diff --git a/internal/elasticsearch/ingest/datastream.go b/internal/elasticsearch/ingest/datastream.go
index 1f73515b0..6b56d7e37 100644
--- a/internal/elasticsearch/ingest/datastream.go
+++ b/internal/elasticsearch/ingest/datastream.go
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"log"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -39,12 +38,6 @@ type RoutingRule struct {
 	Rules         []Rule `yaml:"rules"`
 }
 
-type ESIngestPipeline struct {
-	Description      string                   `yaml:"description"`
-	Processors       []map[string]interface{} `yaml:"processors"`
-	AdditionalFields map[string]interface{}   `yaml:",inline"`
-}
-
 type RerouteProcessor struct {
 	Tag       string   `yaml:"tag"`
 	If        string   `yaml:"if"`
@@ -95,37 +88,21 @@ func loadIngestPipelineFiles(dataStreamPath string, nonce int64) ([]Pipeline, er
 		c = ingestPipelineTag.ReplaceAllFunc(c, func(found []byte) []byte {
 			s := strings.Split(string(found), `"`)
 			if len(s) != 3 {
-				log.Fatalf("invalid IngestPipeline tag in template (path: %s)", path)
+				err = fmt.Errorf("invalid IngestPipeline tag in template (path: %s)", path)
+				return nil
 			}
 			pipelineTag := s[1]
 			return []byte(getPipelineNameWithNonce(pipelineTag, nonce))
 		})
-
-		// Unmarshal the YAML data into a ESIngestPipeline struct
-		var esPipeline ESIngestPipeline
-		err = yaml.Unmarshal(c, &esPipeline)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal ingest pipeline YAML data (path: %s): %w", path, err)
+			return nil, err
 		}
 
-		// read routing_rules.yml and convert it into reroute processors in ingest pipeline
-		rerouteProcessors, err := loadRoutingRuleFile(dataStreamPath)
+		c, err = addRerouteProcessors(c, dataStreamPath, path)
 		if err != nil {
-			log.Fatalf("failed loading routing_rules.yml: %v", err)
+			return nil, err
 		}
 
-		// only attach routing_rules.yml reroute processors after the default pipeline
-		filename := filepath.Base(path)
-		if filename == defaultPipelineJSON || filename == defaultPipelineYML {
-			esPipeline.Processors = append(esPipeline.Processors, rerouteProcessors...)
-		}
-
-		c, err = yaml.Marshal(esPipeline)
-		if err != nil {
-			log.Fatalf("Failed to marshal modified ingest pipeline YAML data: %v", err)
-		}
-
-		// put routing rules into processors
 		name := filepath.Base(path)
 		pipelines = append(pipelines, Pipeline{
 			Path:    path,
@@ -137,6 +114,50 @@ func loadIngestPipelineFiles(dataStreamPath string, nonce int64) ([]Pipeline, er
 	return pipelines, nil
 }
 
+func addRerouteProcessors(pipeline []byte, dataStreamPath, path string) ([]byte, error) {
+	// Only attach routing_rules.yml reroute processors after the default pipeline
+	filename := filepath.Base(path)
+	if filename != defaultPipelineJSON && filename != defaultPipelineYML {
+		return pipeline, nil
+	}
+
+	// Read routing_rules.yml and convert it into reroute processors in ingest pipeline
+	rerouteProcessors, err := loadRoutingRuleFile(dataStreamPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed loading routing rules: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(rerouteProcessors) == 0 {
+		return pipeline, nil
+	}
+
+	var yamlPipeline map[string]any
+	err = yaml.Unmarshal(pipeline, &yamlPipeline)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal ingest pipeline YAML data (path: %s): %w", path, err)
+	}
+
+	var processors []any
+	v, found := yamlPipeline["processors"]
+	if found {
+		list, ok := v.([]any)
+		if !ok {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected processors type, expected []any, found %T", v)
+		}
+		processors = list
+	}
+	for _, p := range rerouteProcessors {
+		processors = append(processors, p)
+	}
+	yamlPipeline["processors"] = processors
+
+	pipeline, err = yaml.Marshal(yamlPipeline)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal modified ingest pipeline YAML data: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	return pipeline, nil
+}
+
 func loadRoutingRuleFile(dataStreamPath string) ([]map[string]interface{}, error) {
 	routingRulePath := filepath.Join(dataStreamPath, "routing_rules.yml")
 	c, err := os.ReadFile(routingRulePath)
diff --git a/internal/testrunner/runners/system/runner.go b/internal/testrunner/runners/system/runner.go
index d58b2a12a..ab5359f7a 100644
--- a/internal/testrunner/runners/system/runner.go
+++ b/internal/testrunner/runners/system/runner.go
@@ -671,12 +671,17 @@ func (r *runner) runTest(config *testConfig, ctxt servicedeployer.ServiceContext
 	// when reroute processors are used, expectedDatasets should be set depends on the processor config
 	var expectedDatasets []string
 	for _, pipeline := range r.pipelines {
-		var esIngestPipeline ingest.ESIngestPipeline
+		var esIngestPipeline map[string]any
 		err = yaml.Unmarshal(pipeline.Content, &esIngestPipeline)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unmarshalling ingest pipeline content failed: %w", err)
 		}
-		for _, processor := range esIngestPipeline.Processors {
+		processors, _ := esIngestPipeline["processors"].([]any)
+		for _, p := range processors {
+			processor, ok := p.(map[string]any)
+			if !ok {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected processor %+v", p)
+			}
 			if reroute, ok := processor["reroute"]; ok {
 				if rerouteP, ok := reroute.(ingest.RerouteProcessor); ok {
 					expectedDatasets = append(expectedDatasets, rerouteP.Dataset...)