diff --git a/src/crewai/agents/parser.py b/src/crewai/agents/parser.py
index b4629a8d2..71444a20a 100644
--- a/src/crewai/agents/parser.py
+++ b/src/crewai/agents/parser.py
@@ -94,6 +94,13 @@ class CrewAgentParser:
 
         elif includes_answer:
             final_answer = text.split(FINAL_ANSWER_ACTION)[-1].strip()
+            # Check whether the final answer ends with triple backticks.
+            if final_answer.endswith("```"):
+                # Count occurrences of triple backticks in the final answer.
+                count = final_answer.count("```")
+                # If count is odd then it's an unmatched trailing set; remove it.
+                if count % 2 != 0:
+                    final_answer = final_answer[:-3].rstrip()
             return AgentFinish(thought, final_answer, text)
 
         if not re.search(r"Action\s*\d*\s*:[\s]*(.*?)", text, re.DOTALL):
@@ -120,7 +127,10 @@ class CrewAgentParser:
         regex = r"(.*?)(?:\n\nAction|\n\nFinal Answer)"
         thought_match = re.search(regex, text, re.DOTALL)
         if thought_match:
-            return thought_match.group(1).strip()
+            thought = thought_match.group(1).strip()
+            # Remove any triple backticks from the thought string
+            thought = thought.replace("```", "").strip()
+            return thought
         return ""
 
     def _clean_action(self, text: str) -> str:
diff --git a/src/crewai/crew.py b/src/crewai/crew.py
index 55a24640c..7bb11321a 100644
--- a/src/crewai/crew.py
+++ b/src/crewai/crew.py
@@ -281,12 +281,26 @@ class Crew(BaseModel):
                 if self.entity_memory
                 else EntityMemory(crew=self, embedder_config=self.embedder)
             )
-            if hasattr(self, "memory_config") and self.memory_config is not None:
-                self._user_memory = (
-                    self.user_memory if self.user_memory else UserMemory(crew=self)
-                )
+            if (
+                self.memory_config and "user_memory" in self.memory_config
+            ):  # Check for user_memory in config
+                user_memory_config = self.memory_config["user_memory"]
+                if isinstance(
+                    user_memory_config, UserMemory
+                ):  # Check if it is already an instance
+                    self._user_memory = user_memory_config
+                elif isinstance(
+                    user_memory_config, dict
+                ):  # Check if it's a configuration dict
+                    self._user_memory = UserMemory(
+                        crew=self, **user_memory_config
+                    )  # Initialize with config
+                else:
+                    raise TypeError(
+                        "user_memory must be a UserMemory instance or a configuration dictionary"
+                    )
             else:
-                self._user_memory = None
+                self._user_memory = None  # No user memory if not in config
         return self
 
     @model_validator(mode="after")
@@ -1182,7 +1196,7 @@ class Crew(BaseModel):
     def test(
         self,
         n_iterations: int,
-        openai_model_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        eval_llm: Union[str, InstanceOf[LLM]],
         inputs: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None,
     ) -> None:
         """Test and evaluate the Crew with the given inputs for n iterations concurrently using concurrent.futures."""
@@ -1192,12 +1206,12 @@ class Crew(BaseModel):
                 CrewTestStartedEvent(
                     crew_name=self.name or "crew",
                     n_iterations=n_iterations,
-                    openai_model_name=openai_model_name,
+                    eval_llm=eval_llm,
                     inputs=inputs,
                 ),
             )
             test_crew = self.copy()
-            evaluator = CrewEvaluator(test_crew, openai_model_name or "gpt-4o-mini")
+            evaluator = CrewEvaluator(test_crew, eval_llm)
 
             for i in range(1, n_iterations + 1):
                 evaluator.set_iteration(i)
diff --git a/src/crewai/flow/state_utils.py b/src/crewai/flow/state_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..40bc81162
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/crewai/flow/state_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+from datetime import date, datetime
+from typing import Any
+
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+from crewai.flow import Flow
+
+
+def export_state(flow: Flow) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Exports the Flow's internal state as JSON-compatible data structures.
+
+    Performs a one-way transformation of a Flow's state into basic Python types
+    that can be safely serialized to JSON. To prevent infinite recursion with
+    circular references, the conversion is limited to a depth of 5 levels.
+
+    Args:
+        flow: The Flow object whose state needs to be exported
+
+    Returns:
+        dict[str, Any]: The transformed state using JSON-compatible Python
+            types.
+    """
+    return _to_serializable(flow._state)
+
+
+def _to_serializable(obj: Any, max_depth: int = 5, _current_depth: int = 0) -> Any:
+    if _current_depth >= max_depth:
+        return repr(obj)
+
+    if isinstance(obj, (str, int, float, bool, type(None))):
+        return obj
+    elif isinstance(obj, (date, datetime)):
+        return obj.isoformat()
+    elif isinstance(obj, (list, tuple, set)):
+        return [_to_serializable(item, max_depth, _current_depth + 1) for item in obj]
+    elif isinstance(obj, dict):
+        return {
+            _to_serializable_key(key): _to_serializable(
+                value, max_depth, _current_depth + 1
+            )
+            for key, value in obj.items()
+        }
+    elif isinstance(obj, BaseModel):
+        return _to_serializable(obj.model_dump(), max_depth, _current_depth + 1)
+    else:
+        return repr(obj)
+
+
+def _to_serializable_key(key: Any) -> str:
+    if isinstance(key, (str, int)):
+        return str(key)
+    return f"key_{id(key)}_{repr(key)}"
diff --git a/src/crewai/utilities/evaluators/crew_evaluator_handler.py b/src/crewai/utilities/evaluators/crew_evaluator_handler.py
index ef9b908e1..9fcd2886d 100644
--- a/src/crewai/utilities/evaluators/crew_evaluator_handler.py
+++ b/src/crewai/utilities/evaluators/crew_evaluator_handler.py
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 from collections import defaultdict
 
-from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
+from pydantic import BaseModel, Field, InstanceOf
 from rich.box import HEAVY_EDGE
 from rich.console import Console
 from rich.table import Table
 
 from crewai.agent import Agent
+from crewai.llm import LLM
 from crewai.task import Task
 from crewai.tasks.task_output import TaskOutput
 from crewai.telemetry import Telemetry
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ class CrewEvaluator:
 
     Attributes:
         crew (Crew): The crew of agents to evaluate.
-        openai_model_name (str): The model to use for evaluating the performance of the agents (for now ONLY OpenAI accepted).
+        eval_llm (LLM): Language model instance to use for evaluations
         tasks_scores (defaultdict): A dictionary to store the scores of the agents for each task.
         iteration (int): The current iteration of the evaluation.
     """
@@ -32,9 +33,9 @@ class CrewEvaluator:
     run_execution_times: defaultdict = defaultdict(list)
     iteration: int = 0
 
-    def __init__(self, crew, openai_model_name: str):
+    def __init__(self, crew, eval_llm: InstanceOf[LLM]):
         self.crew = crew
-        self.openai_model_name = openai_model_name
+        self.llm = eval_llm
         self._telemetry = Telemetry()
         self._setup_for_evaluating()
 
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ class CrewEvaluator:
             ),
             backstory="Evaluator agent for crew evaluation with precise capabilities to evaluate the performance of the agents in the crew based on the tasks they have performed",
             verbose=False,
-            llm=self.openai_model_name,
+            llm=self.llm,
         )
 
     def _evaluation_task(
@@ -181,7 +182,7 @@ class CrewEvaluator:
                 self.crew,
                 evaluation_result.pydantic.quality,
                 current_task.execution_duration,
-                self.openai_model_name,
+                self.llm.model,
             )
             self.tasks_scores[self.iteration].append(evaluation_result.pydantic.quality)
             self.run_execution_times[self.iteration].append(
diff --git a/tests/crew_test.py b/tests/crew_test.py
index f15f5ac47..6cd0370ae 100644
--- a/tests/crew_test.py
+++ b/tests/crew_test.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from crewai.agents.cache import CacheHandler
 from crewai.crew import Crew
 from crewai.crews.crew_output import CrewOutput
 from crewai.knowledge.source.string_knowledge_source import StringKnowledgeSource
+from crewai.llm import LLM
 from crewai.memory.contextual.contextual_memory import ContextualMemory
 from crewai.process import Process
 from crewai.task import Task
@@ -3375,6 +3376,7 @@ def test_crew_testing_function(kickoff_mock, copy_mock, crew_evaluator):
     copy_mock.return_value = crew
 
     n_iterations = 2
+    llm_instance = LLM("gpt-4o-mini")
 
     received_events = []
 
@@ -3386,7 +3388,7 @@ def test_crew_testing_function(kickoff_mock, copy_mock, crew_evaluator):
     def on_crew_test_completed(source, event: CrewTestCompletedEvent):
         received_events.append(event)
 
-    crew.test(n_iterations, openai_model_name="gpt-4o-mini", inputs={"topic": "AI"})
+    crew.test(n_iterations, llm_instance, inputs={"topic": "AI"})
 
     # Ensure kickoff is called on the copied crew
     kickoff_mock.assert_has_calls(
@@ -3395,7 +3397,7 @@ def test_crew_testing_function(kickoff_mock, copy_mock, crew_evaluator):
 
     crew_evaluator.assert_has_calls(
         [
-            mock.call(crew, "gpt-4o-mini"),
+            mock.call(crew, llm_instance),
             mock.call().set_iteration(1),
             mock.call().set_iteration(2),
             mock.call().print_crew_evaluation_result(),
diff --git a/tests/flow/test_state_utils.py b/tests/flow/test_state_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1f71cd981
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/flow/test_state_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+from datetime import date, datetime
+from typing import List
+from unittest.mock import Mock
+
+import pytest
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+from crewai.flow import Flow
+from crewai.flow.state_utils import export_state
+
+
+class Address(BaseModel):
+    street: str
+    city: str
+    country: str
+
+
+class Person(BaseModel):
+    name: str
+    age: int
+    address: Address
+    birthday: date
+    skills: List[str]
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def mock_flow():
+    def create_flow(state):
+        flow = Mock(spec=Flow)
+        flow._state = state
+        return flow
+
+    return create_flow
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "test_input,expected",
+    [
+        ({"text": "hello world"}, {"text": "hello world"}),
+        ({"number": 42}, {"number": 42}),
+        ({"decimal": 3.14}, {"decimal": 3.14}),
+        ({"flag": True}, {"flag": True}),
+        ({"empty": None}, {"empty": None}),
+        ({"list": [1, 2, 3]}, {"list": [1, 2, 3]}),
+        ({"tuple": (1, 2, 3)}, {"tuple": [1, 2, 3]}),
+        ({"set": {1, 2, 3}}, {"set": [1, 2, 3]}),
+        ({"nested": [1, [2, 3], {4, 5}]}, {"nested": [1, [2, 3], [4, 5]]}),
+    ],
+)
+def test_basic_serialization(mock_flow, test_input, expected):
+    flow = mock_flow(test_input)
+    result = export_state(flow)
+    assert result == expected
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "input_date,expected",
+    [
+        (date(2024, 1, 1), "2024-01-01"),
+        (datetime(2024, 1, 1, 12, 30), "2024-01-01T12:30:00"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_temporal_serialization(mock_flow, input_date, expected):
+    flow = mock_flow({"date": input_date})
+    result = export_state(flow)
+    assert result["date"] == expected
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "key,value,expected_key_type",
+    [
+        (("tuple", "key"), "value", str),
+        (None, "value", str),
+        (123, "value", str),
+        ("normal", "value", str),
+    ],
+)
+def test_dictionary_key_serialization(mock_flow, key, value, expected_key_type):
+    flow = mock_flow({key: value})
+    result = export_state(flow)
+    assert len(result) == 1
+    result_key = next(iter(result.keys()))
+    assert isinstance(result_key, expected_key_type)
+    assert result[result_key] == value
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "callable_obj,expected_in_result",
+    [
+        (lambda x: x * 2, "lambda"),
+        (str.upper, "upper"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_callable_serialization(mock_flow, callable_obj, expected_in_result):
+    flow = mock_flow({"func": callable_obj})
+    result = export_state(flow)
+    assert isinstance(result["func"], str)
+    assert expected_in_result in result["func"].lower()
+
+
+def test_pydantic_model_serialization(mock_flow):
+    address = Address(street="123 Main St", city="Tech City", country="Pythonia")
+
+    person = Person(
+        name="John Doe",
+        age=30,
+        address=address,
+        birthday=date(1994, 1, 1),
+        skills=["Python", "Testing"],
+    )
+
+    flow = mock_flow(
+        {
+            "single_model": address,
+            "nested_model": person,
+            "model_list": [address, address],
+            "model_dict": {"home": address},
+        }
+    )
+
+    result = export_state(flow)
+
+    assert result["single_model"]["street"] == "123 Main St"
+
+    assert result["nested_model"]["name"] == "John Doe"
+    assert result["nested_model"]["address"]["city"] == "Tech City"
+    assert result["nested_model"]["birthday"] == "1994-01-01"
+
+    assert len(result["model_list"]) == 2
+    assert all(m["street"] == "123 Main St" for m in result["model_list"])
+    assert result["model_dict"]["home"]["city"] == "Tech City"
+
+
+def test_depth_limit(mock_flow):
+    """Test max depth handling with a deeply nested structure"""
+
+    def create_nested(depth):
+        if depth == 0:
+            return "value"
+        return {"next": create_nested(depth - 1)}
+
+    deep_structure = create_nested(10)
+    flow = mock_flow(deep_structure)
+    result = export_state(flow)
+
+    assert result == {
+        "next": {
+            "next": {
+                "next": {
+                    "next": {
+                        "next": "{'next': {'next': {'next': {'next': {'next': 'value'}}}}}"
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }