diff --git a/internal/sync-dropin.mjs b/internal/sync-dropin.mjs
index a8d5030c1..fb3e384fa 100644
--- a/internal/sync-dropin.mjs
+++ b/internal/sync-dropin.mjs
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ const excludedInternal = (f) => EXCLUDE.has(f) || isDoc(f) || isStaging(f)
 const excluded = (f) => excludedInternal(f) || isNotShipped(f)
 
 const usage = 'usage: node internal/sync-dropin.mjs [<dest>] [--from public] [--only a,b | --from-config] [--prune] [--protect a,b] [--dry-run]   (<dest> defaults to $DOXA_DROPIN_DEST, then dropin.dest in vite.doxa-maps-build-config.json)'
+if (!DEST && args.includes('--if-present')) { console.log('[sync-dropin] skipped: no drop-in destination configured (dropin.dest)'); process.exit(0) }
 if (!DEST) { console.error(`[sync-dropin] ${usage}`); process.exit(1) }
 const dest = resolve(DEST)
 // ★ --prune INTO A SITE'S WEB-ROOT WOULD DELETE THE SITE. --prune removes every file in <dest> outside the