Running Payblocks locally in under 5 minutes
Three terminal commands. Two environment variables. One full-stack site with 100+ blocks, role-based access, and a working admin panel.
Three commands to a running site
Clone, install, and start — then set your two required env vars.
Step 1 — Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/trieb-work/payblocks my-site
cd my-site && pnpm install
Step 2 — Configure env
cp .env.example .env.local
Set MONGODB_URI, PAYLOAD_SECRET, NEXT_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL
Step 3 — Start
pnpm dev — open http://localhost:3000/admin
What is running after pnpm dev
A full-stack site with the Payload admin panel, Next.js frontend, 100+ blocks, and all the infrastructure wired together.
Payload Admin at /admin
Create your first user on first login. All collections and globals available.
Frontend at /
The catch-all route renders pages by slug from the database. Create a page in Payload, publish it — it appears on the frontend.
Admin API at /next/admin/cli
Set ADMIN_CLI_SECRET in .env.local. Full CRUD + schema introspection over all collections.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a paid Payload license?
No. Payload CMS is MIT licensed. Payblocks is also open source. No license fees.
Can I use local MongoDB?
Yes. Set MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/payblocks. Use Docker if needed.
How do I add a new block?
Create src/blocks/BlockName/config.ts and Component.tsx. Register in payload.config.ts. Run pnpm generate:types.
Is Vercel required?
No. A Dockerfile is included for self-hosted deployments. Vercel is recommended for the Blob storage integration.
Ready to build?
Clone the repo and have your first page published in under an hour.