diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index c5331ffc5379..eee50b4457cf 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -611,25 +611,25 @@ workflows:
     jobs:
       - build
       - create-sandboxes:
-          parallelism: 25
+          parallelism: 26
           requires:
             - build
       # - smoke-test-sandboxes: # disabled for now
       #     requires:
       #       - create-sandboxes
       - build-sandboxes:
-          parallelism: 25
+          parallelism: 26
           requires:
             - create-sandboxes
       - test-runner-sandboxes:
-          parallelism: 25
+          parallelism: 26
           requires:
             - build-sandboxes
       - chromatic-sandboxes:
-          parallelism: 25
+          parallelism: 26
           requires:
             - build-sandboxes
       - e2e-sandboxes:
-          parallelism: 25
+          parallelism: 26
           requires:
             - build-sandboxes
diff --git a/code/frameworks/nextjs/src/utils.ts b/code/frameworks/nextjs/src/utils.ts
index bafa8d1d8273..9ba051ab7e9e 100644
--- a/code/frameworks/nextjs/src/utils.ts
+++ b/code/frameworks/nextjs/src/utils.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ import { DefinePlugin } from 'webpack';
 import { PHASE_DEVELOPMENT_SERVER } from 'next/constants';
 import findUp from 'find-up';
 import { pathExists } from 'fs-extra';
-import dedent from 'ts-dedent';
 import type { Configuration as WebpackConfig } from 'webpack';
 import type { NextConfig } from 'next';
 import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
@@ -45,13 +44,7 @@ export const resolveNextConfig = async ({
   const nextConfigFile = nextConfigPath || (await findNextConfigFile(configDir));
 
   if (!nextConfigFile || (await pathExists(nextConfigFile)) === false) {
-    throw new Error(
-      dedent`
-        Could not find or resolve your Next config file. Please provide the next config file path as a framework option.
-
-        More info: https://github.com/storybookjs/storybook/blob/next/code/frameworks/nextjs/README.md#options
-      `
-    );
+    return {};
   }
 
   const nextConfigExport = await import(pathToFileURL(nextConfigFile).href);
diff --git a/code/lib/cli/src/repro-templates.ts b/code/lib/cli/src/repro-templates.ts
index 3dc5e68547e8..4a7c2953734c 100644
--- a/code/lib/cli/src/repro-templates.ts
+++ b/code/lib/cli/src/repro-templates.ts
@@ -353,6 +353,7 @@ export const daily: TemplateKey[] = [
   'lit-vite/default-js',
   'svelte-kit/skeleton-js',
   'svelte-vite/default-js',
+  'nextjs/12-js',
   'nextjs/default-js',
   'preact-webpack5/default-js',
 ];