I’ve tried payload integration 3+ times
Tells me:
Payload CMS v2+ has deep compatibility issues with Next.js App Router and Vercel’s build environment, even in headless mode.
The fundamental issue is that Payload CMS uses its own webpack bundler (@payloadcms/bundler-webpack) which conflicts with Next.js 15’s build process. The specific conflicts are:
- Binary Modules: Next.js can’t process the native binary modules that SWC uses
- Package Exports: The payload package exports field doesn’t match what our code is trying to import
- TypeScript Definitions: esbuild’s TypeScript definitions are causing parsing issues
- Missing Dependencies: The build process is looking for @swc/wasm which isn’t installed
Wrong Payload import syntax - ./config path doesn’t exist in newer Payload versions
Cloudflare sockets conflict - The PostgreSQL adapter is trying to use Cloudflare-specific modules that don’t work in Vercel’s build environment
Or i just keep going, and trying to force it for hours, and it just causes a million deploy errors and dependency issues.
Should i just give up?
this was the prompt i used:
I want to use Payload CMS in this project, and I only want (no local development, no cloud CLI work, no external scripts). Please configure Payload CMS using ONLY: VO.dev for everything Neon (we already have the DB, user, and tables ready) Vercel Blob for media uploads The official Payload CMS Vercel template: payload/templates/with-vercel-postgres at main · payloadcms/payload · GitHub The official Vercel + Express guide: Using Express.js with Vercel Constraints: DO NOT ask me to run anything locally DO NOT require CLI steps or manual SQL DO NOT use Supabase DO use the existing Neon DATABASE_URL (already added as a VO env var DO use PORT=3000 DO use Vercel Blob for media DO use the official Express + Vercel pattern DO place Payload in /app/payload DO route / admin to the Payload admin panel DO configure /api routes to allow REST access to the CMS DO ensure dynamic rendering (export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic) for any page using CMS data
Look at the threads, but this is one of the errors we were getting: “The payload.config module is missing the following exports: config as a default export” Make sure app/payload/payload.config.ts exists and has this export: import ‹ buildConfig › from ‘payload/config’: export default buildConfig( … ›): Everything must deploy successfully with no local scripts, no external setup, and must follow the official structure in the GitHub example. All logic and configuration must run directly on VO.
here’s the thing, we already tried this 3 times and have been learning a lot..But, we failed the other times because it broke components, and caused endless deploy errors.. But, we want to try to avoin dall that.
so this time, we are going to do one step at a time.. We will start with looking at my code and devising a plan. We are doing this live though, no local testing, se we need to devise a functioning plan and roll out one step at a time with debugging.. Make the first post just a master gameplan. We already have an admin area, auth, login, sessions, pw mngt, user mngt, stripe, multi-tenant,
We essentially only want to take advantage of their live editor, ecommerce flows, asset manager, versions, upload, folder, Query Presets (maybe). And should also have access control. Is this a good plan, or should i look at it differently, to try to get it first installed minimally and slowly move forward.. this is fine, i just wanted to mention for full context of my plan.. Is this smart? i mean we have almost everything else covered already, am i right? Please tell me if i’m going about in a too difficult way, or if i need anthing else from payload eventually
Any ideas? thanks!
