diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 21cc2b5..82c87f0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Tigris TypeScript Client Library
 
 [![npm](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/@tigrisdata/core?logo=npm&logoColor=white)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@tigrisdata/core)
+[![npm@beta](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/@tigrisdata/core/beta.svg?logo=npm&logoColor=white)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@tigrisdata/core)
 [![build](https://github.com/tigrisdata/tigris-client-ts/actions/workflows/ts-ci.yml/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/tigrisdata/tigris-client-ts/actions/workflows/ts-ci.yml)
 [![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/tigrisdata/tigris-client-ts/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/tigrisdata/tigris-client-ts)
 [![GitHub](https://img.shields.io/github/license/tigrisdata/tigris-client-ts)](https://github.com/tigrisdata/tigris-client-ts/blob/main/LICENSE)
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b849fff..03c7c97 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -40,8 +40,7 @@
 			},
 			{
 				"name": "beta",
-				"prerelease": true,
-				"channel": false
+				"prerelease": true
 			},
 			{
 				"name": "alpha",
diff --git a/reviewpad.yml b/reviewpad.yml
index a33ad08..75a4b75 100644
--- a/reviewpad.yml
+++ b/reviewpad.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ labels:
 
 rules:
   - name: is-release-branch
-    spec: $base() == "beta"
+    spec: $base() == "beta" || $base() == "alpha" || $base() == "release"
   - name: is-main-branch
     spec: $base() == "main"
 
diff --git a/src/__tests__/tigris.search.spec.ts b/src/__tests__/tigris.search.spec.ts
index fbbe102..632f696 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/tigris.search.spec.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/tigris.search.spec.ts
@@ -63,6 +63,12 @@ describe("Search Indexing", () => {
 			const createPromise = tigris.createOrUpdateIndex("any other index", bookSchema);
 			await expect(createPromise).rejects.toThrow("Server error");
 		});
+		it("fails for not adding the TigrisSearchIndex decorator", async () => {
+			const createPromise = tigris.createOrUpdateIndex(BlogPostWithoutDecorator);
+			await expect(createPromise).rejects.toThrow(
+				"An attempt was made to retrieve an index with the name"
+			);
+		});
 	});
 
 	describe("getIndex", () => {
@@ -224,3 +230,17 @@ class BlogPost {
 	@SearchField({ sort: true })
 	createdAt: Date;
 }
+
+class BlogPostWithoutDecorator {
+	@SearchField({ facet: true })
+	text: string;
+
+	@SearchField({ elements: TigrisDataTypes.STRING })
+	comments: Array<string>;
+
+	@SearchField()
+	author: string;
+
+	@SearchField({ sort: true })
+	createdAt: Date;
+}
diff --git a/src/schema/decorated-schema-processor.ts b/src/schema/decorated-schema-processor.ts
index 8a6f6d0..9b02456 100644
--- a/src/schema/decorated-schema-processor.ts
+++ b/src/schema/decorated-schema-processor.ts
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ export class DecoratedSchemaProcessor {
 
 	processIndex(cls: new () => TigrisIndexType): IndexSchema<typeof cls> {
 		const index = this.storage.getIndexByTarget(cls);
+		if (!index) {
+			return;
+		}
 		const schema = this.buildTigrisSchema(index.target, false);
 		return {
 			name: index.indexName,
diff --git a/src/search/search.ts b/src/search/search.ts
index 9d4911f..854c541 100644
--- a/src/search/search.ts
+++ b/src/search/search.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,16 @@ export class Search {
 
 		if (mayBeClass && !schema) {
 			const generatedIndex = this.schemaProcessor.processIndex(mayBeClass);
+			if (!generatedIndex) {
+				return new Promise<SearchIndex<T>>((resolve, reject) => {
+					reject(
+						new Error(
+							`An attempt was made to retrieve an index with the name ${indexName} but there is no index defined with that name.` +
+								+"Please make sure an index has been defined using the 'TigrisSearchIndex' decorator."
+						)
+					);
+				});
+			}
 			schema = generatedIndex.schema as TigrisIndexSchema<T>;
 			// if indexName is not provided, use the one from model class
 			indexName = indexName ?? generatedIndex.name;
diff --git a/src/tigris.ts b/src/tigris.ts
index 2b0e2e8..d6ee982 100644
--- a/src/tigris.ts
+++ b/src/tigris.ts
@@ -391,7 +391,10 @@ export class Tigris {
 		}
 	}
 
-	private close(): void {
+	/**
+	 * Shutdown, if ping is being used in order to keep connection alive.
+	 */
+	public close(): void {
 		if (this.pingId !== undefined) {
 			clearInterval(this.pingId);
 		}