diff --git a/prepdb.sh b/prepdb.sh
index 400a85d..7b1b76a 100644
--- a/prepdb.sh
+++ b/prepdb.sh
@@ -7,51 +7,33 @@ replace_in_sqlite_db() {
     # Check if the database file exists
     if [ ! -f "$DB_PATH" ]; then
         echo "Error: Database file '$DB_PATH' does not exist."
-        return 1
+        exit 1
     fi
 
     echo "Starting safe replacement of '$OLD_STRING' with '$NEW_STRING' in '$DB_PATH'..."
 
-    # Escape single quotes for SQL
-    local OLD_STRING_ESC=$(printf "%s" "$OLD_STRING" | sed "s/'/''/g")
-    local NEW_STRING_ESC=$(printf "%s" "$NEW_STRING" | sed "s/'/''/g")
+    # Create a backup of the original database
+    local BACKUP_PATH="${DB_PATH}.bak"
+    cp "$DB_PATH" "$BACKUP_PATH"
 
-    # Begin a transaction for safety
-    sqlite3 "$DB_PATH" "BEGIN TRANSACTION;"
+    # Dump the database to SQL
+    local DUMP_PATH="${DB_PATH}.sql"
+    sqlite3 "$DB_PATH" ".dump" > "$DUMP_PATH"
 
-    # Get a list of all tables in the database
-    local TABLES
-    TABLES=$(sqlite3 "$DB_PATH" ".tables")
+    # Replace strings in the SQL dump
+    sed -i "s|$OLD_STRING|$NEW_STRING|g" "$DUMP_PATH"
 
-    # Loop through each table
-    for TABLE in $TABLES; do
-        echo "Processing table: $TABLE"
+    # Create a new database from the modified SQL dump
+    local NEW_DB_PATH="${DB_PATH}.new"
+    sqlite3 "$NEW_DB_PATH" < "$DUMP_PATH"
 
-        # Get a list of all non-BLOB columns in the table
-        sqlite3 "$DB_PATH" "PRAGMA table_info($TABLE);" | awk -F'|' '
-        {
-            if ($3 != "BLOB") {
-                print $2
-            }
-        }' | while read -r COLUMN; do
-            # Skip empty lines
-            if [ -n "$COLUMN" ]; then
-                echo "  Processing column: $COLUMN"
+    # Replace the original database with the new one
+    mv "$NEW_DB_PATH" "$DB_PATH"
 
-                # Update only rows where the column contains OLD_STRING
-                sqlite3 "$DB_PATH" "
-                UPDATE $TABLE
-                SET $COLUMN = replace(CAST($COLUMN AS TEXT), '$OLD_STRING_ESC', '$NEW_STRING_ESC')
-                WHERE CAST($COLUMN AS TEXT) LIKE '%$OLD_STRING_ESC%';
-                "
-            fi
-        done
-    done
+    # Clean up temporary files
+    rm "$DUMP_PATH"
 
-    # Commit the transaction
-    sqlite3 "$DB_PATH" "COMMIT;"
-
-    echo "Safe replacement completed in '$DB_PATH'."
+    echo "Replacement completed in '$DB_PATH'. Original database backed up to '$BACKUP_PATH'."
 }
 
 #set script directory
diff --git a/stacks/npm/data/database.sqlite b/stacks/npm/data/database.sqlite
deleted file mode 100644
index d8a2dd5..0000000
Binary files a/stacks/npm/data/database.sqlite and /dev/null differ