diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 5f192b6d1..87298f665 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1794,7 +1794,7 @@ checksum = "95505c38b4572b2d910cecb0281560f54b440a19336cbbcb27bf6ce6adc6f5a8"
 [[package]]
 name = "heed"
 version = "0.12.5"
-source = "git+https://github.com/meilisearch/heed?tag=v0.12.5#4158a6c484752afaaf9e2530a6ee0e7ab0f24ee8"
+source = "git+https://github.com/meilisearch/heed?branch=create-db-no-sub-txn#ba64ce016e939ff1a35cfaa1989dba7057cb2812"
 dependencies = [
  "byteorder",
  "heed-traits",
@@ -1811,12 +1811,12 @@ dependencies = [
 [[package]]
 name = "heed-traits"
 version = "0.7.0"
-source = "git+https://github.com/meilisearch/heed?tag=v0.12.5#4158a6c484752afaaf9e2530a6ee0e7ab0f24ee8"
+source = "git+https://github.com/meilisearch/heed?branch=create-db-no-sub-txn#ba64ce016e939ff1a35cfaa1989dba7057cb2812"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "heed-types"
 version = "0.7.2"
-source = "git+https://github.com/meilisearch/heed?tag=v0.12.5#4158a6c484752afaaf9e2530a6ee0e7ab0f24ee8"
+source = "git+https://github.com/meilisearch/heed?branch=create-db-no-sub-txn#ba64ce016e939ff1a35cfaa1989dba7057cb2812"
 dependencies = [
  "bincode",
  "heed-traits",
diff --git a/index-scheduler/src/index_mapper/mod.rs b/index-scheduler/src/index_mapper/mod.rs
index 2bf6f46ad..7d373c528 100644
--- a/index-scheduler/src/index_mapper/mod.rs
+++ b/index-scheduler/src/index_mapper/mod.rs
@@ -125,10 +125,15 @@ impl IndexMapper {
         index_count: usize,
         indexer_config: IndexerConfig,
     ) -> Result<Self> {
+        let mut wtxn = env.write_txn()?;
+        let index_mapping = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(INDEX_MAPPING))?;
+        let index_stats = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(INDEX_STATS))?;
+        wtxn.commit()?;
+
         Ok(Self {
             index_map: Arc::new(RwLock::new(IndexMap::new(index_count))),
-            index_mapping: env.create_database(Some(INDEX_MAPPING))?,
-            index_stats: env.create_database(Some(INDEX_STATS))?,
+            index_mapping,
+            index_stats,
             base_path,
             index_base_map_size,
             index_growth_amount,
diff --git a/index-scheduler/src/lib.rs b/index-scheduler/src/lib.rs
index af20ba1ae..b3607e85e 100644
--- a/index-scheduler/src/lib.rs
+++ b/index-scheduler/src/lib.rs
@@ -396,19 +396,30 @@ impl IndexScheduler {
             .open(options.tasks_path)?;
         let file_store = FileStore::new(&options.update_file_path)?;
 
+        let mut wtxn = env.write_txn()?;
+        let all_tasks = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(db_name::ALL_TASKS))?;
+        let status = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(db_name::STATUS))?;
+        let kind = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(db_name::KIND))?;
+        let index_tasks = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(db_name::INDEX_TASKS))?;
+        let canceled_by = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(db_name::CANCELED_BY))?;
+        let enqueued_at = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(db_name::ENQUEUED_AT))?;
+        let started_at = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(db_name::STARTED_AT))?;
+        let finished_at = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(db_name::FINISHED_AT))?;
+        wtxn.commit()?;
+
         // allow unreachable_code to get rids of the warning in the case of a test build.
         let this = Self {
             must_stop_processing: MustStopProcessing::default(),
             processing_tasks: Arc::new(RwLock::new(ProcessingTasks::new())),
             file_store,
-            all_tasks: env.create_database(Some(db_name::ALL_TASKS))?,
-            status: env.create_database(Some(db_name::STATUS))?,
-            kind: env.create_database(Some(db_name::KIND))?,
-            index_tasks: env.create_database(Some(db_name::INDEX_TASKS))?,
-            canceled_by: env.create_database(Some(db_name::CANCELED_BY))?,
-            enqueued_at: env.create_database(Some(db_name::ENQUEUED_AT))?,
-            started_at: env.create_database(Some(db_name::STARTED_AT))?,
-            finished_at: env.create_database(Some(db_name::FINISHED_AT))?,
+            all_tasks,
+            status,
+            kind,
+            index_tasks,
+            canceled_by,
+            enqueued_at,
+            started_at,
+            finished_at,
             index_mapper: IndexMapper::new(
                 &env,
                 options.indexes_path,
diff --git a/meilisearch-auth/src/store.rs b/meilisearch-auth/src/store.rs
index 5c2776154..3e4acc88e 100644
--- a/meilisearch-auth/src/store.rs
+++ b/meilisearch-auth/src/store.rs
@@ -55,9 +55,11 @@ impl HeedAuthStore {
         let path = path.as_ref().join(AUTH_DB_PATH);
         create_dir_all(&path)?;
         let env = Arc::new(open_auth_store_env(path.as_ref())?);
-        let keys = env.create_database(Some(KEY_DB_NAME))?;
+        let mut wtxn = env.write_txn()?;
+        let keys = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(KEY_DB_NAME))?;
         let action_keyid_index_expiration =
-            env.create_database(Some(KEY_ID_ACTION_INDEX_EXPIRATION_DB_NAME))?;
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(KEY_ID_ACTION_INDEX_EXPIRATION_DB_NAME))?;
+        wtxn.commit()?;
         Ok(Self { env, keys, action_keyid_index_expiration, should_close_on_drop: true })
     }
 
diff --git a/milli/Cargo.toml b/milli/Cargo.toml
index de0f4e31d..bb5b505d1 100644
--- a/milli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/milli/Cargo.toml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ fst = "0.4.7"
 fxhash = "0.2.1"
 geoutils = "0.5.1"
 grenad = { version = "0.4.4", default-features = false, features = ["tempfile"] }
-heed = { git = "https://github.com/meilisearch/heed", tag = "v0.12.5", default-features = false, features = ["lmdb", "sync-read-txn"] }
+heed = { git = "https://github.com/meilisearch/heed", branch = "create-db-no-sub-txn", default-features = false, features = ["lmdb", "sync-read-txn"] }
 json-depth-checker = { path = "../json-depth-checker" }
 levenshtein_automata = { version = "0.2.1", features = ["fst_automaton"] }
 memmap2 = "0.5.10"
diff --git a/milli/src/index.rs b/milli/src/index.rs
index ad53e79ea..bc14b7195 100644
--- a/milli/src/index.rs
+++ b/milli/src/index.rs
@@ -167,36 +167,49 @@ impl Index {
         use db_name::*;
 
         options.max_dbs(23);
-        unsafe { options.flag(Flags::MdbAlwaysFreePages) };
+        unsafe { options.flag(Flags::MdbAlwaysFreePages).flag(Flags::MdbWriteMap) };
 
         let env = options.open(path)?;
-        let main = env.create_poly_database(Some(MAIN))?;
-        let word_docids = env.create_database(Some(WORD_DOCIDS))?;
-        let exact_word_docids = env.create_database(Some(EXACT_WORD_DOCIDS))?;
-        let word_prefix_docids = env.create_database(Some(WORD_PREFIX_DOCIDS))?;
-        let exact_word_prefix_docids = env.create_database(Some(EXACT_WORD_PREFIX_DOCIDS))?;
-        let docid_word_positions = env.create_database(Some(DOCID_WORD_POSITIONS))?;
-        let word_pair_proximity_docids = env.create_database(Some(WORD_PAIR_PROXIMITY_DOCIDS))?;
-        let script_language_docids = env.create_database(Some(SCRIPT_LANGUAGE_DOCIDS))?;
+        let mut wtxn = env.write_txn()?;
+        let main = env.create_poly_database(&mut wtxn, Some(MAIN))?;
+        let word_docids = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(WORD_DOCIDS))?;
+        let exact_word_docids = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(EXACT_WORD_DOCIDS))?;
+        let word_prefix_docids = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(WORD_PREFIX_DOCIDS))?;
+        let exact_word_prefix_docids =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(EXACT_WORD_PREFIX_DOCIDS))?;
+        let docid_word_positions = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(DOCID_WORD_POSITIONS))?;
+        let word_pair_proximity_docids =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(WORD_PAIR_PROXIMITY_DOCIDS))?;
+        let script_language_docids =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(SCRIPT_LANGUAGE_DOCIDS))?;
         let word_prefix_pair_proximity_docids =
-            env.create_database(Some(WORD_PREFIX_PAIR_PROXIMITY_DOCIDS))?;
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(WORD_PREFIX_PAIR_PROXIMITY_DOCIDS))?;
         let prefix_word_pair_proximity_docids =
-            env.create_database(Some(PREFIX_WORD_PAIR_PROXIMITY_DOCIDS))?;
-        let word_position_docids = env.create_database(Some(WORD_POSITION_DOCIDS))?;
-        let word_fid_docids = env.create_database(Some(WORD_FIELD_ID_DOCIDS))?;
-        let field_id_word_count_docids = env.create_database(Some(FIELD_ID_WORD_COUNT_DOCIDS))?;
-        let word_prefix_position_docids = env.create_database(Some(WORD_PREFIX_POSITION_DOCIDS))?;
-        let word_prefix_fid_docids = env.create_database(Some(WORD_PREFIX_FIELD_ID_DOCIDS))?;
-        let facet_id_f64_docids = env.create_database(Some(FACET_ID_F64_DOCIDS))?;
-        let facet_id_string_docids = env.create_database(Some(FACET_ID_STRING_DOCIDS))?;
-        let facet_id_exists_docids = env.create_database(Some(FACET_ID_EXISTS_DOCIDS))?;
-        let facet_id_is_null_docids = env.create_database(Some(FACET_ID_IS_NULL_DOCIDS))?;
-        let facet_id_is_empty_docids = env.create_database(Some(FACET_ID_IS_EMPTY_DOCIDS))?;
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(PREFIX_WORD_PAIR_PROXIMITY_DOCIDS))?;
+        let word_position_docids = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(WORD_POSITION_DOCIDS))?;
+        let word_fid_docids = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(WORD_FIELD_ID_DOCIDS))?;
+        let field_id_word_count_docids =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(FIELD_ID_WORD_COUNT_DOCIDS))?;
+        let word_prefix_position_docids =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(WORD_PREFIX_POSITION_DOCIDS))?;
+        let word_prefix_fid_docids =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(WORD_PREFIX_FIELD_ID_DOCIDS))?;
+        let facet_id_f64_docids = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(FACET_ID_F64_DOCIDS))?;
+        let facet_id_string_docids =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(FACET_ID_STRING_DOCIDS))?;
+        let facet_id_exists_docids =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(FACET_ID_EXISTS_DOCIDS))?;
+        let facet_id_is_null_docids =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(FACET_ID_IS_NULL_DOCIDS))?;
+        let facet_id_is_empty_docids =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(FACET_ID_IS_EMPTY_DOCIDS))?;
 
-        let field_id_docid_facet_f64s = env.create_database(Some(FIELD_ID_DOCID_FACET_F64S))?;
+        let field_id_docid_facet_f64s =
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(FIELD_ID_DOCID_FACET_F64S))?;
         let field_id_docid_facet_strings =
-            env.create_database(Some(FIELD_ID_DOCID_FACET_STRINGS))?;
-        let documents = env.create_database(Some(DOCUMENTS))?;
+            env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(FIELD_ID_DOCID_FACET_STRINGS))?;
+        let documents = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, Some(DOCUMENTS))?;
+        wtxn.commit()?;
 
         Index::set_creation_dates(&env, main, created_at, updated_at)?;
 
diff --git a/milli/src/update/facet/mod.rs b/milli/src/update/facet/mod.rs
index 39a3ef437..2fd748d4d 100644
--- a/milli/src/update/facet/mod.rs
+++ b/milli/src/update/facet/mod.rs
@@ -261,7 +261,9 @@ pub(crate) mod test_helpers {
             let options = options.map_size(4096 * 4 * 1000 * 100);
             let tempdir = tempfile::TempDir::new().unwrap();
             let env = options.open(tempdir.path()).unwrap();
-            let content = env.create_database(None).unwrap();
+            let mut wtxn = env.write_txn().unwrap();
+            let content = env.create_database(&mut wtxn, None).unwrap();
+            wtxn.commit().unwrap();
 
             FacetIndex {
                 content,