diff --git a/src/db/index.ts b/src/db/index.ts
index e853bec..f3eeeda 100644
--- a/src/db/index.ts
+++ b/src/db/index.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
 import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/postgres-js";
 import postgres from "postgres";
 
-if (!process.env.DATABASE_URL) {
+// During Next.js build (NEXT_PHASE=phase-production-build), route handlers are
+// statically analyzed but never executed — skip the DB check to allow the build
+// to complete without a live DATABASE_URL.
+const isBuildPhase = process.env.NEXT_PHASE === "phase-production-build";
+
+if (!isBuildPhase && !process.env.DATABASE_URL) {
   throw new Error("DATABASE_URL env var is required");
 }
 
-const client = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
+const client = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL ?? "postgres://build-placeholder");
 
 export const db = drizzle(client);