diff --git a/PR.json b/PR.json
deleted file mode 100644
index e473a34b83..0000000000
--- a/PR.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-{
-    "name": null,
-    "frequency_range": [
-        -1e+16,
-        1e+16
-    ],
-    "eps_inf": 1.0,
-    "poles": [
-        [
-            [
-                1.0,
-                1.0
-            ],
-            [
-                0.0,
-                2.2
-            ]
-        ]
-    ],
-    "type": "PoleResidue"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Untitled.ipynb b/Untitled.ipynb
deleted file mode 100644
index e203c71cf8..0000000000
--- a/Untitled.ipynb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
-{
- "cells": [
-  {
-   "cell_type": "code",
-   "execution_count": 2,
-   "id": "cd7b162c-38b8-493f-87eb-91e6c263f0fe",
-   "metadata": {},
-   "outputs": [],
-   "source": [
-    "import sys; sys.path.append('.')\n",
-    "import tidy3d as td\n",
-    "from tidy3d.components.base import Tidy3dBaseModel"
-   ]
-  },
-  {
-   "cell_type": "code",
-   "execution_count": null,
-   "id": "443f96c7-ae3a-4f6a-8963-e8e76abf7a76",
-   "metadata": {},
-   "outputs": [],
-   "source": [
-    "class Inf(Tidy3dBaseModel):\n",
-    "\n",
-    "    self.sign : bool = True\n",
-    "    self.shift : \n",
-    "    def __neg__(self):\n",
-    "        if self.is_positive:\n",
-    "            self.is_positive = False\n",
-    "        else:\n",
-    "            self.is_positive = True\n",
-    "        return self\n",
-    "\n",
-    "    def __lt__(self, other):\n",
-    "        return "
-   ]
-  }
- ],
- "metadata": {
-  "kernelspec": {
-   "display_name": "Python 3 (ipykernel)",
-   "language": "python",
-   "name": "python3"
-  },
-  "language_info": {
-   "codemirror_mode": {
-    "name": "ipython",
-    "version": 3
-   },
-   "file_extension": ".py",
-   "mimetype": "text/x-python",
-   "name": "python",
-   "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
-   "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
-   "version": "3.9.7"
-  }
- },
- "nbformat": 4,
- "nbformat_minor": 5
-}
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 91fd4edbf3..3850dda8be 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -5,16 +5,13 @@ h5py
 rich
 nlopt
 matplotlib
-
-# required to get xarray to not complain
-dask
-
-# required for running tidy3d, may try to remove later
+shapely
+descartes
 pydantic
 PyYAML
 
-# may add later
-shapely
+# required to get xarray to not complain
+dask
 
 # required for code quality checking
 black
@@ -31,4 +28,7 @@ nbsphinx
 ipython
 autodoc_pydantic
 sphinx-copybutton
-m2r2
\ No newline at end of file
+m2r2
+
+# required for web
+boto3
diff --git a/tidy3d/components/geometry.py b/tidy3d/components/geometry.py
index 55d5ae01c1..9e3936349e 100644
--- a/tidy3d/components/geometry.py
+++ b/tidy3d/components/geometry.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 from .types import Literal, Bound, Size, Coordinate, Axis, Coordinate2D
 from .types import Vertices, Ax, Shapely
 from .viz import add_ax_if_none
+from ..log import Tidy3dKeyError
 
 # add this around extents of plots
 PLOT_BUFFER = 0.3
@@ -801,6 +802,70 @@ def set_center(cls, val, values):
         values["center"] = cls.unpop_axis(z0, (x0, y0), axis=values.get("axis"))
         return val
 
+    @classmethod
+    def from_gdspy(  # pylint:disable=too-many-arguments
+        cls,
+        gds_cell,
+        axis: Axis,
+        slab_bounds: Tuple[float, float],
+        gds_layer: int,
+        gds_dtype: int,
+        polygon_index: pydantic.NonNegativeInt = 1,
+        gds_scale: pydantic.PositiveFloat = 1.0,
+    ):
+        """Import :class:`PolySlab` from a ``gdspy.Cell``.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        gds_cell : gdspy.Cell
+            ``gdspy.Cell`` containing 2D geometric data.
+        axis : int
+            Integer index into the polygon's slab axis. (0,1,2) -> (x,y,z).
+        slab_bounds: Tuple[float, float]
+            Minimum and maximum positions of the slab along ``axis``.
+        gds_layer : int
+            Layer index in the ``gds_cell``.
+        gds_dtype : int
+            Data type index in the ``gds_cell``.
+        polygon_index : int = 0
+            Index into the list of polygons at given ``gds_layer`` and ``gds_dtype``.
+            Must be non-negative.
+        gds_scale : float = 1.0
+            Length scale used in GDS file in units of micron.
+            For example, if gds file uses nanometers, set ``gds_scale=1e-3``.
+            Must be positive.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        :class:`PolySlab`
+            Geometry with slab along ``axis`` and geometry defined by gds cell in plane.
+        """
+
+        vert_dict = gds_cell.get_polygons(by_spec=True)
+        try:
+            key = (gds_layer, gds_dtype)
+            list_of_vertices = vert_dict[key]
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise Tidy3dKeyError(
+                f"Can't load gds_cell, gds_layer={gds_layer} and gds_dtype={gds_dtype} not found.  "
+                f"Found (layer, dtype) list of {list(vert_dict.keys())} in cell."
+            ) from e
+
+        # select polygon index
+        try:
+            vertices = list_of_vertices[polygon_index]
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise Tidy3dKeyError(
+                f"no polygon vertices found at index {polygon_index}.  "
+                f"{len(list_of_vertices)} polygons returned at "
+                f"gds_layer={gds_layer} and gds_dtype={gds_dtype}."
+            ) from e
+
+        vertices *= gds_scale
+        vertices = vertices.tolist()
+
+        return cls(vertices=vertices, axis=axis, slab_bounds=slab_bounds)
+
     def inside(self, x, y, z) -> bool:  # pylint:disable=too-many-locals
         """Returns True if point ``(x,y,z)`` inside volume of geometry.