diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 9d363230..a4265cb4 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
     "format-check": "prettier --check .",
     "report-undocumented": "npm run jsdoc-json && node jsdoc/undocumented.mjs > undocumented.json",
     "check": "npm run format-check && npm run lint && npm run test",
+    "sampler": "cd packages/sampler && node sample-server.mjs",
     "iclc": "cd paper && pandoc --template=pandoc/iclc.html --citeproc  --number-sections iclc2023.md -o iclc2023.html && pandoc --template=pandoc/iclc.latex --citeproc --number-sections iclc2023.md -o iclc2023.pdf"
   },
   "repository": {
diff --git a/packages/sampler/.gitignore b/packages/sampler/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e8cbbaa2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/sampler/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+samples/*
+!samples/README.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/sampler/sample-server.mjs b/packages/sampler/sample-server.mjs
index d77ece83..e54101d8 100644
--- a/packages/sampler/sample-server.mjs
+++ b/packages/sampler/sample-server.mjs
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ async function getBanks(directory) {
       banks[bank].push(url);
       return url;
     });
-  banks._base = `http:localhost:5432`;
+  banks._base = `http://localhost:5432`;
   return { banks, files };
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/sampler/samples/README.md b/packages/sampler/samples/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d20e1753
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/sampler/samples/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# samples folder
+
+1. copy any samples to this folder
+2. run `npm run sampler`
+3. add `samples('local:')` to your code
diff --git a/packages/superdough/sampler.mjs b/packages/superdough/sampler.mjs
index cdf7dbf2..10087fc6 100644
--- a/packages/superdough/sampler.mjs
+++ b/packages/superdough/sampler.mjs
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ export const samples = async (sampleMap, baseUrl = sampleMap._base || '', option
       sampleMap = githubPath(sampleMap, 'strudel.json');
     }
     if (sampleMap.startsWith('local:')) {
-      sampleMap = `/strudel.json`;
+      sampleMap = `http://localhost:5432`;
     }
     if (sampleMap.startsWith('shabda:')) {
       let [_, path] = sampleMap.split('shabda:');
diff --git a/website/.gitignore b/website/.gitignore
index 3bb2282e..02f6e50b 100644
--- a/website/.gitignore
+++ b/website/.gitignore
@@ -17,6 +17,3 @@ pnpm-debug.log*
 
 # macOS-specific files
 .DS_Store
-
-public/samples/**
-public/samples/!README.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/website/src/pages/strudel.json.js b/website/src/pages/strudel.json.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 5e81e672..00000000
--- a/website/src/pages/strudel.json.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,45 +0,0 @@
-import { readdir } from 'fs/promises';
-import { dirname, join, resolve } from 'path';
-import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
-
-const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
-const __dirname = dirname(__filename);
-
-async function getFilesInDirectory(directory) {
-  let files = [];
-  const dirents = await readdir(directory, { withFileTypes: true });
-  for (const dirent of dirents) {
-    const fullPath = join(directory, dirent.name);
-    if (dirent.isDirectory()) {
-      const subFiles = await getFilesInDirectory(fullPath);
-      files = files.concat(subFiles);
-    } else {
-      files.push(fullPath);
-    }
-  }
-  return files;
-}
-
-export async function GET() {
-  let dir;
-  if (import.meta.env.MODE === 'production') {
-    // in prod (pnpm build), the path is "/website/dist/chunks/pages"
-    dir = '../../../public/samples';
-  } else {
-    // in dev (pnpm dev), the path is "/website/src/pages"
-    dir = '../../public/samples';
-  }
-  const directory = resolve(__dirname, dir);
-  const files = await getFilesInDirectory(directory);
-  let banks = {};
-  files
-    .filter((f) => ['wav', 'mp3', 'ogg'].includes(f.split('.').slice(-1)[0].toLowerCase()))
-    .forEach((url) => {
-      const [bank] = url.split('/').slice(-2);
-      banks[bank] = banks[bank] || [];
-      const rel = url.split('/public/samples/')[1];
-      banks[bank].push(rel);
-    });
-  banks._base = '/samples/';
-  return new Response(JSON.stringify(banks));
-}