diff --git a/acceptance/acceptance_test.go b/acceptance/acceptance_test.go
index c0fa960b6..465df5ec7 100644
--- a/acceptance/acceptance_test.go
+++ b/acceptance/acceptance_test.go
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ func runTest(t *testing.T, dir, coverDir string, repls testdiff.ReplacementsCont
 	}
 
 	cloudEnv := os.Getenv("CLOUD_ENV")
-	if config.LocalOnly && cloudEnv != "" {
+	if isTruePtr(config.LocalOnly) && cloudEnv != "" {
 		t.Skipf("Disabled via LocalOnly setting in %s (CLOUD_ENV=%s)", configPath, cloudEnv)
 	}
 
@@ -263,9 +263,9 @@ func runTest(t *testing.T, dir, coverDir string, repls testdiff.ReplacementsCont
 
 		databricksLocalHost := os.Getenv("DATABRICKS_DEFAULT_HOST")
 
-		if len(config.Server) > 0 || config.RecordRequests {
+		if len(config.Server) > 0 || isTruePtr(config.RecordRequests) {
 			server = testserver.New(t)
-			if config.RecordRequests {
+			if isTruePtr(config.RecordRequests) {
 				requestsPath := filepath.Join(tmpDir, "out.requests.txt")
 				server.RecordRequestsCallback = func(request *testserver.Request) {
 					req := getLoggedRequest(request, config.IncludeRequestHeaders)
@@ -703,3 +703,7 @@ func filterHeaders(h http.Header, includedHeaders []string) http.Header {
 	}
 	return headers
 }
+
+func isTruePtr(value *bool) bool {
+	return value != nil && *value
+}
diff --git a/acceptance/config_test.go b/acceptance/config_test.go
index ec0d1baee..a3589b2e5 100644
--- a/acceptance/config_test.go
+++ b/acceptance/config_test.go
@@ -18,14 +18,14 @@ const configFilename = "test.toml"
 
 type TestConfig struct {
 	// Place to describe what's wrong with this test. Does not affect how the test is run.
-	Badness string
+	Badness *string
 
 	// Which OSes the test is enabled on. Each string is compared against runtime.GOOS.
 	// If absent, default to true.
 	GOOS map[string]bool
 
 	// If true, do not run this test against cloud environment
-	LocalOnly bool
+	LocalOnly *bool
 
 	// List of additional replacements to apply on this test.
 	// Old is a regexp, New is a replacement expression.
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ type TestConfig struct {
 
 	// Record the requests made to the server and write them as output to
 	// out.requests.txt
-	RecordRequests bool
+	RecordRequests *bool
 
 	// List of request headers to include when recording requests.
 	IncludeRequestHeaders []string
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ func LoadConfig(t *testing.T, dir string) (TestConfig, string) {
 
 	for _, cfgName := range configs[1:] {
 		cfg := DoLoadConfig(t, cfgName)
-		err := mergo.Merge(&result, cfg, mergo.WithOverride, mergo.WithAppendSlice)
+		err := mergo.Merge(&result, cfg, mergo.WithOverride, mergo.WithoutDereference, mergo.WithAppendSlice)
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatalf("Error during config merge: %s: %s", cfgName, err)
 		}