diff --git a/apps/api/package.json b/apps/api/package.json
index aebd90a5..0da99459 100644
--- a/apps/api/package.json
+++ b/apps/api/package.json
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@
     "turndown": "^7.1.3",
     "turndown-plugin-gfm": "^1.0.2",
     "typesense": "^1.5.4",
+    "undici": "^6.20.1",
     "unstructured-client": "^0.11.3",
     "uuid": "^10.0.0",
     "winston": "^3.14.2",
diff --git a/apps/api/pnpm-lock.yaml b/apps/api/pnpm-lock.yaml
index f98055fb..c2a9c8a3 100644
--- a/apps/api/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/apps/api/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -197,6 +197,9 @@ importers:
       typesense:
         specifier: ^1.5.4
         version: 1.8.2(@babel/runtime@7.24.6)
+      undici:
+        specifier: ^6.20.1
+        version: 6.20.1
       unstructured-client:
         specifier: ^0.11.3
         version: 0.11.3(zod@3.23.8)
@@ -3957,6 +3960,10 @@ packages:
   undici-types@5.26.5:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-JlCMO+ehdEIKqlFxk6IfVoAUVmgz7cU7zD/h9XZ0qzeosSHmUJVOzSQvvYSYWXkFXC+IfLKSIffhv0sVZup6pA==}
 
+  undici@6.20.1:
+    resolution: {integrity: sha512-AjQF1QsmqfJys+LXfGTNum+qw4S88CojRInG/6t31W/1fk6G59s92bnAvGz5Cmur+kQv2SURXEvvudLmbrE8QA==}
+    engines: {node: '>=18.17'}
+
   union@0.5.0:
     resolution: {integrity: sha512-N6uOhuW6zO95P3Mel2I2zMsbsanvvtgn6jVqJv4vbVcz/JN0OkL9suomjQGmWtxJQXOCqUJvquc1sMeNz/IwlA==}
     engines: {node: '>= 0.8.0'}
@@ -8341,6 +8348,8 @@ snapshots:
 
   undici-types@5.26.5: {}
 
+  undici@6.20.1: {}
+
   union@0.5.0:
     dependencies:
       qs: 6.12.2
diff --git a/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/docx/index.ts b/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/docx/index.ts
index f8196ccd..9881fae7 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/docx/index.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/docx/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { Meta } from "../..";
 import { EngineScrapeResult } from "..";
-import { downloadFile, fetchFileToBuffer } from "../utils/downloadFile";
+import { downloadFile } from "../utils/downloadFile";
 import mammoth from "mammoth";
 
 export async function scrapeDOCX(meta: Meta): Promise<EngineScrapeResult> {
diff --git a/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/pdf/index.ts b/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/pdf/index.ts
index d0591b57..bdc916e0 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/pdf/index.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/pdf/index.ts
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ async function scrapePDFWithLlamaParse(meta: Meta, tempFilePath: string): Promis
         schema: z.object({
             markdown: z.string(),
         }),
-        tryCount: 16,
+        tryCount: 32,
         tryCooldown: 250,
     });
     
diff --git a/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/utils/downloadFile.ts b/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/utils/downloadFile.ts
index 8db8892b..736faba7 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/utils/downloadFile.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/scraper/scrapeURL/engines/utils/downloadFile.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { createWriteStream, promises as fs } from "node:fs";
 import { EngineError } from "../../error";
 import { Writable } from "stream";
 import { v4 as uuid } from "uuid";
+import * as undici from "undici";
 
 export async function fetchFileToBuffer(url: string): Promise<{
     response: Response,
@@ -17,13 +18,21 @@ export async function fetchFileToBuffer(url: string): Promise<{
 }
 
 export async function downloadFile(id: string, url: string): Promise<{
-    response: Response
+    response: undici.Response
     tempFilePath: string
 }> {
     const tempFilePath = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `tempFile-${id}--${uuid()}`);
     const tempFileWrite = createWriteStream(tempFilePath);
 
-    const response = await fetch(url); // TODO: maybe we could use tlsclient for this? for proxying
+    // TODO: maybe we could use tlsclient for this? for proxying
+    // use undici to ignore SSL for now
+    const response = await undici.fetch(url, {
+        dispatcher: new undici.Agent({
+            connect: {
+                rejectUnauthorized: false,
+            },
+        })
+    });
 
     // This should never happen in the current state of JS (2024), but let's check anyways.
     if (response.body === null) {