diff --git a/server/conftest.py b/server/conftest.py
index 361e77367..c27ca68ca 100644
--- a/server/conftest.py
+++ b/server/conftest.py
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ def agave_storage_system_mock():
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
-def agave_file_mock():
+def tapis_file_mock():
     with open(os.path.join(settings.BASE_DIR, 'fixtures/agave/files/file.json')) as f:
         yield json.load(f)
 
diff --git a/server/portal/apps/datafiles/views_unit_test.py b/server/portal/apps/datafiles/views_unit_test.py
index d16cd5cd6..af10bc4f7 100644
--- a/server/portal/apps/datafiles/views_unit_test.py
+++ b/server/portal/apps/datafiles/views_unit_test.py
@@ -224,17 +224,15 @@ def test_tapis_file_view_put_is_logged_for_metrics(mock_indexer, client, authent
 @patch('portal.libs.agave.operations.tapis_indexer')
 def test_tapis_file_view_post_is_logged_for_metrics(mock_indexer, client, authenticated_user, mock_tapis_client,
                                                     logging_metric_mock,
-                                                    agave_file_mock, requests_mock, text_file_fixture):
+                                                    tapis_file_mock, requests_mock, text_file_fixture):
 
-    mock_tapis_client.access_token.access_token = "my_access_token"
-    requests_mock.post(f'{settings.TAPIS_TENANT_BASEURL}/v3/files/ops/frontera.home.username/text_file.txt',
-                       json=agave_file_mock)
+    mock_tapis_client.files.insert.return_value = tapis_file_mock
 
     response = client.post("/api/datafiles/tapis/upload/private/frontera.home.username/",
                            data={"uploaded_file": text_file_fixture})
 
     assert response.status_code == 200
-    assert response.json() == {"data": agave_file_mock}
+    assert response.json() == {"data": tapis_file_mock}
 
     # Ensure metric-related logging is being performed
     logging_metric_mock.assert_called_with(
diff --git a/server/portal/libs/agave/operations.py b/server/portal/libs/agave/operations.py
index 1603039ee..78e730cff 100644
--- a/server/portal/libs/agave/operations.py
+++ b/server/portal/libs/agave/operations.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 from portal.libs.agave.filter_mapping import filter_mapping
 from pathlib import Path
 from tapipy.errors import BaseTapyException
-import requests as r
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -448,20 +447,8 @@ def upload(client, system, path, uploaded_file):
     file_listing = client.files.listFiles(systemId=system, path=path)
     uploaded_file.name = increment_file_name(listing=file_listing, file_name=uploaded_file.name)
 
-    base_url = settings.TAPIS_TENANT_BASEURL
-    token = client.access_token.access_token
-    systemId = system
     dest_path = os.path.join(path.strip('/'), uploaded_file.name)
-
-    res = r.post(
-        url=f'{base_url}/v3/files/ops/{systemId}/{dest_path}',
-        files={"file": uploaded_file.file},
-        headers={"X-Tapis-Token": token})
-
-    res.raise_for_status()
-
-    response_json = res.json()
-
+    response_json = client.files.insert(systemId=system, path=dest_path, file=uploaded_file)
     tapis_indexer.apply_async(kwargs={'access_token': client.access_token.access_token,
                                       'systemId': system,
                                       'filePath': path,