diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
index 4a8caf89576..3ba92533947 100644
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -18,4 +18,4 @@ arches/settings_local.pyc
 elasticsearch-5.2.1
 virtualenv
 arches/app/media/packages
-arches/app/media/node_modules
+node_modules
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ce3dd0dea43..c5a08d06b2b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ arches/Net_files
 .idea
 arches/app/media/bower_components
 arches/app/media/packages
-arches/app/media/node_modules
 node_modules
 arches/tileserver/cache
 docs/_build
diff --git a/.yarnrc b/.yarnrc
deleted file mode 100644
index dd5e7bd9d14..00000000000
--- a/.yarnrc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
---modules-folder arches/app/media/node_modules
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 242b4e7a960..214a0789829 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ COPY ./arches/install/package.json ${ARCHES_ROOT}/arches/install/package.json
 COPY ./arches/install/.yarnrc ${ARCHES_ROOT}/arches/install/.yarnrc
 COPY ./arches/install/yarn.lock ${ARCHES_ROOT}/arches/install/yarn.lock
 WORKDIR ${ARCHES_ROOT}/arches/install
-RUN mkdir -p ${ARCHES_ROOT}/arches/app/media/node_modules
+RUN mkdir -p ${ARCHES_ROOT}/node_modules
 RUN yarn install
 
 ## Install virtualenv
diff --git a/arches/app/media/css/abstracts/_functions.scss b/arches/app/media/css/abstracts/_functions.scss
index eb7d26c2f33..9fd26918952 100644
--- a/arches/app/media/css/abstracts/_functions.scss
+++ b/arches/app/media/css/abstracts/_functions.scss
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 // to this list, ordered by width. For examples: (mobile, tablet, desktop).
 // $mq-show-breakpoints: (mobile, mobileLandscape, tablet, desktop, wide);
 
-//@import '../../node_modules/sass-mq/mq.import';
+//@import url(node_modules/sass-mq/mq.import);
 
 /// Responsive breakpoint manager
 /// @access public
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-admin b/arches/install/arches-admin
index 553abcfed45..96de9431ca9 100644
--- a/arches/install/arches-admin
+++ b/arches/install/arches-admin
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ class ArchesProjectCommand(TemplateCommand):
         # need to manually replace instances of {{ project_name }} in some files
         path_to_project = os.path.join(target) if target else os.path.join(os.getcwd(), project_name)
 
-        for relative_file_path in ['.yarnrc', '.coveragerc', "pyproject.toml"]:  # relative to app root directory
+        for relative_file_path in ['.coveragerc', "pyproject.toml"]:  # relative to app root directory
             file = open(os.path.join(path_to_project, relative_file_path),'r')
             file_data = file.read()
             file.close()
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-project b/arches/install/arches-project
index 18e42fcec8e..b6fe7896374 100644
--- a/arches/install/arches-project
+++ b/arches/install/arches-project
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class ArchesCommand(TemplateCommand):
         # need to manually replace instances of {{ project_name }} in some files
         path_to_project = os.path.join(target) if target else os.path.join(os.getcwd(), project_name)
 
-        for relative_file_path in ['.yarnrc', '.coveragerc', "pyproject.toml"]:  # relative to app root directory
+        for relative_file_path in ['.coveragerc', "pyproject.toml"]:  # relative to app root directory
             file = open(os.path.join(path_to_project, relative_file_path),'r')
             file_data = file.read()
             file.close()
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/.gitignore b/arches/install/arches-templates/.gitignore
index 29692832d33..f9b6c762dc6 100644
--- a/arches/install/arches-templates/.gitignore
+++ b/arches/install/arches-templates/.gitignore
@@ -1,17 +1,16 @@
 *.pyc
 *.log
+node_modules
 *.coverage
 {{ project_name }}/logs
 {{ project_name }}/export_deliverables
 {{ project_name }}/cantaloupe/*
 {{ project_name }}/staticfiles
 {{ project_name }}/media/packages
-{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules
 {{ project_name }}/media/build/
 {{ project_name }}/uploadedfiles/*
 {{ project_name }}/settings_local.py
-{{ project_name }}/webpack/webpack-stats.json
-{{ project_name }}/webpack/webpack-user-config.js
+webpack-stats.json
 .vscode/
 *.egg-info
 .DS_STORE
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/.yarnrc b/arches/install/arches-templates/.yarnrc
deleted file mode 100644
index ca9e91e0448..00000000000
--- a/arches/install/arches-templates/.yarnrc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
---install.modules-folder "./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules"
---add.modules-folder "./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/gettext.config.js b/arches/install/arches-templates/gettext.config.js
index c1289b98bd2..27934951e4f 100644
--- a/arches/install/arches-templates/gettext.config.js
+++ b/arches/install/arches-templates/gettext.config.js
@@ -1,43 +1,43 @@
 
 module.exports = {
-    input: {
-      path: "./{{ project_name }}/src", // only files in this directory are considered for extraction
-      include: ["**/*.vue", "**/*.ts"], // glob patterns to select files for extraction
-      exclude: [], // glob patterns to exclude files from extraction
-      jsExtractorOpts:[ // custom extractor keyword. default empty.
-          {
-            keyword: "__", // only extractor default keyword such as $gettext,use keyword to custom
-            options: {    // see https://github.com/lukasgeiter/gettext-extractor
-              content: {
-                replaceNewLines: "\n",
-              },
-              arguments: {
-                text: 0,
-              },
-            },
+  input: {
+    path: "./{{ project_name }}/src", // only files in this directory are considered for extraction
+    include: ["**/*.vue", "**/*.ts"], // glob patterns to select files for extraction
+    exclude: [], // glob patterns to exclude files from extraction
+    jsExtractorOpts: [ // custom extractor keyword. default empty.
+      {
+        keyword: "__", // only extractor default keyword such as $gettext,use keyword to custom
+        options: {    // see https://github.com/lukasgeiter/gettext-extractor
+          content: {
+            replaceNewLines: "\n",
           },
-          {
-            keyword: "_n", // $ngettext
-            options: {
-              content: {
-                replaceNewLines: "\n",
-              },
-              arguments: {
-                text: 0,
-                textPlural: 1,
-              },
-            },
+          arguments: {
+            text: 0,
           },
-        ],
-        compileTemplate: false, // do not compile <template> tag when its lang is not html
+        },
       },
-      output: {
-        path: "./{{ project_name }}/locale", // output path of all created files
-        potPath: "./messages.pot", // relative to output.path, so by default "./src/language/messages.pot"
-        jsonPath: "./", // relative to output.path, so by default "./src/language/translations.json"
-        locales: ["en"],
-        flat: false, // don't create subdirectories for locales
-        linguas: false, // create a LINGUAS file
-        splitJson: true, // create separate json files for each locale. If used, jsonPath must end with a directory, not a file
+      {
+        keyword: "_n", // $ngettext
+        options: {
+          content: {
+            replaceNewLines: "\n",
+          },
+          arguments: {
+            text: 0,
+            textPlural: 1,
+          },
+        },
       },
+    ],
+    compileTemplate: false, // do not compile <template> tag when its lang is not html
+  },
+  output: {
+    path: "./{{ project_name }}/locale", // output path of all created files
+    potPath: "./messages.pot", // relative to output.path, so by default "./src/language/messages.pot"
+    jsonPath: "./", // relative to output.path, so by default "./src/language/translations.json"
+    locales: ["en"],
+    flat: false, // don't create subdirectories for locales
+    linguas: false, // create a LINGUAS file
+    splitJson: true, // create separate json files for each locale. If used, jsonPath must end with a directory, not a file
+  },
 };
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/package.json b/arches/install/arches-templates/package.json
index 10cb7ef5768..cf3ebb9df2b 100644
--- a/arches/install/arches-templates/package.json
+++ b/arches/install/arches-templates/package.json
@@ -2,17 +2,17 @@
     "name": "{{ project_name }}",
     "license": "AGPL-3.0-only",
     "scripts": {
-        "build_development": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && ./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 ./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/webpack --config ./{{ project_name }}/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js",
-        "build_production": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && ./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 NODE_ENV=production ./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/webpack --config ./{{ project_name }}/webpack/webpack.config.prod.js",
-        "build_test": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && ./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 ./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/webpack --config ./{{ project_name }}/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js --env test=true",
-        "eslint:check": "./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/eslint ./{{ project_name }}/src --resolve-plugins-relative-to ./{{ project_name }}/media --ext .vue,.ts --parser ./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/vue-eslint-parser/index.js",
-        "eslint:watch": "./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/nodemon --watch ./{{ project_name }}/src --ext ts,vue --exec yarn --silent eslint:check",
-        "eslint:fix": "./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/eslint ./{{ project_name }}/src --resolve-plugins-relative-to ./{{ project_name }}/media --ext .vue,.ts --parser ./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/vue-eslint-parser/index.js --fix",
-        "gettext:extract": "./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/vue-gettext-extract",
-        "gettext:compile": "./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/vue-gettext-compile",
-        "ts:check": "./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/vue-tsc --noEmit",
-        "ts:watch": "./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/vue-tsc --watch --noEmit",
-        "start": "./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 ./{{ project_name }}/media/node_modules/.bin/webpack serve --config ./{{ project_name }}/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js"
+        "build_development": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 webpack --config ./webpack/webpack.config.dev.js",
+        "build_production": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 NODE_ENV=production webpack --config ./webpack/webpack.config.prod.js",
+        "build_test": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 webpack --config ./webpack/webpack.config.dev.js --env test=true",
+        "eslint:check": "eslint . --ext .vue,.ts",
+        "eslint:watch": "nodemon --watch . --ext ts,vue --exec yarn --silent eslint:check",
+        "eslint:fix": "eslint . --ext .vue,.ts --fix",
+        "gettext:extract": "vue-gettext-extract",
+        "gettext:compile": "vue-gettext-compile",
+        "ts:check": "vue-tsc --noEmit",
+        "ts:watch": "vue-tsc --watch --noEmit",
+        "start": "cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 webpack serve --config ./webpack/webpack.config.dev.js"
     },
     "devDependencies": {
         "arches-dev-dependencies": "archesproject/arches-dev-dependencies#{{ arches_version }}"
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/settings.py-tpl b/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/settings.py-tpl
index b11185d9960..45abf2f2cc0 100644
--- a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/settings.py-tpl
+++ b/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/settings.py-tpl
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ MAX_ARCHES_VERSION = arches.__version__
 
 WEBPACK_LOADER = {
     "DEFAULT": {
-        "STATS_FILE": os.path.join(APP_ROOT, 'webpack/webpack-stats.json'),
+        "STATS_FILE": os.path.join(APP_ROOT, '..', 'webpack/webpack-stats.json'),
     },
 }
 
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/src/declarations.d.ts b/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/src/declarations.d.ts
index 648fa8dd18a..ebedbf32c89 100644
--- a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/src/declarations.d.ts
+++ b/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/src/declarations.d.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // import declarations from other projects or Arches core
-import('../media/node_modules/arches/arches/app/src/declarations.d.ts');
+import('../../node_modules/arches/arches/app/src/declarations.d.ts');
 
 // declare modules that have been added to your project (should mirror `package.json`)
 declare module 'arches';
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/README.md b/arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/README.md
rename to arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/README.md
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack-utils/build-css-filepath-lookup.js b/arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack-utils/build-css-filepath-lookup.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack-utils/build-css-filepath-lookup.js
rename to arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack-utils/build-css-filepath-lookup.js
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack-utils/build-image-filepath-lookup.js b/arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack-utils/build-image-filepath-lookup.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack-utils/build-image-filepath-lookup.js
rename to arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack-utils/build-image-filepath-lookup.js
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack-utils/build-javascript-filepath-lookup.js b/arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack-utils/build-javascript-filepath-lookup.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack-utils/build-javascript-filepath-lookup.js
rename to arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack-utils/build-javascript-filepath-lookup.js
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack-utils/build-template-filepath-lookup.js b/arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack-utils/build-template-filepath-lookup.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack-utils/build-template-filepath-lookup.js
rename to arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack-utils/build-template-filepath-lookup.js
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack.common.js b/arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack.common.js
similarity index 85%
rename from arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack.common.js
rename to arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack.common.js
index 02853696fc4..a8797a3e562 100644
--- a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack.common.js
+++ b/arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack.common.js
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ const { buildCSSFilepathLookup } = require('./webpack-utils/build-css-filepath-l
 
 module.exports = () => {
     return new Promise((resolve, _reject) => {
-        const createWebpackConfig = function(data) {  // reads from application's settings.py
+        const createWebpackConfig = function (data) {  // reads from application's settings.py
             if (!data) {
                 console.error(
                     '\x1b[31m%s\x1b[0m',  // red
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
 
             const parsedData = JSON.parse(data);
             console.log('Data imported from settings.py:', parsedData)
-            
+
             const APP_ROOT = parsedData['APP_ROOT'];
             const ARCHES_APPLICATIONS = parsedData['ARCHES_APPLICATIONS'];
             const ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS = parsedData['ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS'];
@@ -41,12 +41,23 @@ module.exports = () => {
             const PUBLIC_SERVER_ADDRESS = parsedData['PUBLIC_SERVER_ADDRESS']
             const WEBPACK_DEVELOPMENT_SERVER_PORT = parsedData['WEBPACK_DEVELOPMENT_SERVER_PORT']
 
+            // BEGIN workaround for handling node_modules paths in arches-core vs projects
+
+            let PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH;
+            if (APP_ROOT.includes(ROOT_DIR)) {  // should only return truthy for running Arches-core without a project
+                PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH = Path.resolve(APP_ROOT, '..', '..', 'node_modules');
+            }
+            else {
+                PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH = Path.resolve(APP_ROOT, '..', 'node_modules');
+            }
+
+            // END workaround for handling node_modules paths in arches-core vs projects
             // BEGIN create entry point configurations
-        
+
             const archesCoreEntryPointConfiguration = buildJavascriptFilepathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, 'app', 'media', 'js'), {});
             const projectEntryPointConfiguration = buildJavascriptFilepathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'js'), {});
 
-            const archesApplicationsEntrypointConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {   
+            const archesApplicationsEntrypointConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {
                 return {
                     ...acc,
                     ...buildJavascriptFilepathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], 'media', 'js'), {})
@@ -70,7 +81,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             }, {});
 
             // order is important! Arches core files are overwritten by arches-application files, arches-application files are overwritten by project files
-            const javascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup = { 
+            const javascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup = {
                 ...archesCoreJavascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup,
                 ...archesApplicationsJavascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup,
                 ...projectJavascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup,
@@ -80,9 +91,9 @@ module.exports = () => {
             // BEGIN create node modules aliases
             const parsedPackageJSONFilepaths = {};
 
-            let archesCorePackageJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, '../package.json')
+            let archesCorePackageJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, '..', 'package.json');
             if (!fs.existsSync(archesCorePackageJSONFilepath)) {
-                archesCorePackageJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'arches', 'package.json')
+                archesCorePackageJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'arches', 'package.json');
             }
 
             const archesCorePackageJSON = require(archesCorePackageJSONFilepath);
@@ -93,7 +104,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                     acc[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, 'app', 'media', subPath);
                 }
                 else {
-                    acc[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', subPath);
+                    acc[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, '..', subPath);
                 }
                 return acc;
             }, {});
@@ -101,7 +112,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             let parsedProjectNodeModulesAliases = {};
             let projectPackageJSON;
 
-            const projectJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'package.json');
+            const projectJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'package.json');
             if (fs.existsSync(projectJSONFilepath)) {  // handles running Arches without a project
                 projectPackageJSON = require(projectJSONFilepath);
                 parsedPackageJSONFilepaths[Path.join(projectPackageJSON.name, 'package.json').replace(/\\/g, '/')] = projectJSONFilepath;
@@ -114,7 +125,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         )
                     }
                     else {
-                        acc[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', subPath);
+                        acc[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, '..', subPath);
                     }
                     return acc;
                 }, {});
@@ -125,14 +136,14 @@ module.exports = () => {
                 try {
                     let archesApplicationJSONFilepath;
 
-                    if (!ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication].includes('site-packages')) {  
+                    if (!ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication].includes('site-packages')) {
                         // if the path doesn't include site-packages then we can assume it's linked via egg/wheel
                         archesApplicationJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], '..', 'package.json');
                     }
                     else {
-                        archesApplicationJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', archesApplication, 'package.json')
+                        archesApplicationJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, archesApplication, 'package.json');
                     }
-                    
+
                     const archesApplicationPackageJSON = require(archesApplicationJSONFilepath);
                     parsedPackageJSONFilepaths[Path.join(archesApplicationPackageJSON.name, 'package.json').replace(/\\/g, '/')] = archesApplicationJSONFilepath;
 
@@ -148,7 +159,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                             )
                         }
                         else {
-                            parsedArchesApplicationsNodeModulesAliases[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', subPath);
+                            parsedArchesApplicationsNodeModulesAliases[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, '..', subPath);
                         }
                     }
                 } catch (error) {
@@ -165,11 +176,11 @@ module.exports = () => {
 
             // END create node modules aliases
             // BEGIN create template filepath lookup
-            
+
             const coreArchesTemplatePathConfiguration = buildTemplateFilePathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, 'app', 'templates'), {});
             const projectTemplatePathConfiguration = buildTemplateFilePathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'templates'), {});
 
-            const archesApplicationsTemplatePathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {   
+            const archesApplicationsTemplatePathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {
                 return {
                     ...acc,
                     ...buildTemplateFilePathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], 'templates'), {})
@@ -177,7 +188,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             }, {});
 
             // order is important! Arches core files are overwritten by arches-application files, arches-application files are overwritten by project files
-            const templateFilepathLookup = { 
+            const templateFilepathLookup = {
                 ...coreArchesTemplatePathConfiguration,
                 ...archesApplicationsTemplatePathConfiguration,
                 ...projectTemplatePathConfiguration,
@@ -189,7 +200,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             const coreArchesImagePathConfiguration = buildImageFilePathLookup(STATIC_URL, Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, 'app', 'media', 'img'), {});
             const projectImagePathConfiguration = buildImageFilePathLookup(STATIC_URL, Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'img'), {});
 
-            const archesApplicationsImagePathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {   
+            const archesApplicationsImagePathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {
                 return {
                     ...acc,
                     ...buildImageFilePathLookup(STATIC_URL, Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], 'media', 'img'), {})
@@ -197,7 +208,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             }, {});
 
             // order is important! Arches core files are overwritten by arches-application files, arches-application files are overwritten by project files
-            const imageFilepathLookup = { 
+            const imageFilepathLookup = {
                 ...coreArchesImagePathConfiguration,
                 ...archesApplicationsImagePathConfiguration,
                 ...projectImagePathConfiguration,
@@ -210,7 +221,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             const projectCSSFilepathConfiguration = buildCSSFilepathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'css'), {});
 
             const archesApplicationsCSSFilepaths = [];
-            const archesApplicationsCSSFilepathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => { 
+            const archesApplicationsCSSFilepathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {
                 const path = Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], 'media', 'css');
                 archesApplicationsCSSFilepaths.push(path);
 
@@ -229,10 +240,10 @@ module.exports = () => {
             // END create CSS filepath lookup
             // BEGIN create vue filepath lookup
 
-            const archesApplicationsVuePaths = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => { 
+            const archesApplicationsVuePaths = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {
                 const path = Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], 'src');
                 acc.push(path);
-                
+
                 return acc;
             }, []);
 
@@ -240,10 +251,10 @@ module.exports = () => {
             // BEGIN create universal constants
 
             const universalConstants = {
-                APP_ROOT_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(APP_ROOT).replace(/\\/g ,'/'),
-                ARCHES_CORE_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(ROOT_DIR).replace(/\\/g ,'/'),
+                APP_ROOT_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(APP_ROOT).replace(/\\/g, '/'),
+                ARCHES_CORE_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(ROOT_DIR).replace(/\\/g, '/'),
                 ARCHES_APPLICATIONS: JSON.stringify(ARCHES_APPLICATIONS),
-                SITE_PACKAGES_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(SITE_PACKAGES_DIRECTORY).replace(/\\/g ,'/'),
+                SITE_PACKAGES_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(SITE_PACKAGES_DIRECTORY).replace(/\\/g, '/'),
             };
 
             let linkedApplicationPathCount = 0;
@@ -251,15 +262,15 @@ module.exports = () => {
                 if (!ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication].includes('site-packages')) {
                     universalConstants[`LINKED_APPLICATION_PATH_${linkedApplicationPathCount}`] = JSON.stringify(
                         ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication]
-                    ).replace(/\\/g ,'/');
+                    ).replace(/\\/g, '/');
                     linkedApplicationPathCount += 1;
                 }
             }
 
             // END create universal constants
-            
+
             resolve({
-                entry: { 
+                entry: {
                     ...archesCoreEntryPointConfiguration,
                     ...archesApplicationsEntrypointConfiguration,
                     ...projectEntryPointConfiguration,
@@ -284,9 +295,9 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         __VUE_PROD_HYDRATION_MISMATCH_DETAILS__: 'false'
                     }),
                     new webpack.ProvidePlugin({
-                        $:  Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min'),
-                        jQuery:  Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min'),
-                        jquery:  Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min')
+                        $: Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min'),
+                        jQuery: Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min'),
+                        jquery: Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min')
                     }),
                     new MiniCssExtractPlugin(),
                     new BundleTracker({ filename: Path.resolve(__dirname, `webpack-stats.json`) }),
@@ -298,7 +309,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                     }
                 },
                 resolve: {
-                    modules: [Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules')],
+                    modules: [Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH)],
                     alias: {
                         ...javascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup,
                         ...templateFilepathLookup,
@@ -306,7 +317,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         ...nodeModulesAliases,
                         ...parsedPackageJSONFilepaths,
                         '@': [Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'src'), ...archesApplicationsVuePaths, Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, 'app', 'src')],
-                        'node_modules': Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules')
+                        'node_modules': Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH)
                     },
                 },
                 module: {
@@ -314,8 +325,8 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         {
                             test: /\.tsx?$/,
                             exclude: /node_modules/,
-                            loader: Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'ts-loader'),
-                            options: { 
+                            loader: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'ts-loader'),
+                            options: {
                                 appendTsSuffixTo: [/\.vue$/],
                                 transpileOnly: true
                             }
@@ -323,7 +334,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         {
                             test: /\.vue$/,
                             exclude: /node_modules/,
-                            loader:Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'vue-loader'),
+                            loader: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'vue-loader'),
                         },
                         {
                             test: /\.mjs$/,
@@ -333,10 +344,10 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         {
                             test: /\.js$/,
                             exclude: [/node_modules/, /load-component-dependencies/],
-                            loader: Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'babel-loader'),
+                            loader: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'babel-loader'),
                             options: {
                                 presets: ['@babel/preset-env'],
-                                cacheDirectory: Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', '.cache', 'babel-loader'),
+                                cacheDirectory: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, '.cache', 'babel-loader'),
                             }
                         },
                         {
@@ -349,10 +360,10 @@ module.exports = () => {
                             ],
                             use: [
                                 {
-                                    'loader': Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'style-loader'),
+                                    'loader': Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'style-loader'),
                                 },
                                 {
-                                    'loader': Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'css-loader'),
+                                    'loader': Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'css-loader'),
                                 },
                             ],
                         },
@@ -369,13 +380,13 @@ module.exports = () => {
                                     'loader': MiniCssExtractPlugin.loader,
                                 },
                                 {
-                                    'loader': Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'css-loader'),
+                                    'loader': Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'css-loader'),
                                 },
                                 {
-                                    'loader': Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'postcss-loader'),
+                                    'loader': Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'postcss-loader'),
                                 },
                                 {
-                                    'loader': Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'sass-loader'),
+                                    'loader': Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'sass-loader'),
                                     options: {
                                         sassOptions: {
                                             indentWidth: 4,
@@ -392,7 +403,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         {
                             test: /\.html?$/i,
                             exclude: /node_modules/,
-                            loader: Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'html-loader'),
+                            loader: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'html-loader'),
                             options: {
                                 esModule: false,
                                 minimize: {
@@ -421,21 +432,21 @@ module.exports = () => {
                                     for (let arg of process.argv) {
                                         const keyValuePair = arg.split('=');
                                         const key = keyValuePair[0].toLowerCase();
-                                    
+
                                         if (key === 'test') {
                                             isTestEnvironment = true;
                                         }
                                     }
 
                                     let resp;
-                                    
+
                                     console.log(`Loading "${templatePath}" from Django server...`)
-            
-                                    const renderTemplate = async(failureCount=0) => {
+
+                                    const renderTemplate = async (failureCount = 0) => {
                                         /*
                                             Sometimes Django can choke on the number of requests, this function will 
                                             continue attempting to render the template until successful or 5 failures.
-                                        */ 
+                                        */
                                         if (failureCount < 5) {
                                             try {
                                                 let serverAddress = PUBLIC_SERVER_ADDRESS;
@@ -444,13 +455,13 @@ module.exports = () => {
                                                 }
                                                 resp = await fetch(serverAddress + templatePath);
                                             }
-                                            catch(e) { 
+                                            catch (e) {
                                                 failureCount += 1;
                                                 console.warn(
                                                     '\x1b[33m%s\x1b[0m',  // yellow
                                                     `"${templatePath}" has failed to load. Retrying (${failureCount} / 5)...`
                                                 );
-                                                return await renderTemplate(failureCount=failureCount);
+                                                return await renderTemplate(failureCount = failureCount);
                                             }
                                         }
                                         else {
@@ -459,22 +470,22 @@ module.exports = () => {
                                                 `"${templatePath}" has failed to load! Falling back to un-rendered file.`
                                             );
                                             resp = {
-                                               text: () => (
+                                                text: () => (
                                                     new Promise((resolve, _reject) => {
                                                         /*
                                                             if run in a test environment, failures will return a empty string which will
                                                             still allow the bundle to build.
-                                                        */ 
-                                                        
-                                                        resolve(isTestEnvironment ? '' : content);  
+                                                        */
+
+                                                        resolve(isTestEnvironment ? '' : content);
                                                     })
-                                               )
+                                                )
                                             };
                                         }
                                     };
-            
+
                                     await renderTemplate();
-            
+
                                     const responseText = await resp.text();
                                     return responseText;
                                 }
@@ -483,7 +494,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         {
                             test: /\.(txt|DS_Store)$/i,
                             exclude: /node_modules/,
-                            use: Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'raw-loader'),
+                            use: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'raw-loader'),
                         },
                         {
                             test: /\.(png|svg|jpg|jpeg|gif)$/i,
@@ -495,9 +506,12 @@ module.exports = () => {
             });
         };
 
+        // BEGIN get data from `settings.py`
+        const parentDir = Path.basename(Path.dirname(__dirname));
+
         let projectSettings = spawn(
             'python',
-            [Path.resolve(__dirname, Path.parse(__dirname)['dir'], 'settings.py')]
+            [Path.resolve(Path.dirname(__dirname), parentDir, 'settings.py')]
         );
         projectSettings.stderr.on("data", process.stderr.write);
         projectSettings.stdout.on("data", createWebpackConfig);
@@ -505,11 +519,11 @@ module.exports = () => {
         projectSettings.on('error', () => {
             projectSettings = spawn(
                 'python3',
-                [Path.resolve(__dirname, Path.parse(__dirname)['dir'], 'settings.py')]
+                [Path.resolve(Path.dirname(__dirname), parentDir, 'settings.py')]
             );
             projectSettings.stderr.on("data", process.stderr.write);
             projectSettings.stdout.on("data", createWebpackConfig);
         });
-
+        // END get data from `settings.py`
     });
 };
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js b/arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js
rename to arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js
diff --git a/arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack.config.prod.js b/arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack.config.prod.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/install/arches-templates/project_name/webpack/webpack.config.prod.js
rename to arches/install/arches-templates/webpack/webpack.config.prod.js
diff --git a/arches/management/commands/build_test.py b/arches/management/commands/build_test.py
index db969df0744..0e968b5773a 100644
--- a/arches/management/commands/build_test.py
+++ b/arches/management/commands/build_test.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def handle(self, *args, **options):
 
                 if options["reinstall_node_modules"] == True:
                     subprocess.call(
-                        'rm -rf ./media/node_modules', 
+                        'rm -rf ./node_modules', 
                         shell=True
                     )
                     subprocess.call(
diff --git a/arches/management/commands/updateproject.py b/arches/management/commands/updateproject.py
index 31cdaca57b0..ec3a041427a 100644
--- a/arches/management/commands/updateproject.py
+++ b/arches/management/commands/updateproject.py
@@ -27,21 +27,24 @@ def handle(self, *args, **options):
             self.update_to_v7_5()
             self.update_to_v7_6()
         else:
-            print("Operation aborted.")
+            self.stdout.write("Operation aborted.")
 
     def update_to_v7(self):
         # copy webpack config files to project
-        print("Copying webpack directory to project root directory")
+        self.stdout.write("Copying webpack directory to project root directory")
         project_webpack_path = os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "webpack")
 
         if os.path.exists(project_webpack_path):
             shutil.rmtree(project_webpack_path)
 
-        shutil.copytree(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", "project_name", "webpack"), project_webpack_path)
+        arches_template_webpack_path = os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", "project_name", "webpack")
+
+        if os.path.exists(arches_template_webpack_path):
+            shutil.copytree(arches_template_webpack_path, project_webpack_path)
 
         # ensure project has a `media/img` directory
         if not os.path.isdir(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "media", "img")):
-            print("Creating /media/img directory")
+            self.stdout.write("Creating /media/img directory")
             os.mkdir(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "media", "img"))
 
         #  check if temp_graph_status table exists
@@ -76,27 +79,42 @@ def update_to_v7_5(self):
         # Republish to pick up CardsXNodeXWidget changes from
         # migration 10150_add_default_value_file_list.py
         management.call_command("graph", operation="publish", update=True)
+        self.stdout.write("Publishing finished! \n\n")
 
     def update_to_v7_6(self):
         for dotfile in [".eslintrc.js", ".eslintignore", ".babelrc", ".browserslistrc", ".stylelintrc.json", ".yarnrc"]:
             previous_dotfile_path = os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, dotfile)
             if os.path.exists(previous_dotfile_path):
-                print("Deleting {} from project root directory".format(dotfile))
+                self.stdout.write("Deleting {} from project root directory".format(dotfile))
                 os.remove(previous_dotfile_path)
 
-            print("Copying {} to project directory".format(dotfile))
-            shutil.copy2(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", dotfile), os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, ".."))
+            if dotfile != ".yarnrc":  # `.yarnrc` is removed entirely in this version
+                self.stdout.write("Copying {} to project directory".format(dotfile))
+                shutil.copy2(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", dotfile), os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, ".."))
+
+        if os.path.exists(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "yarn.lock")):
+            self.stdout.write("Deleting yarn.lock from project".format(dotfile))
+            os.remove(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "yarn.lock"))
+
+        if os.path.exists(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "media", "node_modules")):
+            self.stdout.write("Deleting node_modules folder from media directory".format(dotfile))
+            shutil.rmtree(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "media", "node_modules"))
+
+        for project_metadata_file in ["LICENSE", "MANIFEST.in", "pyproject.toml"]:
+            if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, '..', project_metadata_file)):
+                self.stdout.write("Copying {} to project directory".format(project_metadata_file))
+                shutil.copy2(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", project_metadata_file), os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, ".."))
 
         for config_file in ["nodemon.json", "tsconfig.json", ".coveragerc", ".gitignore"]:
-            print("Copying {} to project directory".format(config_file))
+            self.stdout.write("Copying {} to project directory".format(config_file))
             shutil.copy2(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", config_file), os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, ".."))
 
         if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "..", ".github")):
-            print("Copying .github directory to project")
+            self.stdout.write("Copying .github directory to project")
             shutil.copytree(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", ".github"), os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "..", ".github"))
     
         if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "..", "tests")):
-            print("Copying tests directory to project")
+            self.stdout.write("Copying tests directory to project")
             test_directory_path = os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "..", "tests")
 
             shutil.copytree(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", "tests"), test_directory_path)
@@ -110,31 +128,45 @@ def update_to_v7_6(self):
                     )
 
         if not os.path.isfile(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "install", "requirements_dev.txt")):
-            print("Copying requirements_dev.txt to project install directory")
+            self.stdout.write("Copying requirements_dev.txt to project install directory")
             shutil.copy2(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", "project_name", "install", "requirements_dev.txt"), os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, 'install'))
     
         if not os.path.isfile(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "src", "declarations.d.ts")):
-            print("Creating /src/declarations.d.ts")
+            self.stdout.write("Creating /src/declarations.d.ts")
             if not os.path.isdir(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "src")):
                 os.mkdir(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "src"))
 
             shutil.copy2(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", "project_name", "src", "declarations.d.ts"), os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, 'src'))
 
         if not os.path.isfile(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "locale", "messages.pot")):
-            print("Creating /locale/messages.pot")
+            self.stdout.write("Creating /locale/messages.pot")
             if not os.path.isdir(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "locale")):
                 os.mkdir(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "locale"))
 
             open(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "locale", "messages.pot"), 'w').close()
 
         if not os.path.isfile(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "gettext.config.js")):
-            print("Copying gettext config to project directory")
+            self.stdout.write("Copying gettext config to project root directory")
             shutil.copy2(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", "gettext.config.js"), os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, '..'))
 
+        if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, 'webpack')):
+            self.stdout.write("Non-root-level webpack directory detected! Removing...")
+            shutil.rmtree(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, 'webpack'), ignore_errors=True)
+
+        if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, '..', 'webpack')):
+            self.stdout.write("Removing previous webpack directory")
+            shutil.rmtree(os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, '..', 'webpack'), ignore_errors=True)
+
+        self.stdout.write("Creating updated webpack directory at root")
+        shutil.copytree(os.path.join(settings.ROOT_DIR, "install", "arches-templates", "webpack"), os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, '..', 'webpack'))
+
         # updates all instances of `{{ project_name }}` with project name
+        arches_semantic_version = ".".join([str(arches.VERSION[0]), str(arches.VERSION[1]), str(arches.VERSION[2])])
+        arches_next_minor_version = ".".join([str(arches.VERSION[0]), str(arches.VERSION[1] + 1), "0"])
+
         path_to_project = os.path.join(settings.APP_ROOT, "..")
         for relative_file_path in [
-            'gettext.config.js', '.coveragerc', '.gitignore', "tsconfig.json", ".yarnrc", "tests/test_settings.py", "tests/search_indexes/sample_index_tests.py"
+            'gettext.config.js', '.coveragerc', '.gitignore', "tsconfig.json", "tests/test_settings.py", "tests/search_indexes/sample_index_tests.py", "pyproject.toml"
         ]:  # relative to app root directory
             try:
                 file = open(os.path.join(path_to_project, relative_file_path),'r')
@@ -143,6 +175,8 @@ def update_to_v7_6(self):
 
                 updated_file_data = (
                     file_data.replace("{{ project_name }}", settings.APP_NAME)
+                    .replace("{{ arches_semantic_version }}", arches_semantic_version)
+                    .replace("{{ arches_next_minor_version }}", arches_next_minor_version)
                 )
 
                 file = open(os.path.join(path_to_project, relative_file_path),'w')
diff --git a/arches/settings.py b/arches/settings.py
index 904fd998a2c..8ea84840338 100644
--- a/arches/settings.py
+++ b/arches/settings.py
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@
 
 WEBPACK_LOADER = {
     "DEFAULT": {
-        "STATS_FILE": os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, "webpack/webpack-stats.json"),
+        "STATS_FILE": os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, "..", "webpack/webpack-stats.json"),
     },
 }
 
diff --git a/arches/settings_utils.py b/arches/settings_utils.py
index 0d5a1f81da3..e7b686082e7 100644
--- a/arches/settings_utils.py
+++ b/arches/settings_utils.py
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ def build_staticfiles_dirs(root_dir, app_root=None, arches_applications=None, ad
     if app_root:
         directories.append(os.path.join(app_root, "media", "build"))
         directories.append(os.path.join(app_root, "media"))
+        directories.append(
+            ('node_modules', os.path.join(app_root, "..", "node_modules"))
+        )
 
     if arches_applications:
         for arches_application in arches_applications:
@@ -37,6 +40,9 @@ def build_staticfiles_dirs(root_dir, app_root=None, arches_applications=None, ad
 
     directories.append(os.path.join(root_dir, "app", "media", "build"))
     directories.append(os.path.join(root_dir, "app", "media"))
+    directories.append(
+        ('node_modules', os.path.join(root_dir, "..", "node_modules"))
+    )
 
     return tuple(directories)
 
@@ -108,7 +114,7 @@ def transmit_webpack_django_config(
             importlib.import_module(arches_application)  # need to import module to find path
             arches_applications_paths[arches_application] = os.path.split(sys.modules[arches_application].__spec__.origin)[0]
 
-    print(
+    sys.stdout.write(
         json.dumps(
             {
                 "APP_ROOT": os.path.realpath(app_root),
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 7f1c940ecf4..c59de6f4725 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -3,17 +3,17 @@
     "version": "7.6.0",
     "license": "AGPL-3.0-only",
     "scripts": {
-        "build_development": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && ./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./arches/app/media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 ./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/webpack --config ./arches/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js",
-        "build_production": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && ./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./arches/app/media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 NODE_ENV=production ./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/webpack --config ./arches/webpack/webpack.config.prod.js",
-        "build_test": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && ./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./arches/app/media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 ./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/webpack --config ./arches/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js --env test=true",
-        "eslint:check": "./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/eslint ./arches/app/src --resolve-plugins-relative-to ./arches/app/media --ext .vue,.ts --parser ./arches/app/media/node_modules/vue-eslint-parser/index.js",
-        "eslint:fix": "./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/eslint ./arches/app/src --resolve-plugins-relative-to ./arches/app/media --ext .vue,.ts --parser ./arches/app/media/node_modules/vue-eslint-parser/index.js --fix",
-        "eslint:watch": "./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/nodemon --watch ./arches/app/src --ext ts,vue --exec yarn --silent eslint:check",
-        "gettext:extract": "./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/vue-gettext-extract",
-        "gettext:compile": "./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/vue-gettext-compile",
-        "ts:check": "./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/vue-tsc --noEmit",
-        "ts:watch": "./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/vue-tsc --watch --noEmit",
-        "start": "./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./arches/app/media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 ./arches/app/media/node_modules/.bin/webpack serve --config ./arches/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js"
+        "build_development": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 webpack --config ./webpack/webpack.config.dev.js",
+        "build_production": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 NODE_ENV=production webpack --config ./webpack/webpack.config.prod.js",
+        "build_test": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 webpack --config ./webpack/webpack.config.dev.js --env test=true",
+        "eslint:check": "eslint . --ext .vue,.ts",
+        "eslint:watch": "nodemon --watch . --ext ts,vue --exec yarn --silent eslint:check",
+        "eslint:fix": "eslint . --ext .vue,.ts --fix",
+        "gettext:extract": "vue-gettext-extract",
+        "gettext:compile": "vue-gettext-compile",
+        "ts:check": "vue-tsc --noEmit",
+        "ts:watch": "vue-tsc --watch --noEmit",
+        "start": "cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 webpack serve --config ./webpack/webpack.config.dev.js"
     },
     "repository": {
         "url": "git@github.com:archesproject/arches.git",
diff --git a/releases/7.6.0.md b/releases/7.6.0.md
index 06fb7f30906..a10391498a3 100644
--- a/releases/7.6.0.md
+++ b/releases/7.6.0.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ Arches 7.6.0 Release Notes
 - 10453 Reduce queries for related objects when indexing resources
 
 ### Additional improvements and bug fixes
+- 10757 moves `node_modules` and `webpack` directories to root
+- 10558 Combine templates for Arches project and applications and move several dotfiles to root
 - 10490 Fixes an issue where webpack receives multiple build calls when running in a container
 - 10501 Adds Vue i18n
 - 10710 Workflow history API: return 400 (instead of 401) for attempts to update completed workflows
@@ -103,7 +105,6 @@ JavaScript:
 
 ### Upgrading an Arches project
 
-
 1. If you have made customizations to files in your webpack directory, backup that directory as those files will be overwritten in the following steps. Read [this](https://github.com/archesproject/arches/blob/dev/7.6.x/arches/webpack/README.md) for more information.
 
 2. Add GNU gettext to your system:
@@ -121,63 +122,89 @@ JavaScript:
 
     3.  If using Windows:
 
-         You can run the scripts and install gettext under WSL2 like you would with regular Ubuntu (recommended) or install gettext via mingw64 or cygwin. 
-         You may also find precompiled binaries [here](https://mlocati.github.io/articles/gettext-iconv-windows.html)
+        You can run the scripts and install gettext under WSL2 like you would with regular Ubuntu (recommended) or install gettext via mingw64 or cygwin. 
+        You may also find precompiled binaries [here](https://mlocati.github.io/articles/gettext-iconv-windows.html)
 
 3. Update Node.js to v20.12.2 -- the latest LTS version. 
     - See: https://nodejs.org/ (choose the installer appropriate to your operating system)
 
 4. Move `package.json` up a directory level, it should be in the same directory as `manage.py`.
 
-5. Update `package.json` with a license field, and update the value of `scripts`:
+5. Update `package.json`:
+    1. Add a license field
     ```
     {
         ...
         "license": "AGPL-3.0-only",
         "scripts": {
-            "build_development": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && ./media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 ./media/node_modules/.bin/webpack --config webpack/webpack.config.dev.js",
-            "build_production": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && ./media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 NODE_ENV=production ./media/node_modules/.bin/webpack --config webpack/webpack.config.prod.js",
-            "build_test": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && ./media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 ./media/node_modules/.bin/webpack --config webpack/webpack.config.dev.js --env test=true",
-            "eslint:check": "./media/node_modules/.bin/eslint ./src --resolve-plugins-relative-to ./media --ext .vue,.ts --parser ./media/node_modules/vue-eslint-parser/index.js",
-            "eslint:fix": "./media/node_modules/.bin/eslint ./src --resolve-plugins-relative-to ./media --ext .vue,.ts --parser ./media/node_modules/vue-eslint-parser/index.js --fix",
-            "eslint:watch": "./media/node_modules/.bin/nodemon --watch ./src --ext ts,vue --exec yarn --silent eslint:check",
-            "gettext:extract": "./media/node_modules/.bin/vue-gettext-extract",
-            "gettext:compile": "./media/node_modules/.bin/vue-gettext-compile",
-            "ts:check": "./media/node_modules/.bin/vue-tsc --noEmit",
-            "ts:watch": "./media/node_modules/.bin/vue-tsc --watch --noEmit",
-            "start": "./media/node_modules/.bin/cross-env NODE_PATH=./media/node_modules NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 ./media/node_modules/.bin/webpack serve --config webpack/webpack.config.dev.js"
+            ...
+    ```
+    2. Update the value of `scripts`:
+    ```
+        ...
+        "scripts": {
+            "build_development": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 webpack --config ./webpack/webpack.config.dev.js",
+            "build_production": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 NODE_ENV=production webpack --config ./webpack/webpack.config.prod.js",
+            "build_test": "yarn eslint:check && yarn ts:check && cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 webpack --config ./webpack/webpack.config.dev.js --env test=true",
+            "eslint:check": "eslint . --ext .vue,.ts",
+            "eslint:watch": "nodemon --watch . --ext ts,vue --exec yarn --silent eslint:check",
+            "eslint:fix": "eslint . --ext .vue,.ts --fix",
+            "gettext:extract": "vue-gettext-extract",
+            "gettext:compile": "vue-gettext-compile",
+            "ts:check": "vue-tsc --noEmit",
+            "ts:watch": "vue-tsc --watch --noEmit",
+            "start": "cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048 webpack serve --config ./webpack/webpack.config.dev.js"
         },
         ...
     }
     ```
+    3. Update the dependency references `stable/7.5.0` to `stable/7.6.0`:
+    ```    
+    {
+        "dependencies": {
+            "arches": "archesproject/arches#stable/7.6.0",
+        },
+        "devDependencies": {
+            "arches-dev-dependencies": "archesproject/arches-dev-dependencies#stable/7.6.0"
+        }
+    }
+    ```
 
-6. In settings.py, remove `"compressor"` from `INSTALLED_APPS`.
+6. If your project has any CSS files with import statements, update the pattern. For example:
+    ```
+    @import '../node_modules/my-frontend-dependency/style.min.css';
+    ```
+    would be changed to:
+    ```
+    @import url(node_modules/my-frontend-dependency/style.min.css);
+    ```
 
-7. Update your project's JavaScript dependencies:
+7. Update `.gitignore`:
+    1. Change `${project_name}/media/node_modules` to `node_modules`
+    2. Change `${project_name}/webpack/webpack-stats.json` to `webpack/webpack-stats.json`
+    3. If it exists, remove `${project_name}/webpack/webpack-user-config.js`
 
-    1.  In the project's `package.json` file from `stable/7.5.0` to `stable/7.6.0`:
-        ```    
-        {
-            "dependencies": {
-                "arches": "archesproject/arches#stable/7.6.0",
+8. In settings.py:
+    1. Remove `"compressor"` from `INSTALLED_APPS`
+    2. Update `WEBPACK_LOADER` to the following:
+        ```
+        WEBPACK_LOADER = {
+            "DEFAULT": {
+                "STATS_FILE": os.path.join(APP_ROOT, '..', 'webpack/webpack-stats.json'),
             },
-            "devDependencies": {
-                "arches-dev-dependencies": "archesproject/arches-dev-dependencies#stable/7.6.0"
-            }
         }
         ```
 
-    2. Remove your `media/node_modules` directory and `yarn.lock` file
-
-    3. In your terminal navigate to the directory with your project's package.json file. Then run:
+9. Run `python manage.py updateproject`
 
-        yarn install
+10. Navigate to the directory with your project's package.json file. Then run:
+    ```
+    yarn install
+    ```
 
-8. Run `python manage.py updateproject`
-        
-9. Start your application server in a separate terminal if it's not already running.
+11. Start your application server in a separate terminal if it's not already running.
 
-10.  In the same terminal window where you ran `yarn` ( on the same level as `package.json` ):
+12.  In the same terminal window where you ran `yarn` ( on the same level as `package.json` ):
 
     1.  Run `yarn gettext:extract` followed by `yarn gettext:compile`. This will generate i18n files in your `locale` directory. Even if you're
         not planning on internationalizing your project, it's important to have these files for creating Vue components.
@@ -188,21 +215,21 @@ JavaScript:
         - `yarn build_development` will build a development bundle for the frontend assests of the application -- this should complete in less than 2 minutes
         - If running your project in production:
         - `yarn build_production` This builds a production bundle. **takes up to 2hrs depending on resources**
-        - Alternatively you can `cd ..` up a directory and run `python manage.py build_production`. This will create a production bundle of frontend assessts and also call `collectstatic`.
+        - Alternatively you can run `python manage.py build_production`. This will create a production bundle of frontend assessts and also call `collectstatic`.
 
-10. Test your project with deprecation warnings enabled.
+13. Test your project with deprecation warnings enabled.
 
     ```
     python -Wall::DeprecationWarning manage.py test --settings=tests.test_settings
     ```
 
-11. Run system checks against your production settings.
+14. Run system checks against your production settings.
 
     ```
     python manage.py check --deploy --settings=path.to.production.settings
     ```
 
-12. If you are running Arches on Apache, be sure to run:
+15. If you are running Arches on Apache, be sure to run:
 
     ```
     collectstatic
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/testing_prj/testing_prj/.yarnrc b/tests/fixtures/testing_prj/testing_prj/.yarnrc
deleted file mode 100644
index e6e97a107e3..00000000000
--- a/tests/fixtures/testing_prj/testing_prj/.yarnrc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
---install.modules-folder "./media/node_modules"
---add.modules-folder "./media/node_modules"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/arches/webpack/README.md b/webpack/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/webpack/README.md
rename to webpack/README.md
diff --git a/arches/webpack/webpack-utils/build-css-filepath-lookup.js b/webpack/webpack-utils/build-css-filepath-lookup.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/webpack/webpack-utils/build-css-filepath-lookup.js
rename to webpack/webpack-utils/build-css-filepath-lookup.js
diff --git a/arches/webpack/webpack-utils/build-image-filepath-lookup.js b/webpack/webpack-utils/build-image-filepath-lookup.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/webpack/webpack-utils/build-image-filepath-lookup.js
rename to webpack/webpack-utils/build-image-filepath-lookup.js
diff --git a/arches/webpack/webpack-utils/build-javascript-filepath-lookup.js b/webpack/webpack-utils/build-javascript-filepath-lookup.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/webpack/webpack-utils/build-javascript-filepath-lookup.js
rename to webpack/webpack-utils/build-javascript-filepath-lookup.js
diff --git a/arches/webpack/webpack-utils/build-template-filepath-lookup.js b/webpack/webpack-utils/build-template-filepath-lookup.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/webpack/webpack-utils/build-template-filepath-lookup.js
rename to webpack/webpack-utils/build-template-filepath-lookup.js
diff --git a/arches/webpack/webpack.common.js b/webpack/webpack.common.js
similarity index 85%
rename from arches/webpack/webpack.common.js
rename to webpack/webpack.common.js
index 02853696fc4..a8797a3e562 100644
--- a/arches/webpack/webpack.common.js
+++ b/webpack/webpack.common.js
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ const { buildCSSFilepathLookup } = require('./webpack-utils/build-css-filepath-l
 
 module.exports = () => {
     return new Promise((resolve, _reject) => {
-        const createWebpackConfig = function(data) {  // reads from application's settings.py
+        const createWebpackConfig = function (data) {  // reads from application's settings.py
             if (!data) {
                 console.error(
                     '\x1b[31m%s\x1b[0m',  // red
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
 
             const parsedData = JSON.parse(data);
             console.log('Data imported from settings.py:', parsedData)
-            
+
             const APP_ROOT = parsedData['APP_ROOT'];
             const ARCHES_APPLICATIONS = parsedData['ARCHES_APPLICATIONS'];
             const ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS = parsedData['ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS'];
@@ -41,12 +41,23 @@ module.exports = () => {
             const PUBLIC_SERVER_ADDRESS = parsedData['PUBLIC_SERVER_ADDRESS']
             const WEBPACK_DEVELOPMENT_SERVER_PORT = parsedData['WEBPACK_DEVELOPMENT_SERVER_PORT']
 
+            // BEGIN workaround for handling node_modules paths in arches-core vs projects
+
+            let PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH;
+            if (APP_ROOT.includes(ROOT_DIR)) {  // should only return truthy for running Arches-core without a project
+                PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH = Path.resolve(APP_ROOT, '..', '..', 'node_modules');
+            }
+            else {
+                PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH = Path.resolve(APP_ROOT, '..', 'node_modules');
+            }
+
+            // END workaround for handling node_modules paths in arches-core vs projects
             // BEGIN create entry point configurations
-        
+
             const archesCoreEntryPointConfiguration = buildJavascriptFilepathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, 'app', 'media', 'js'), {});
             const projectEntryPointConfiguration = buildJavascriptFilepathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'js'), {});
 
-            const archesApplicationsEntrypointConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {   
+            const archesApplicationsEntrypointConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {
                 return {
                     ...acc,
                     ...buildJavascriptFilepathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], 'media', 'js'), {})
@@ -70,7 +81,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             }, {});
 
             // order is important! Arches core files are overwritten by arches-application files, arches-application files are overwritten by project files
-            const javascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup = { 
+            const javascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup = {
                 ...archesCoreJavascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup,
                 ...archesApplicationsJavascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup,
                 ...projectJavascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup,
@@ -80,9 +91,9 @@ module.exports = () => {
             // BEGIN create node modules aliases
             const parsedPackageJSONFilepaths = {};
 
-            let archesCorePackageJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, '../package.json')
+            let archesCorePackageJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, '..', 'package.json');
             if (!fs.existsSync(archesCorePackageJSONFilepath)) {
-                archesCorePackageJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'arches', 'package.json')
+                archesCorePackageJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'arches', 'package.json');
             }
 
             const archesCorePackageJSON = require(archesCorePackageJSONFilepath);
@@ -93,7 +104,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                     acc[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, 'app', 'media', subPath);
                 }
                 else {
-                    acc[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', subPath);
+                    acc[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, '..', subPath);
                 }
                 return acc;
             }, {});
@@ -101,7 +112,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             let parsedProjectNodeModulesAliases = {};
             let projectPackageJSON;
 
-            const projectJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'package.json');
+            const projectJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'package.json');
             if (fs.existsSync(projectJSONFilepath)) {  // handles running Arches without a project
                 projectPackageJSON = require(projectJSONFilepath);
                 parsedPackageJSONFilepaths[Path.join(projectPackageJSON.name, 'package.json').replace(/\\/g, '/')] = projectJSONFilepath;
@@ -114,7 +125,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         )
                     }
                     else {
-                        acc[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', subPath);
+                        acc[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, '..', subPath);
                     }
                     return acc;
                 }, {});
@@ -125,14 +136,14 @@ module.exports = () => {
                 try {
                     let archesApplicationJSONFilepath;
 
-                    if (!ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication].includes('site-packages')) {  
+                    if (!ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication].includes('site-packages')) {
                         // if the path doesn't include site-packages then we can assume it's linked via egg/wheel
                         archesApplicationJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], '..', 'package.json');
                     }
                     else {
-                        archesApplicationJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', archesApplication, 'package.json')
+                        archesApplicationJSONFilepath = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, archesApplication, 'package.json');
                     }
-                    
+
                     const archesApplicationPackageJSON = require(archesApplicationJSONFilepath);
                     parsedPackageJSONFilepaths[Path.join(archesApplicationPackageJSON.name, 'package.json').replace(/\\/g, '/')] = archesApplicationJSONFilepath;
 
@@ -148,7 +159,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                             )
                         }
                         else {
-                            parsedArchesApplicationsNodeModulesAliases[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', subPath);
+                            parsedArchesApplicationsNodeModulesAliases[alias] = Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, '..', subPath);
                         }
                     }
                 } catch (error) {
@@ -165,11 +176,11 @@ module.exports = () => {
 
             // END create node modules aliases
             // BEGIN create template filepath lookup
-            
+
             const coreArchesTemplatePathConfiguration = buildTemplateFilePathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, 'app', 'templates'), {});
             const projectTemplatePathConfiguration = buildTemplateFilePathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'templates'), {});
 
-            const archesApplicationsTemplatePathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {   
+            const archesApplicationsTemplatePathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {
                 return {
                     ...acc,
                     ...buildTemplateFilePathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], 'templates'), {})
@@ -177,7 +188,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             }, {});
 
             // order is important! Arches core files are overwritten by arches-application files, arches-application files are overwritten by project files
-            const templateFilepathLookup = { 
+            const templateFilepathLookup = {
                 ...coreArchesTemplatePathConfiguration,
                 ...archesApplicationsTemplatePathConfiguration,
                 ...projectTemplatePathConfiguration,
@@ -189,7 +200,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             const coreArchesImagePathConfiguration = buildImageFilePathLookup(STATIC_URL, Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, 'app', 'media', 'img'), {});
             const projectImagePathConfiguration = buildImageFilePathLookup(STATIC_URL, Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'img'), {});
 
-            const archesApplicationsImagePathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {   
+            const archesApplicationsImagePathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {
                 return {
                     ...acc,
                     ...buildImageFilePathLookup(STATIC_URL, Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], 'media', 'img'), {})
@@ -197,7 +208,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             }, {});
 
             // order is important! Arches core files are overwritten by arches-application files, arches-application files are overwritten by project files
-            const imageFilepathLookup = { 
+            const imageFilepathLookup = {
                 ...coreArchesImagePathConfiguration,
                 ...archesApplicationsImagePathConfiguration,
                 ...projectImagePathConfiguration,
@@ -210,7 +221,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
             const projectCSSFilepathConfiguration = buildCSSFilepathLookup(Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'css'), {});
 
             const archesApplicationsCSSFilepaths = [];
-            const archesApplicationsCSSFilepathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => { 
+            const archesApplicationsCSSFilepathConfiguration = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {
                 const path = Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], 'media', 'css');
                 archesApplicationsCSSFilepaths.push(path);
 
@@ -229,10 +240,10 @@ module.exports = () => {
             // END create CSS filepath lookup
             // BEGIN create vue filepath lookup
 
-            const archesApplicationsVuePaths = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => { 
+            const archesApplicationsVuePaths = ARCHES_APPLICATIONS.reduce((acc, archesApplication) => {
                 const path = Path.resolve(__dirname, ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication], 'src');
                 acc.push(path);
-                
+
                 return acc;
             }, []);
 
@@ -240,10 +251,10 @@ module.exports = () => {
             // BEGIN create universal constants
 
             const universalConstants = {
-                APP_ROOT_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(APP_ROOT).replace(/\\/g ,'/'),
-                ARCHES_CORE_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(ROOT_DIR).replace(/\\/g ,'/'),
+                APP_ROOT_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(APP_ROOT).replace(/\\/g, '/'),
+                ARCHES_CORE_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(ROOT_DIR).replace(/\\/g, '/'),
                 ARCHES_APPLICATIONS: JSON.stringify(ARCHES_APPLICATIONS),
-                SITE_PACKAGES_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(SITE_PACKAGES_DIRECTORY).replace(/\\/g ,'/'),
+                SITE_PACKAGES_DIRECTORY: JSON.stringify(SITE_PACKAGES_DIRECTORY).replace(/\\/g, '/'),
             };
 
             let linkedApplicationPathCount = 0;
@@ -251,15 +262,15 @@ module.exports = () => {
                 if (!ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication].includes('site-packages')) {
                     universalConstants[`LINKED_APPLICATION_PATH_${linkedApplicationPathCount}`] = JSON.stringify(
                         ARCHES_APPLICATIONS_PATHS[archesApplication]
-                    ).replace(/\\/g ,'/');
+                    ).replace(/\\/g, '/');
                     linkedApplicationPathCount += 1;
                 }
             }
 
             // END create universal constants
-            
+
             resolve({
-                entry: { 
+                entry: {
                     ...archesCoreEntryPointConfiguration,
                     ...archesApplicationsEntrypointConfiguration,
                     ...projectEntryPointConfiguration,
@@ -284,9 +295,9 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         __VUE_PROD_HYDRATION_MISMATCH_DETAILS__: 'false'
                     }),
                     new webpack.ProvidePlugin({
-                        $:  Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min'),
-                        jQuery:  Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min'),
-                        jquery:  Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min')
+                        $: Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min'),
+                        jQuery: Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min'),
+                        jquery: Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'jquery', 'dist', 'jquery.min')
                     }),
                     new MiniCssExtractPlugin(),
                     new BundleTracker({ filename: Path.resolve(__dirname, `webpack-stats.json`) }),
@@ -298,7 +309,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                     }
                 },
                 resolve: {
-                    modules: [Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules')],
+                    modules: [Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH)],
                     alias: {
                         ...javascriptRelativeFilepathToAbsoluteFilepathLookup,
                         ...templateFilepathLookup,
@@ -306,7 +317,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         ...nodeModulesAliases,
                         ...parsedPackageJSONFilepaths,
                         '@': [Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'src'), ...archesApplicationsVuePaths, Path.resolve(__dirname, ROOT_DIR, 'app', 'src')],
-                        'node_modules': Path.resolve(__dirname, APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules')
+                        'node_modules': Path.resolve(__dirname, PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH)
                     },
                 },
                 module: {
@@ -314,8 +325,8 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         {
                             test: /\.tsx?$/,
                             exclude: /node_modules/,
-                            loader: Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'ts-loader'),
-                            options: { 
+                            loader: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'ts-loader'),
+                            options: {
                                 appendTsSuffixTo: [/\.vue$/],
                                 transpileOnly: true
                             }
@@ -323,7 +334,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         {
                             test: /\.vue$/,
                             exclude: /node_modules/,
-                            loader:Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'vue-loader'),
+                            loader: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'vue-loader'),
                         },
                         {
                             test: /\.mjs$/,
@@ -333,10 +344,10 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         {
                             test: /\.js$/,
                             exclude: [/node_modules/, /load-component-dependencies/],
-                            loader: Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'babel-loader'),
+                            loader: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'babel-loader'),
                             options: {
                                 presets: ['@babel/preset-env'],
-                                cacheDirectory: Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', '.cache', 'babel-loader'),
+                                cacheDirectory: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, '.cache', 'babel-loader'),
                             }
                         },
                         {
@@ -349,10 +360,10 @@ module.exports = () => {
                             ],
                             use: [
                                 {
-                                    'loader': Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'style-loader'),
+                                    'loader': Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'style-loader'),
                                 },
                                 {
-                                    'loader': Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'css-loader'),
+                                    'loader': Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'css-loader'),
                                 },
                             ],
                         },
@@ -369,13 +380,13 @@ module.exports = () => {
                                     'loader': MiniCssExtractPlugin.loader,
                                 },
                                 {
-                                    'loader': Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'css-loader'),
+                                    'loader': Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'css-loader'),
                                 },
                                 {
-                                    'loader': Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'postcss-loader'),
+                                    'loader': Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'postcss-loader'),
                                 },
                                 {
-                                    'loader': Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'sass-loader'),
+                                    'loader': Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'sass-loader'),
                                     options: {
                                         sassOptions: {
                                             indentWidth: 4,
@@ -392,7 +403,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         {
                             test: /\.html?$/i,
                             exclude: /node_modules/,
-                            loader: Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'html-loader'),
+                            loader: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'html-loader'),
                             options: {
                                 esModule: false,
                                 minimize: {
@@ -421,21 +432,21 @@ module.exports = () => {
                                     for (let arg of process.argv) {
                                         const keyValuePair = arg.split('=');
                                         const key = keyValuePair[0].toLowerCase();
-                                    
+
                                         if (key === 'test') {
                                             isTestEnvironment = true;
                                         }
                                     }
 
                                     let resp;
-                                    
+
                                     console.log(`Loading "${templatePath}" from Django server...`)
-            
-                                    const renderTemplate = async(failureCount=0) => {
+
+                                    const renderTemplate = async (failureCount = 0) => {
                                         /*
                                             Sometimes Django can choke on the number of requests, this function will 
                                             continue attempting to render the template until successful or 5 failures.
-                                        */ 
+                                        */
                                         if (failureCount < 5) {
                                             try {
                                                 let serverAddress = PUBLIC_SERVER_ADDRESS;
@@ -444,13 +455,13 @@ module.exports = () => {
                                                 }
                                                 resp = await fetch(serverAddress + templatePath);
                                             }
-                                            catch(e) { 
+                                            catch (e) {
                                                 failureCount += 1;
                                                 console.warn(
                                                     '\x1b[33m%s\x1b[0m',  // yellow
                                                     `"${templatePath}" has failed to load. Retrying (${failureCount} / 5)...`
                                                 );
-                                                return await renderTemplate(failureCount=failureCount);
+                                                return await renderTemplate(failureCount = failureCount);
                                             }
                                         }
                                         else {
@@ -459,22 +470,22 @@ module.exports = () => {
                                                 `"${templatePath}" has failed to load! Falling back to un-rendered file.`
                                             );
                                             resp = {
-                                               text: () => (
+                                                text: () => (
                                                     new Promise((resolve, _reject) => {
                                                         /*
                                                             if run in a test environment, failures will return a empty string which will
                                                             still allow the bundle to build.
-                                                        */ 
-                                                        
-                                                        resolve(isTestEnvironment ? '' : content);  
+                                                        */
+
+                                                        resolve(isTestEnvironment ? '' : content);
                                                     })
-                                               )
+                                                )
                                             };
                                         }
                                     };
-            
+
                                     await renderTemplate();
-            
+
                                     const responseText = await resp.text();
                                     return responseText;
                                 }
@@ -483,7 +494,7 @@ module.exports = () => {
                         {
                             test: /\.(txt|DS_Store)$/i,
                             exclude: /node_modules/,
-                            use: Path.join(APP_ROOT, 'media', 'node_modules', 'raw-loader'),
+                            use: Path.join(PROJECT_RELATIVE_NODE_MODULES_PATH, 'raw-loader'),
                         },
                         {
                             test: /\.(png|svg|jpg|jpeg|gif)$/i,
@@ -495,9 +506,12 @@ module.exports = () => {
             });
         };
 
+        // BEGIN get data from `settings.py`
+        const parentDir = Path.basename(Path.dirname(__dirname));
+
         let projectSettings = spawn(
             'python',
-            [Path.resolve(__dirname, Path.parse(__dirname)['dir'], 'settings.py')]
+            [Path.resolve(Path.dirname(__dirname), parentDir, 'settings.py')]
         );
         projectSettings.stderr.on("data", process.stderr.write);
         projectSettings.stdout.on("data", createWebpackConfig);
@@ -505,11 +519,11 @@ module.exports = () => {
         projectSettings.on('error', () => {
             projectSettings = spawn(
                 'python3',
-                [Path.resolve(__dirname, Path.parse(__dirname)['dir'], 'settings.py')]
+                [Path.resolve(Path.dirname(__dirname), parentDir, 'settings.py')]
             );
             projectSettings.stderr.on("data", process.stderr.write);
             projectSettings.stdout.on("data", createWebpackConfig);
         });
-
+        // END get data from `settings.py`
     });
 };
diff --git a/arches/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js b/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/webpack/webpack.config.dev.js
rename to webpack/webpack.config.dev.js
diff --git a/arches/webpack/webpack.config.prod.js b/webpack/webpack.config.prod.js
similarity index 100%
rename from arches/webpack/webpack.config.prod.js
rename to webpack/webpack.config.prod.js