diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e0e5afa18..71d6ebdf7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -63,6 +63,3 @@ Jellyfin Web is the frontend used for most of the clients available for end user
    yarn serve
    ```
 
-The webpack dev server will proxy backend requests to http://localhost:8096 - so
-you'll need to start a jellyfin backend either via docker or by running
-the application in the jellyfin main repository.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/standalone.js b/src/standalone.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5692e8ddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/standalone.js
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+(function() {
+    "use strict";
+    window.appMode='standalone';
+})();
diff --git a/webpack.dev.js b/webpack.dev.js
index 6d1fea558..3aecac1a5 100644
--- a/webpack.dev.js
+++ b/webpack.dev.js
@@ -30,14 +30,7 @@ module.exports = merge(common, {
         }),
         new ConcatPlugin({
             name: 'scripts/apploader.js',
-            filesToConcat: ['./scripts/apploader.js']
+            filesToConcat: ['./standalone.js', './scripts/apploader.js']
         })
-    ],
-    devServer: {
-        proxy: {
-            "!/**/*.html" : "http://localhost:8096",
-            "!/**/*.css" : "http://localhost:8086",
-            "!/**/*.js" : "http://localhost:8086"
-        }
-    }
+    ]
 });