diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
index d7fa127e9..68fbcedd7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -59,18 +59,8 @@ jobs:
         with:
           go-version: "1.21"
 
-      - name: Generate CLI docs
-        run: go run main.go ./tmp
-        working-directory: defang/src/cmd/gendocs
-
-      - name: Copy CLI docs to current repository
-        run: cp -r ./defang/src/cmd/gendocs/tmp/* ./docs/cli
-
-      - name: Prep CLI docs
-        run: npm run prep-cli-docs
-
-      - name: Prep Samples
-        run: npm run prep-samples
+      - name: Pre-build
+        run: npm run prebuild
 
       - name: Build website
         run: npm run build
@@ -92,6 +82,7 @@ jobs:
           user_email: 41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com
           cname: docs.defang.io
 
+
       - name: Notify Slack of Action Failures
         uses: ravsamhq/notify-slack-action@2.5.0
         if: ${{ always() && github.ref_name == 'main' }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/test-deploy.yml
index 4ac10fe9d..2e0803f2e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-deploy.yml
@@ -40,18 +40,8 @@ jobs:
         with:
           go-version: "1.21"
 
-      - name: Generate CLI docs
-        run: go run main.go ./tmp
-        working-directory: defang/src/cmd/gendocs
-
-      - name: Copy CLI docs to current repository
-        run: cp -r ./defang/src/cmd/gendocs/tmp/* ./docs/cli
-
-      - name: Prep CLI docs
-        run: npm run prep-cli-docs
-
-      - name: Prep Samples
-        run: npm run prep-samples
+      - name: Pre-build
+        run: npm run prebuild
 
       - name: Test build website
         run: npm run build
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 4541adeee..a39efe4d3 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
   "scripts": {
     "docusaurus": "docusaurus",
     "start": "docusaurus start",
+    "prebuild": "./scripts/prebuild.sh",
     "build": "docusaurus build",
     "swizzle": "docusaurus swizzle",
     "deploy": "docusaurus deploy",
@@ -12,9 +13,7 @@
     "serve": "docusaurus serve",
     "write-translations": "docusaurus write-translations",
     "write-heading-ids": "docusaurus write-heading-ids",
-    "typecheck": "tsc",
-    "prep-cli-docs": "node scripts/prep-cli-docs.js",
-    "prep-samples": "node scripts/prep-samples.js"
+    "typecheck": "tsc"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@docusaurus/core": "3.0.0",
diff --git a/scripts/prebuild.sh b/scripts/prebuild.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..6717004dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/prebuild.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+CWD=$(pwd)
+CLI_DOCS_PATH=$(readlink -f docs/cli)
+
+# In CI (github actions), the defang and samples repositories must be cloned
+# into the working directory of the `defang-docs` repository.
+# In local development, however, the defang and samples repositories are cloned
+# into the parent directory of the `defang-docs` repository.
+if [ -d "../defang" ]; then
+  DEFANG_PATH=$(readlink -f ../defang)
+else
+  DEFANG_PATH=$(readlink -f ./defang)
+fi
+if [ -d "../samples" ]; then
+  SAMPLES_PATH=$(readlink -f ../samples)
+else
+  SAMPLES_PATH=$(readlink -f ./samples)
+fi
+
+cd "$DEFANG_PATH/src/cmd/gendocs" && go run main.go "$CLI_DOCS_PATH"
+cd "$CWD"
+node scripts/prep-cli-docs.js
+node scripts/prep-samples.js "$SAMPLES_PATH/samples"
diff --git a/scripts/prep-cli-docs.js b/scripts/prep-cli-docs.js
index 323f15df2..9ec2fd591 100644
--- a/scripts/prep-cli-docs.js
+++ b/scripts/prep-cli-docs.js
@@ -47,4 +47,4 @@ fs.readdirSync(directoryPath).forEach(file => {
 
         fs.writeFileSync(filePath, fileContent);
     }
-});
\ No newline at end of file
+});
diff --git a/scripts/prep-samples.js b/scripts/prep-samples.js
index d4f9d544f..4efe8ad04 100644
--- a/scripts/prep-samples.js
+++ b/scripts/prep-samples.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ const fs = require('fs');
 const path = require('path');
 const YAML = require('yaml');
 
-const samplesDir = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'samples', 'samples');
+const samplesDir = process.argv[2];
 
 // categories are directories in the current directory (i.e. we're running in samples/ and we might have a samples/ruby/ directory)
 const directories = fs.readdirSync(samplesDir).filter(file => fs.statSync(path.join(samplesDir, file)).isDirectory());
@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@ directories.forEach((sample) => {
     }
 
     // The readme should contain lines that start with the following:
-    // Title: 
-    // Short Description: 
-    // Tags: 
-    // Languages: 
-    // 
+    // Title:
+    // Short Description:
+    // Tags:
+    // Languages:
+    //
     // We want to extract the title, short description, tags, and languages from the readme. Tags and languages are comma separated lists.
     const title = readme.match(/Title: (.*)/)[1];
     const shortDescription = readme.match(/Short Description: (.*)/)[1];