diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
index df772fc89..3051670a2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -44,14 +44,14 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
         with:
           repository: DefangLabs/defang
-          path: ../defang
+          path: defang
           ref: ${{ github.event_name == 'repository_dispatch' && github.event.client_payload.version || 'main' }}
 
       - name: Checkout DefangLabs/samples
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
         with:
           repository: DefangLabs/samples
-          path: ../samples
+          path: samples
           ref: main
 
       - name: Set up Go
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/test-deploy.yml
index f90969985..2e0803f2e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-deploy.yml
@@ -25,14 +25,14 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
         with:
           repository: DefangLabs/defang
-          path: ../defang
+          path: defang
           ref: main
 
       - name: Checkout DefangLabs/samples
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
         with:
           repository: DefangLabs/samples
-          path: ../samples
+          path: samples
           ref: main
 
       - name: Set up Go
diff --git a/scripts/prebuild.sh b/scripts/prebuild.sh
index ce049444a..1b34511bd 100755
--- a/scripts/prebuild.sh
+++ b/scripts/prebuild.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,25 @@
 
 set -e
 
-cd ../defang/src/cmd/gendocs && go run main.go ../../../../defang-docs/docs/cli
-cd -
-node scripts/prep-cli-docs.js
+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 "$CWD"
+node scripts/prep-cli-docs.js "$SAMPLES_PATH/samples"
 node scripts/prep-samples.js
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 55b7b4027..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());