diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 2de672e90..1d92621d9 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -87,9 +87,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "async-trait"
-version = "0.1.91"
+version = "0.1.92"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "ae36dc4177970ef04fde5178d3e2429882def40e57a451f919c098f72baa6cec"
+checksum = "82f6aeea286b8eb4dd3431a1be1b59d290ace00f5bfd8e2a159bc2a05e2c1667"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 13e9eb227..8ffb615d4 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ edition = "2024"
 [workspace.dependencies]
 anyhow = "1.0.104"
 async-channel = "2.5.0"
-async-trait = "0.1.91"
+async-trait = "0.1.92"
 bincode = "1.3.3"
 bytes = "1.12.1"
 clap = { version = "4.6.4", features = ["derive"] }
diff --git a/components/spider-core/src/types/io.rs b/components/spider-core/src/types/io.rs
index 9485c8cb1..8800c3bb8 100644
--- a/components/spider-core/src/types/io.rs
+++ b/components/spider-core/src/types/io.rs
@@ -671,7 +671,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(wire, 0u32.to_le_bytes());
 
         let decoded: Vec<TaskOutput> = TaskOutputsSerializer::deserialize(&wire)?;
-        assert!(decoded.is_empty());
+        assert_eq!(decoded, [] as [std::vec::Vec<u8>; 0]);
         Ok(())
     }
 
@@ -801,7 +801,7 @@ mod tests {
     fn serialize_from_empty_tuple() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         let wire = TaskOutputsSerializer::from_tuple(&())?;
         let payloads: Vec<TaskOutput> = TaskOutputsSerializer::deserialize(&wire)?;
-        assert!(payloads.is_empty());
+        assert_eq!(payloads, [] as [std::vec::Vec<u8>; 0]);
         Ok(())
     }
 
diff --git a/components/spider-storage/src/ready_queue.rs b/components/spider-storage/src/ready_queue.rs
index 14fc3f612..2af95bdbb 100644
--- a/components/spider-storage/src/ready_queue.rs
+++ b/components/spider-storage/src/ready_queue.rs
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@ mod tests {
         let entries = receiver.recv_tasks(5, wait).await?;
         let elapsed = start.elapsed();
 
-        assert!(entries.is_empty());
+        assert_eq!(entries, [] as [ReadyQueueEntry<TaskIndex>; 0]);
         assert!(
             elapsed >= wait,
             "recv should block for the full wait duration when no entries arrive",
diff --git a/components/spider-storage/tests/scheduling_infra.rs b/components/spider-storage/tests/scheduling_infra.rs
index eb9124150..bdd770487 100644
--- a/components/spider-storage/tests/scheduling_infra.rs
+++ b/components/spider-storage/tests/scheduling_infra.rs
@@ -230,7 +230,6 @@ where
 }
 
 /// Creates a [`NoopDbConnector`] with default [`JobId`] and [`ResourceGroupId`].
-#[must_use]
 pub fn noop_db_connector_factory() -> impl DbConnectorFactory<NoopDbConnector> {
     async |_: &ValidatedJobSubmission| {
         (
@@ -458,7 +457,6 @@ pub async fn run_workload<DbConnectorType: InternalJobOrchestration + 'static>(
 /// # Panics
 ///
 /// Panics if job registration fails.
-#[must_use]
 pub fn mariadb_db_connector_factory(
     storage: MariaDbStorageConnector,
     rg_id: ResourceGroupId,