diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 97422021a..5483f0c28 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -125,3 +125,5 @@ group :test do
   # api
   gem 'rswag-specs'
 end
+
+gem "activerecord-nulldb-adapter", "~> 0.9.0"
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index c66901cfd..9aa50e788 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -128,6 +128,8 @@ GEM
     activerecord (7.0.4)
       activemodel (= 7.0.4)
       activesupport (= 7.0.4)
+    activerecord-nulldb-adapter (0.9.0)
+      activerecord (>= 5.2.0, < 7.1)
     activestorage (7.0.4)
       actionpack (= 7.0.4)
       activejob (= 7.0.4)
@@ -605,6 +607,7 @@ PLATFORMS
 
 DEPENDENCIES
   active_model_serializers (~> 0.10.0)
+  activerecord-nulldb-adapter (~> 0.9.0)
   acts_as_tree
   acts_as_versioned!
   apparition
diff --git a/app/lib/foodsoft_config.rb b/app/lib/foodsoft_config.rb
index c7dda5906..c1fc575c9 100644
--- a/app/lib/foodsoft_config.rb
+++ b/app/lib/foodsoft_config.rb
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def select_multifoodcoop(foodcoop)
     # @param key [String, Symbol]
     # @return [Object] Value of the key.
     def [](key)
-      if RailsSettings::CachedSettings.table_exists? && allowed_key?(key)
+      if ActiveRecord::Base.connected? && RailsSettings::CachedSettings.table_exists? && allowed_key?(key)
         value = RailsSettings::CachedSettings["foodcoop.#{scope}.#{key}"]
         value = config[key] if value.nil?
         value
diff --git a/config/application.rb b/config/application.rb
index 696d66477..3ed7d4ee9 100644
--- a/config/application.rb
+++ b/config/application.rb
@@ -58,10 +58,6 @@ class Application < Rails::Application
     # Version of your assets, change this if you want to expire all your assets
     config.assets.version = '1.0'
 
-    # It would be nice not to enable database connection when precompiling assets,
-    # but i18n-js requires initialization, that's why it's on.
-    config.assets.initialize_on_precompile = true
-
     # Load legacy scripts from vendor
     config.assets.precompile += ['vendor/assets/javascripts/*.js']
 
diff --git a/config/database.yml.NULLDB_SAMPLE b/config/database.yml.NULLDB_SAMPLE
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ad8ca182a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/database.yml.NULLDB_SAMPLE
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+test:
+  adapter: nulldb
\ No newline at end of file