diff --git a/bin/generate_rest.sh b/bin/generate_rest.sh
index 6f7690d2..4c0b3aaf 100755
--- a/bin/generate_rest.sh
+++ b/bin/generate_rest.sh
@@ -2,22 +2,22 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
-command -v swagger >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
+command -v swagger &>/dev/null || {
   echo >&2 "command 'swagger' not installed. see: https://github.com/go-swagger/go-swagger for installation"
   exit 1
 }
 
-command -v swagger-codegen 2>&1 || {
+command -v swagger-codegen &>/dev/null || {
   echo >&2 "command 'swagger-codegen' not installed. see: https://github.com/swagger-api/swagger-codegen for installation"
   exit 1
 }
 
-command -v openapi-generator-cli 2>&1 || {
+command -v openapi-generator-cli &>/dev/null || {
   echo >&2 "command 'openapi-generator-cli' not installed. see: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@openapitools/openapi-generator-cli for installation"
   exit 1
 }
 
-command -v realpath 2>&1 || {
+command -v realpath &>/dev/null || {
   echo >&2 "command 'realpath' not installed. see: https://www.npmjs.com/package/realpath for installation"
   exit 1
 }
@@ -26,22 +26,17 @@ scriptPath=$(realpath "$0")
 scriptDir=$(dirname "$scriptPath")
 
 zrokDir=$(realpath "$scriptDir/..")
-
 zrokSpec=$(realpath "$zrokDir/specs/zrok.yml")
 
+# anti-oops in case user runs this script from somewhere else
+if [[ "$(realpath "$zrokDir")" != "$(realpath "$(pwd)")" ]]
+then
+  echo "ERROR: must be run from zrok root" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 echo "...clean generate zrok server/client"
-for genDir in \
-  ./rest_client_zrok/ \
-  ./rest_model_zrok/ \
-  ./rest_server_zrok/
-do
-  if [[ -d $genDir ]]
-  then
-    rm -rf "$genDir"
-  else
-    echo "WARN: not deleting $genDir because it does not exist" >&2
-  fi
-done
+rm -rf ./rest_*
 
 echo "...generating zrok server"
 swagger generate server -P rest_model_zrok.Principal -f "$zrokSpec" -s rest_server_zrok -t "$zrokDir" -m "rest_model_zrok" --exclude-main
@@ -62,17 +57,8 @@ rm -rf sdk/nodejs/sdk/src/api
 openapi-generator-cli generate -i "$zrokSpec" -o sdk/nodejs/sdk/src/api -g typescript-fetch
 
 echo "...generating python sdk client"
-pyMod="sdk/python/src"
-while IFS= read -r genFile
-do
-  if [[ -e "$pyMod/$genFile" ]]
-  then
-    rm -f "$pyMod/$genFile"
-  fi
-done < "$pyMod/.openapi-generator/FILES"
-# Delete the tracking file
-rm -f "$pyMod/.openapi-generator/FILES"
-# Generate and track new files
+pyMod="./sdk/python/src"
+rm -rf "$pyMod"/{zrok_api,docs,test,.gitignore,README.md,requirements.txt}
 openapi-generator-cli generate -i "$zrokSpec" -o "$pyMod" -g python \
   --package-name zrok_api --additional-properties projectName=zrok
 
diff --git a/sdk/python/examples/pastebin/requirements.txt b/sdk/python/examples/pastebin/requirements.txt
index 94597b74..3c94d273 100644
--- a/sdk/python/examples/pastebin/requirements.txt
+++ b/sdk/python/examples/pastebin/requirements.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 zrok
-requests
\ No newline at end of file
+requests