# Building without a DB connection

Source: https://payloadcms.com/docs/production/building-without-a-db-connection

One of the most common problems when building a site for production, especially with Docker - is the DB connection requirement.

The important note is that Payload by itself does not have this requirement, But [Next.js' SSG ](https://nextjs.org/docs/pages/building-your-application/rendering/static-site-generation) does if any of your route segments have SSG enabled (which is default, unless you opted out or used a [Dynamic API](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/deep-dive/caching#dynamic-apis)) and use the Payload Local API.

Solutions:

## Using the experimental-build-mode Next.js build flag

You can run Next.js build using the `pnpm next build --experimental-build-mode compile` command to only compile the code without static generation, which does not require a DB connection. In that case, your pages will be rendered dynamically, but after that, you can still generate static pages using the `pnpm next build --experimental-build-mode generate` command when you have a DB connection.

When running `pnpm next build --experimental-build-mode compile`, environment variables prefixed with `NEXT_PUBLIC` will not be inlined and will be `undefined` on the client. To make these variables available, either run `pnpm next build --experimental-build-mode generate` if a DB connection is available, or use `pnpm next build --experimental-build-mode generate-env` if you do not have a DB connection.

[Next.js documentation](https://nextjs.org/docs/pages/api-reference/cli/next#next-build-options)

## Opting-out of SSG

You can opt out of SSG by adding this all the route segment files:

```ts
export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic'
```

**Note that it will disable static optimization and your site will be slower**.
More on [Next.js documentation](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/deep-dive/caching#opting-out-2)