diff --git a/external_plugin_deps.bzl b/external_plugin_deps.bzl
index 18e407f..30bfbc1 100644
--- a/external_plugin_deps.bzl
+++ b/external_plugin_deps.bzl
@@ -15,6 +15,6 @@
 
     maven_jar(
         name = "events-broker",
-        artifact = "com.gerritforge:events-broker:3.1.4",
-        sha1 = "5672908dde0bd02cabc95efe34a8d8507d44b6ac",
+        artifact = "com.gerritforge:events-broker:3.2.0-rc4",
+        sha1 = "53e3f862ac2c2196dba716756ac9586f4b63af47",
     )
diff --git a/setup_local_env/setup.sh b/setup_local_env/setup.sh
index 7615ca0..9438965 100755
--- a/setup_local_env/setup.sh
+++ b/setup_local_env/setup.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 
 SCRIPT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
-GERRIT_BRANCH=stable-3.1
+GERRIT_BRANCH=master
 GERRIT_CI=https://gerrit-ci.gerritforge.com/view/Plugins-$GERRIT_BRANCH/job
 LAST_BUILD=lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/bazel-bin/plugins
 EVENTS_BROKER_VER=`grep 'com.gerritforge:events-broker' $(dirname $0)/../external_plugin_deps.bzl | cut -d '"' -f 2 | cut -d ':' -f 3`
@@ -341,10 +341,10 @@
 fi
 if [ $DOWNLOAD_WEBSESSION_PLUGIN = "true" ];then
   echo "Downloading websession-broker plugin $GERRIT_BRANCH"
-  wget $GERRIT_CI/plugin-websession-broker-bazel-$GERRIT_BRANCH/$LAST_BUILD/websession-broker/websession-broker.jar \
+  wget $GERRIT_CI/plugin-websession-broker-bazel-master-$GERRIT_BRANCH/$LAST_BUILD/websession-broker/websession-broker.jar \
   -O $DEPLOYMENT_LOCATION/websession-broker.jar || { echo >&2 "Cannot download websession-broker plugin: Check internet connection. Abort\
 ing"; exit 1; }
-  wget $GERRIT_CI/plugin-healthcheck-bazel-$GERRIT_BRANCH/$LAST_BUILD/healthcheck/healthcheck.jar \
+  wget $GERRIT_CI/plugin-healthcheck-bazel-master-$GERRIT_BRANCH/$LAST_BUILD/healthcheck/healthcheck.jar \
   -O $DEPLOYMENT_LOCATION/healthcheck.jar || { echo >&2 "Cannot download healthcheck plugin: Check internet connection. Abort\
 ing"; exit 1; }
 else
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@
 fi
 
 echo "Downloading zookeeper plugin $GERRIT_BRANCH"
-  wget $GERRIT_CI/plugin-zookeeper-refdb-bazel-$GERRIT_BRANCH/$LAST_BUILD/zookeeper-refdb/zookeeper-refdb.jar \
+  wget $GERRIT_CI/plugin-zookeeper-refdb-bazel-master-$GERRIT_BRANCH/$LAST_BUILD/zookeeper-refdb/zookeeper-refdb.jar \
   -O $DEPLOYMENT_LOCATION/zookeeper-refdb.jar || { echo >&2 "Cannot download zookeeper plugin: Check internet connection. Abort\
 ing"; exit 1; }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/SharedRefDatabaseWrapper.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/SharedRefDatabaseWrapper.java
index b56f2ea..ddf9d84 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/SharedRefDatabaseWrapper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/SharedRefDatabaseWrapper.java
@@ -21,11 +21,13 @@
 import com.google.gerrit.entities.Project;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.registration.DynamicItem;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation.dfsrefdb.NoopSharedRefDatabase;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Ref;
 
 public class SharedRefDatabaseWrapper implements GlobalRefDatabase {
+  private static final GlobalRefDatabase NOOP_REFDB = new NoopSharedRefDatabase();
 
   @Inject(optional = true)
   private DynamicItem<GlobalRefDatabase> sharedRefDbDynamicItem;
@@ -95,6 +97,6 @@
   }
 
   private GlobalRefDatabase sharedRefDb() {
-    return sharedRefDbDynamicItem.get();
+    return Optional.ofNullable(sharedRefDbDynamicItem).map(di -> di.get()).orElse(NOOP_REFDB);
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/index/ChangeCheckerImpl.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/index/ChangeCheckerImpl.java
index 32b8af3..15b1e09 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/index/ChangeCheckerImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/index/ChangeCheckerImpl.java
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@
   @Override
   public Optional<ChangeNotes> getChangeNotes() {
     try (ManualRequestContext ctx = oneOffReqCtx.open()) {
-      this.changeNotes = Optional.ofNullable(changeFinder.findOne(changeId));
+      this.changeNotes = changeFinder.findOne(changeId);
       return changeNotes;
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/index/ProjectCheckerImpl.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/index/ProjectCheckerImpl.java
index 548ccc0..d9851f3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/index/ProjectCheckerImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/index/ProjectCheckerImpl.java
@@ -28,6 +28,6 @@
 
   @Override
   public boolean isProjectUpToDate(Project.NameKey projectName) {
-    return projectCache.get(projectName) != null;
+    return projectCache.get(projectName).isPresent();
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidatorTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidatorTest.java
index eefb685..de93545 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidatorTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidatorTest.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 import com.google.gerrit.entities.Project;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.SharedRefDatabaseWrapper;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.SharedRefLogger;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation.dfsrefdb.DefaultSharedRefEnforcement;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation.dfsrefdb.RefFixture;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation.dfsrefdb.SharedDbSplitBrainException;
@@ -44,6 +45,8 @@
 
   @Mock SharedRefDatabaseWrapper sharedRefDb;
 
+  @Mock SharedRefLogger sharedRefLogger;
+
   @Mock RefDatabase localRefDb;
 
   @Mock ValidationMetrics validationMetrics;
@@ -71,14 +74,17 @@
     doReturn(refName).when(refUpdate).getName();
     lenient().doReturn(oldUpdateRef.getObjectId()).when(refUpdate).getOldObjectId();
 
-    refUpdateValidator =
-        new RefUpdateValidator(
-            sharedRefDb,
-            validationMetrics,
-            defaultRefEnforcement,
-            new DummyLockWrapper(),
-            A_TEST_PROJECT_NAME,
-            localRefDb);
+    refUpdateValidator = newRefUpdateValidator(sharedRefDb);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void validationShouldSucceedWhenSharedRefDbIsNoop() throws Exception {
+    SharedRefDatabaseWrapper noopSharedRefDbWrapper = new SharedRefDatabaseWrapper(sharedRefLogger);
+
+    Result result =
+        newRefUpdateValidator(noopSharedRefDbWrapper)
+            .executeRefUpdate(refUpdate, () -> RefUpdate.Result.NEW);
+    assertThat(result).isEqualTo(RefUpdate.Result.NEW);
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -186,4 +192,14 @@
         .compareAndPut(any(Project.NameKey.class), any(Ref.class), any(ObjectId.class));
     assertThat(result).isEqualTo(RefUpdate.Result.LOCK_FAILURE);
   }
+
+  private RefUpdateValidator newRefUpdateValidator(SharedRefDatabaseWrapper refDbWrapper) {
+    return new RefUpdateValidator(
+        refDbWrapper,
+        validationMetrics,
+        defaultRefEnforcement,
+        new DummyLockWrapper(),
+        A_TEST_PROJECT_NAME,
+        localRefDb);
+  }
 }