diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0f6fe9b4..e13fc653 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ all: venv format check test build
 
 .PHONY: format
 format: venv
-	.venv/bin/black -tpy312 -tpy313 -tpy314 typeagent test tools gmail $(FLAGS)
+	.venv/bin/black -tpy312 -tpy313 -tpy314 typeagent test tools gmail demo $(FLAGS)
 
 .PHONY: check
 check: venv
diff --git a/make.bat b/make.bat
index d96b04c1..d0e0bd8c 100644
--- a/make.bat
+++ b/make.bat
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ goto help
 :format
 if not exist ".venv\" call make.bat venv
 echo Formatting code...
-.venv\Scripts\black typeagent test tools
+.venv\Scripts\black typeagent test tools gmail demo
 goto end
 
 :check
diff --git a/test/test_interfaces.py b/test/test_interfaces.py
index f7fb3bfa..8a7fbce7 100644
--- a/test/test_interfaces.py
+++ b/test/test_interfaces.py
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ def test_text_range_equality_with_logical_equivalence():
 
     # Test with non-TextRange object
     assert point_range != "not a TextRange"
-    assert point_range != None
+    assert point_range is not None
 
 
 def test_text_range_equality_both_explicit_ends():
diff --git a/tools/ingest_vtt.py b/tools/ingest_vtt.py
index ef311db4..080e1665 100644
--- a/tools/ingest_vtt.py
+++ b/tools/ingest_vtt.py
@@ -50,12 +50,6 @@ def create_arg_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         description="Ingest WebVTT transcript files into a database for querying",
         formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
-        epilog="""
-Examples:
-  %(prog)s input.vtt --database transcript.db
-  %(prog)s file1.vtt file2.vtt -d transcript.db --name "Combined Transcript"
-  %(prog)s lecture.vtt -d lecture.db --merge
-        """,
     )
 
     parser.add_argument(
@@ -90,6 +84,13 @@ def create_arg_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
         help="Batch size for knowledge extraction (default: from settings)",
     )
 
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--embedding-name",
+        type=str,
+        default=None,
+        help="Embedding model name (default: text-embedding-ada-002)",
+    )
+
     parser.add_argument(
         "-v", "--verbose", action="store_true", help="Show verbose output"
     )
@@ -135,6 +136,7 @@ async def ingest_vtt_files(
     merge_consecutive: bool = False,
     verbose: bool = False,
     batchsize: int | None = None,
+    embedding_name: str | None = None,
 ) -> None:
     """Ingest one or more VTT files into a database."""
 
@@ -197,7 +199,7 @@ async def ingest_vtt_files(
     if verbose:
         print("Setting up conversation settings...")
     try:
-        embedding_model = AsyncEmbeddingModel()
+        embedding_model = AsyncEmbeddingModel(model_name=embedding_name)
         settings = ConversationSettings(embedding_model)
 
         # Create storage provider explicitly with the database
@@ -441,6 +443,7 @@ def main():
             name=args.name,
             merge_consecutive=args.merge,
             batchsize=args.batchsize,
+            embedding_name=args.embedding_name,
             verbose=args.verbose,
         )
     )
diff --git a/typeagent/knowpro/convsettings.py b/typeagent/knowpro/convsettings.py
index bab5657c..a785e0b7 100644
--- a/typeagent/knowpro/convsettings.py
+++ b/typeagent/knowpro/convsettings.py
@@ -59,36 +59,28 @@ def __init__(
 
         # Storage provider will be created lazily if not provided
         self._storage_provider: IStorageProvider | None = storage_provider
-        self._storage_provider_created = storage_provider is not None
 
     @property
     def storage_provider(self) -> IStorageProvider:
-        if not self._storage_provider_created:
+        if self._storage_provider is None:
             raise RuntimeError(
-                "Storage provider not initialized. Use await ConversationSettings.get_storage_provider() "
+                "Storage provider not initialized. "
+                "Use await ConversationSettings.get_storage_provider() "
                 "or provide storage_provider in constructor."
             )
-        assert (
-            self._storage_provider is not None
-        ), "Storage provider should be set when _storage_provider_created is True"
         return self._storage_provider
 
     @storage_provider.setter
     def storage_provider(self, value: IStorageProvider) -> None:
         self._storage_provider = value
-        self._storage_provider_created = True
 
     async def get_storage_provider(self) -> IStorageProvider:
         """Get or create the storage provider asynchronously."""
-        if not self._storage_provider_created:
+        if self._storage_provider is None:
             from ..storage.memory import MemoryStorageProvider
 
             self._storage_provider = MemoryStorageProvider(
                 message_text_settings=self.message_text_index_settings,
                 related_terms_settings=self.related_term_index_settings,
             )
-            self._storage_provider_created = True
-        assert (
-            self._storage_provider is not None
-        ), "Storage provider should be set after creation"
         return self._storage_provider
diff --git a/typeagent/storage/sqlite/provider.py b/typeagent/storage/sqlite/provider.py
index c946918c..f43869c1 100644
--- a/typeagent/storage/sqlite/provider.py
+++ b/typeagent/storage/sqlite/provider.py
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ def __init__(
         conversation_id: str = "default",
         message_type: type[TMessage] = None,  # type: ignore
         semantic_ref_type: type[interfaces.SemanticRef] = None,  # type: ignore
-        conversation_index_settings=None,
         message_text_index_settings: MessageTextIndexSettings | None = None,
         related_term_index_settings: RelatedTermIndexSettings | None = None,
     ):
@@ -50,14 +49,11 @@ def __init__(
         self.semantic_ref_type = semantic_ref_type
 
         # Settings with defaults (require embedding settings)
-        self.conversation_index_settings = conversation_index_settings or {}
         if message_text_index_settings is None:
             # Create default embedding settings if not provided
-            from ...aitools.embeddings import AsyncEmbeddingModel
             from ...aitools.vectorbase import TextEmbeddingIndexSettings
 
-            model = AsyncEmbeddingModel()
-            embedding_settings = TextEmbeddingIndexSettings(model)
+            embedding_settings = TextEmbeddingIndexSettings()
             message_text_index_settings = MessageTextIndexSettings(embedding_settings)
         self.message_text_index_settings = message_text_index_settings