diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy_image_on_vm.sh b/.github/workflows/deploy_image_on_vm.sh
index f60323d..67c603f 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy_image_on_vm.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy_image_on_vm.sh
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ extra_args_model_predict="$extra_args_model_predict" \
             -e CLOUDSDK_AUTH_ACCESS_TOKEN=$(gcloud auth application-default print-access-token) \
             -e PL_API_KEY=$PL_API_KEY \
             -e TILE_STORE_ROOT_DIR=$TILE_STORE_ROOT_DIR \
-            -e INDEX_CACHE_DIR=/index_cache \
+            -e INDEX_CACHE_DIR=file:///index_cache \
             -v $LOCAL_INDEX_CACHE_DIR:/index_cache \
             $DOCKER_IMAGE /bin/bash -c "$COMMAND" && \
         echo "Data Extraction Complete" && \
diff --git a/rslp/forest_loss_driver/README.md b/rslp/forest_loss_driver/README.md
index 53aaf8c..e8106d0 100644
--- a/rslp/forest_loss_driver/README.md
+++ b/rslp/forest_loss_driver/README.md
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ Required environment variables:
 - `RSLP_PREFIX`: GCS bucket prefix for model checkpoints \
 
 Optional environment variables:
-- `INDEX_CACHE_DIR`: Directory for caching image indices
+- `INDEX_CACHE_DIR`: Directory for caching image indices MUST SPECIFY FILE SYSTEM OR IT WILL BE TREATED ad relative path
 - `TILE_STORE_ROOT_DIR`: Directory for tile storage cache
 - `PL_API_KEY`: Planet API key (if using Planet imagery)
 
diff --git a/rslp/forest_loss_driver/inference/config.py b/rslp/forest_loss_driver/inference/config.py
index ebb67a8..7f750ef 100644
--- a/rslp/forest_loss_driver/inference/config.py
+++ b/rslp/forest_loss_driver/inference/config.py
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ def _get_most_recent_friday() -> datetime:
     def _default_ds_root() -> str:
         friday = PredictPipelineConfig._get_most_recent_friday()
         dated_dataset_name = f"dataset_{friday.strftime('%Y%m%d')}"
-        return f"{os.environ.get('RSLP_PREFIX', 'gs://rslearn-eai')}/datasets/forest_loss_driver/final_test_6/prediction/{dated_dataset_name}"
+        return f"{os.environ.get('RSLP_PREFIX', 'gs://rslearn-eai')}/datasets/forest_loss_driver/final_test_7/prediction/{dated_dataset_name}"
 
     model_predict_args: ModelPredictArgs
     ds_root: str = field(default_factory=_default_ds_root)
diff --git a/rslp/forest_loss_driver/predict_pipeline.py b/rslp/forest_loss_driver/predict_pipeline.py
index 0ddb4d8..f9d870b 100644
--- a/rslp/forest_loss_driver/predict_pipeline.py
+++ b/rslp/forest_loss_driver/predict_pipeline.py
@@ -65,8 +65,15 @@ def _validate_required_env_vars(
             logger.warning(
                 f"The following optional environment variables are missing: {missing_optional_vars_str}"
             )
-        logger.info(f"Environment variables: {os.environ}")
-        # check that we have PL_API_KEY if we are looking for planet images
+        if "INDEX_CACHE_DIR" in os.environ:
+            cache_dir = os.environ["INDEX_CACHE_DIR"]
+            if not any(
+                cache_dir.startswith(prefix) for prefix in ["gs://", "s3://", "file://"]
+            ):
+                logger.warning(
+                    f"INDEX_CACHE_DIR '{cache_dir}' does not specify filesystem - "
+                    "will be treated as relative path"
+                )
 
     def extract_dataset(self) -> None:
         """Extract the dataset."""
diff --git a/rslp/utils/rslearn.py b/rslp/utils/rslearn.py
index e5b4ce7..5f8b34b 100644
--- a/rslp/utils/rslearn.py
+++ b/rslp/utils/rslearn.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ class ApplyWindowsArgs:
 
     workers: int = 0
     batch_size: int = 1
-    use_initial_job: bool = False
+    use_initial_job: bool = False  # TODO: mathc no use_initial_job
     jobs_per_process: int | None = None
     group: str | None = None
     window: str | None = None