ast.literal_eval(sessions[i]["metadata"])
             sessions[i] = schemas_ee.SessionModel.parse_obj(helper.dict_to_camel_case(sessions[i]))
 
     # if not data.group_by_user and data.sort is not None and data.sort != "session_id":