diff --git a/src/App.svelte b/src/App.svelte
index cbca769..7624fac 100644
--- a/src/App.svelte
+++ b/src/App.svelte
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <script lang="ts">
 	import './app.css';
 	import { browser } from '$app/environment';
+	import { onMount } from 'svelte';
 
 	// conditional import for SSR
 	if (browser) import('@samply/lens');
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@
 	}> = fetchData(catalogueUrl, optionsFilePath);
 
 	let dataPasser: LensDataPasser;
+	let controller: AbortController = new AbortController();
 
 	if (browser) {
 		window.addEventListener('emit-lens-query', (e) => {
@@ -42,6 +44,19 @@
 			requestBackend(ast, updateResponse, abortController, measures, criteria);
 		});
 	}
+
+	onMount(async () => {
+		// Ensure dataPasser is initialized before using it's api
+		await import('@samply/lens');
+		const initialQuery = new CustomEvent('emit-lens-query', {
+			detail: {
+				ast: dataPasser.getAstAPI(),
+				updateResponse: dataPasser.getResponseAPI(),
+				abortController: controller
+			}
+		});
+		window.dispatchEvent(initialQuery);
+	});
 </script>
 
 <header class="header">
diff --git a/vite.config.ts b/vite.config.ts
index 33774cf..b210454 100644
--- a/vite.config.ts
+++ b/vite.config.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
 		include: ['src/**/*.{test,spec}.{js,ts}']
 	},
 	optimizeDeps: {
-		include: ['@samply/lens'], // Make sure the package is correctly included
+		exclude: ['@samply/lens'], // Ensure local linking works
 	},
 	ssr: {
 		noExternal: ['@samply/lens'], // Mark package as noExternal if SSR issues