deployment

name

deployment

description

This skill should be used when the user asks to "deploy Payload to production", "deploy Payload to Vercel", "dockerize a Payload app", "build without a database connection", "add rate limiting", "prevent API abuse", "optimize Payload performance", or "configure serverless database connections". Covers the production build, Vercel and Docker/Node self-host targets, building without a live DB, locking down REST/GraphQL, and query performance.

PayloadCMS — Production & Deployment

Ship a PayloadCMS v3 app to production. Payload runs anywhere Next.js runs — it is a Next.js app, so next build is the build. This skill covers the production build, deploy targets, building without a DB connection, hardening the API against abuse, and query performance.

1. Production build

Payload's build is Next.js's build. The scaffolder wires package.json so pnpm build runs next build:

# Standard production build
pnpm build         # → next build
pnpm start         # → next start  (serves the .next output)

Required environment in every production environment:

# .env (production)
PAYLOAD_SECRET=<long-random-string>           # signs JWTs/tokens — keep stable, never commit
DATABASE_URI=postgres://user:pass@host:5432/db
NEXT_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL=https://cms.example.com
NODE_ENV=production

PAYLOAD_SECRET must be long and impossible to guess — rotating it logs every user out and invalidates reset tokens. Set serverURL in the config (absolute, protocol + domain, no path) so emails, previews, and CORS resolve correctly:

// src/payload.config.ts
  ({
  : process..,
  
})

Production-hardened config excerpt — low depth, capped GraphQL, absolute URL: CI build with no DB reachable, then generate static pages at container start: