diff --git a/frontend/app/src/pages/main/workflow-runs/$run/components/step-run-playground.tsx b/frontend/app/src/pages/main/workflow-runs/$run/components/step-run-playground.tsx
index e46a5e21b..3389f5f79 100644
--- a/frontend/app/src/pages/main/workflow-runs/$run/components/step-run-playground.tsx
+++ b/frontend/app/src/pages/main/workflow-runs/$run/components/step-run-playground.tsx
@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ export function StepRunPlayground({
       ) {
         return 1000;
       }
+
+      return 5000;
     },
   });
 
diff --git a/internal/datautils/job_data.go b/internal/datautils/job_data.go
index 368706c4f..4a98cc062 100644
--- a/internal/datautils/job_data.go
+++ b/internal/datautils/job_data.go
@@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
 package datautils
 
-import (
-	"fmt"
-
-	"github.com/steebchen/prisma-client-go/runtime/types"
-)
-
 type TriggeredBy string
 
 const (
@@ -34,75 +28,3 @@ type StepRunData struct {
 }
 
 type StepData map[string]interface{}
-
-func NewJobRunLookupDataFromInputBytes(input []byte, triggeredBy TriggeredBy) (JobRunLookupData, error) {
-	inputMap, err := jsonBytesToMap(input)
-
-	if err != nil {
-		return JobRunLookupData{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to convert input to map: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	return NewJobRunLookupData(inputMap, triggeredBy), nil
-}
-
-func NewJobRunLookupData(input map[string]interface{}, triggeredBy TriggeredBy) JobRunLookupData {
-	return JobRunLookupData{
-		Input:       input,
-		TriggeredBy: triggeredBy,
-		Steps:       map[string]StepData{},
-	}
-}
-
-func GetJobRunLookupData(data *types.JSON) (JobRunLookupData, error) {
-	if data == nil {
-		return JobRunLookupData{}, nil
-	}
-
-	currData := JobRunLookupData{}
-	err := FromJSONType(data, &currData)
-
-	if err != nil {
-		return JobRunLookupData{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to convert data to map: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	return currData, nil
-}
-
-// func AddStepOutput(data *types.JSON, stepReadableId string, stepOutput []byte) ([]byte, error) {
-// 	if data == nil {
-// 		data = &types.JSON{}
-// 	}
-
-// 	unquoted, err := strconv.Unquote(string(stepOutput))
-
-// 	if err == nil {
-// 		stepOutput = []byte(unquoted)
-// 	}
-
-// 	outputMap, err := jsonBytesToMap(stepOutput)
-
-// 	if err != nil {
-// 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to convert step output to map: %w", err)
-// 	}
-
-// 	currData := JobRunLookupData{}
-// 	err = FromJSONType(data, &currData)
-
-// 	if err != nil {
-// 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to convert data to map: %w", err)
-// 	}
-
-// 	if currData.Steps == nil {
-// 		currData.Steps = map[string]StepData{}
-// 	}
-
-// 	currData.Steps[stepReadableId] = outputMap
-
-// 	jsonBytes, err := json.Marshal(currData)
-
-// 	if err != nil {
-// 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal data: %w", err)
-// 	}
-
-// 	return jsonBytes, nil
-// }
diff --git a/internal/datautils/map.go b/internal/datautils/map.go
index d2bce8c96..aa6354515 100644
--- a/internal/datautils/map.go
+++ b/internal/datautils/map.go
@@ -23,10 +23,10 @@ func ToJSONMap(data interface{}) (map[string]interface{}, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	return jsonBytesToMap(jsonBytes)
+	return JSONBytesToMap(jsonBytes)
 }
 
-func jsonBytesToMap(jsonBytes []byte) (map[string]interface{}, error) {
+func JSONBytesToMap(jsonBytes []byte) (map[string]interface{}, error) {
 	dataMap := map[string]interface{}{}
 
 	err := json.Unmarshal(jsonBytes, &dataMap)
diff --git a/internal/services/controllers/jobs/controller.go b/internal/services/controllers/jobs/controller.go
index 8f3c83cf3..8b42a6e52 100644
--- a/internal/services/controllers/jobs/controller.go
+++ b/internal/services/controllers/jobs/controller.go
@@ -400,9 +400,39 @@ func (ec *JobsControllerImpl) handleStepRunRetry(ctx context.Context, task *task
 	var inputBytes []byte
 	var retryCount = stepRun.RetryCount + 1
 
+	// update the input schema for the step run based on the new input
 	if payload.InputData != "" {
-		// update the input schema for the step run based on the new input
-		jsonSchemaBytes, err := schema.SchemaBytesFromBytes([]byte(payload.InputData))
+		inputBytes = []byte(payload.InputData)
+
+		// Merge the existing input data with the new input data. We don't blindly trust the
+		// input data because the user could have deleted fields that are required by the step.
+		// A better solution would be to validate the user input ahead of time.
+		// NOTE: this is an expensive operation.
+		if currentInput, ok := stepRun.Input(); ok {
+			inputMap, err := datautils.JSONBytesToMap([]byte(payload.InputData))
+
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("could not convert input data to map: %w", err)
+			}
+
+			currentInputMap, err := datautils.JSONBytesToMap(currentInput)
+
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("could not convert current input to map: %w", err)
+			}
+
+			mergedInput := datautils.MergeMaps(currentInputMap, inputMap)
+
+			mergedInputBytes, err := json.Marshal(mergedInput)
+
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("could not marshal merged input: %w", err)
+			}
+
+			inputBytes = mergedInputBytes
+		}
+
+		jsonSchemaBytes, err := schema.SchemaBytesFromBytes(inputBytes)
 
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -414,8 +444,6 @@ func (ec *JobsControllerImpl) handleStepRunRetry(ctx context.Context, task *task
 			return err
 		}
 
-		inputBytes = []byte(payload.InputData)
-
 		// if the input data has been manually set, we reset the retry count as this is a user-triggered retry
 		retryCount = 0
 	} else {
diff --git a/typescript-sdk/examples/dag-worker.ts b/typescript-sdk/examples/dag-worker.ts
index 3180d9c04..24ccf57a2 100644
--- a/typescript-sdk/examples/dag-worker.ts
+++ b/typescript-sdk/examples/dag-worker.ts
@@ -45,8 +45,15 @@ const workflow: Workflow = {
     {
       name: 'dag-step4',
       parents: ['dag-step1', 'dag-step3'],
-      run: (ctx) => {
-        console.log('executed step4!');
+      run: async (ctx) => {
+        await sleep(5000);
+
+        // simulate a really slow network call
+        setTimeout(async () => {
+          await sleep(1000);
+          ctx.playground('slow', 'call');
+        }, 5000);
+
         return { step4: 'step4' };
       },
     },