diff --git a/alphatrion/artifact/artifact.py b/alphatrion/artifact/artifact.py
index ea6ed46..bdaa463 100644
--- a/alphatrion/artifact/artifact.py
+++ b/alphatrion/artifact/artifact.py
@@ -6,27 +6,36 @@
 
 SUCCESS_CODE = 201
 
+ARTIFACT_TYPE_S3 = "s3"
+ARTIFACT_TYPE_OCI = "oci"
+
 
 class Artifact:
     """Artifact storage client with pluggable backends (OCI or S3)."""
 
     def __init__(self, insecure: bool = False):
-        storage_type = os.environ.get(envs.ARTIFACT_STORAGE_TYPE, "oci").lower()
+        self._storage_type = os.environ.get(
+            envs.ARTIFACT_STORAGE_TYPE, ARTIFACT_TYPE_OCI
+        ).lower()
 
-        if storage_type == "s3":
+        if self._storage_type == ARTIFACT_TYPE_S3:
             from alphatrion.artifact.s3_backend import S3Backend
 
             self._backend = S3Backend()
-        elif storage_type == "oci":
+        elif self._storage_type == ARTIFACT_TYPE_OCI:
             from alphatrion.artifact.oci_backend import OCIBackend
 
             self._backend = OCIBackend(insecure=insecure)
         else:
             raise ValueError(
-                f"Unsupported artifact storage type: {storage_type}. "
-                f"Supported types: 'oci', 's3'"
+                f"Unsupported artifact storage type: {self._storage_type}. "
+                f"Supported types: '{ARTIFACT_TYPE_OCI}', '{ARTIFACT_TYPE_S3}'"
             )
 
+    @property
+    def storage_type(self):
+        return self._storage_type
+
     def push(
         self,
         repo_name: str,
diff --git a/alphatrion/log/load.py b/alphatrion/log/load.py
index 6462e84..4b64eb6 100644
--- a/alphatrion/log/load.py
+++ b/alphatrion/log/load.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import asyncio
 import uuid
 
+from alphatrion.artifact.artifact import ARTIFACT_TYPE_S3
 from alphatrion.runtime.runtime import global_runtime
 
 
@@ -55,11 +56,13 @@ async def load_checkpoint(
 
     repo_name = f"{runtime.org_id}/{runtime.team_id}/{id}/ckpt"
 
-    versions = artifact.list_versions(repo_name)
-    if versions is None or len(versions) == 0:
-        return []
+    # We only need to do this for s3 backend, because for oci backend,
+    # the version is the tag and "latest" tag will always point to the latest version.
+    if version == "latest" and artifact.storage_type == ARTIFACT_TYPE_S3:
+        versions = artifact.list_versions(repo_name)
+        if versions is None or len(versions) == 0:
+            return []
 
-    if version == "latest":
         version = versions[0]  # Assuming versions are sorted by time, newest first
 
     result = await asyncio.get_running_loop().run_in_executor(
diff --git a/tests/integration/test_oci_backend.py b/tests/integration/test_oci_backend.py
index 9b137e2..9d215a6 100644
--- a/tests/integration/test_oci_backend.py
+++ b/tests/integration/test_oci_backend.py
@@ -316,9 +316,7 @@ async def test_load_checkpoint_latest(artifact):
     alpha.init(org_id=org_id, team_id=team_id, user_id=user_id)
 
     with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
-        # Push multiple checkpoint versions with different content and timestamps
-        import time
-
+        # Push multiple checkpoint versions with different content
         for i in range(3):
             test_file = os.path.join(tmpdir, f"checkpoint_{i}.pt")
             with open(test_file, "w") as f:
@@ -329,10 +327,19 @@ async def test_load_checkpoint_latest(artifact):
                 paths=test_file,
                 version=f"v{i}",
             )
-            if i < 2:
-                time.sleep(0.1)  # Small delay for timestamp ordering
 
-        # Load latest checkpoint (should be v2 for S3, but arbitrary for OCI)
+        # For OCI, also push a version tagged as "latest"
+        latest_file = os.path.join(tmpdir, "checkpoint_latest.pt")
+        with open(latest_file, "w") as f:
+            f.write("model weights version latest")
+
+        artifact.push(
+            repo_name=f"{org_id}/{team_id}/{exp_id}/ckpt",
+            paths=latest_file,
+            version="latest",
+        )
+
+        # Load latest checkpoint
         output_dir = os.path.join(tmpdir, "download")
         result = await alpha.load_checkpoint(
             id=exp_id, version="latest", output_dir=output_dir
@@ -343,10 +350,10 @@ async def test_load_checkpoint_latest(artifact):
         assert len(result) == 1
         assert os.path.exists(result[0])
 
-        # Verify it's one of the versions
+        # For OCI, "latest" tag should return the checkpoint tagged as "latest"
         with open(result[0]) as f:
             content = f.read()
-            assert content.startswith("model weights version")
+            assert content == "model weights version latest"
 
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
@@ -416,7 +423,7 @@ async def test_load_checkpoint_specific_version(artifact):
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_load_checkpoint_nonexistent(artifact):
-    """Test load_checkpoint returns None for nonexistent experiment."""
+    """Test load_checkpoint with nonexistent checkpoint tag raises error for OCI."""
     org_id = uuid.uuid4()
     team_id = uuid.uuid4()
     user_id = uuid.uuid4()
@@ -425,12 +432,12 @@ async def test_load_checkpoint_nonexistent(artifact):
     alpha.init(org_id=org_id, team_id=team_id, user_id=user_id)
 
     with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
-        # Try to load checkpoint from non-existent experiment
-        result = await alpha.load_checkpoint(
-            id=exp_id, version="latest", output_dir=tmpdir
-        )
-
-        assert result == []
+        # For OCI, trying to pull a non-existent tag should raise an error
+        # (unlike S3 which returns [] when no files exist)
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="Failed to pull artifacts"):
+            await alpha.load_checkpoint(
+                id=exp_id, version="latest", output_dir=tmpdir
+            )
 
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio