diff --git a/gulpfile.js b/gulpfile.js
index a508bae6d..dd8bea7a1 100644
--- a/gulpfile.js
+++ b/gulpfile.js
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ const globalSrc = [
   "./src/js/settings.js",
   "./src/js/account.js",
   "./src/js/script.js",
+  "./src/js/exports.js",
 ];
 
 //concatenates and lints legacy js files and writes the output to dist/gen/index.js
diff --git a/src/js/exports.js b/src/js/exports.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..42848d576
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/js/exports.js
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+//this file should be concatenated with the legacy js files
+
+//these exports are just for debugging in the browser
+global.snapshot = db_getSnapshot;
diff --git a/src/js/global-dependencies.js b/src/js/global-dependencies.js
index 010ef6dda..0d8fb3a1a 100644
--- a/src/js/global-dependencies.js
+++ b/src/js/global-dependencies.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//this file should be concatenated at the top of the legacy js files
+
 import {
   db_getSnapshot,
   db_setSnapshot,