diff --git a/src/auth/types.ts b/src/auth/types.ts
index 89554de8fa..e767b6f60a 100644
--- a/src/auth/types.ts
+++ b/src/auth/types.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { DeepRequired } from 'ts-essentials';
 import { PayloadRequest } from '../express/types/payloadRequest';
 
 export type Permission = {
@@ -67,30 +68,28 @@ export interface IncomingAuthType {
   verify?:
   | boolean
   | {
-    generateEmailHTML: GenerateVerifyEmailHTML;
-    generateEmailSubject: GenerateVerifyEmailSubject;
+    generateEmailHTML?: GenerateVerifyEmailHTML;
+    generateEmailSubject?: GenerateVerifyEmailSubject;
   };
   maxLoginAttempts?: number;
   lockTime?: number;
   useAPIKey?: boolean;
-  cookies?:
-  | {
+  cookies?: {
     secure?: boolean;
     sameSite?: string;
     domain?: string;
   }
-  | boolean;
   forgotPassword?: {
     generateEmailHTML?: GenerateForgotPasswordEmailHTML,
     generateEmailSubject?: GenerateForgotPasswordEmailSubject,
   }
 }
 
-export interface Auth extends Omit<IncomingAuthType, 'verify' | 'forgotPassword'> {
+export interface Auth extends Omit<DeepRequired<IncomingAuthType>, 'verify' | 'forgotPassword'> {
   verify?: {
     generateEmailHTML?: GenerateVerifyEmailHTML
     generateEmailSubject?: GenerateVerifyEmailSubject
-  }
+  } | boolean
   forgotPassword?: {
     generateEmailHTML?: GenerateForgotPasswordEmailHTML
     generateEmailSubject?: GenerateForgotPasswordEmailSubject
diff --git a/src/collections/config/sanitize.ts b/src/collections/config/sanitize.ts
index c039774d58..2463a41da1 100644
--- a/src/collections/config/sanitize.ts
+++ b/src/collections/config/sanitize.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import merge from 'deepmerge';
-import { PayloadCollectionConfig, CollectionConfig } from './types';
+import { CollectionConfig, PayloadCollectionConfig } from './types';
 import sanitizeFields from '../../fields/config/sanitize';
 import toKebabCase from '../../utilities/toKebabCase';
 import baseAuthFields from '../../fields/baseFields/baseFields';
@@ -58,20 +58,30 @@ const sanitizeCollection = (collections: PayloadCollectionConfig[], collection:
   // Make copy of collection config
   // /////////////////////////////////
 
-  const sanitized: PayloadCollectionConfig = { ...collection };
+  const sanitized = { ...collection };
   sanitized.slug = toKebabCase(sanitized.slug);
   sanitized.labels = !sanitized.labels ? formatLabels(sanitized.slug) : sanitized.labels;
 
   // /////////////////////////////////
-  // Add required base fields
+  // Ensure that collection has required object structure
   // /////////////////////////////////
 
-  if (collection.upload) {
-    if (typeof collection.upload === 'object') {
-      sanitized.upload = collection.upload;
-    } else {
-      sanitized.upload = {};
-    }
+  if (!sanitized.hooks) sanitized.hooks = {};
+  if (!sanitized.access) sanitized.access = {};
+  if (!sanitized.admin) sanitized.admin = {};
+
+  if (!sanitized.hooks.beforeOperation) sanitized.hooks.beforeOperation = [];
+  if (!sanitized.hooks.beforeValidate) sanitized.hooks.beforeValidate = [];
+  if (!sanitized.hooks.beforeChange) sanitized.hooks.beforeChange = [];
+  if (!sanitized.hooks.afterChange) sanitized.hooks.afterChange = [];
+  if (!sanitized.hooks.beforeRead) sanitized.hooks.beforeRead = [];
+  if (!sanitized.hooks.afterRead) sanitized.hooks.afterRead = [];
+  if (!sanitized.hooks.beforeDelete) sanitized.hooks.beforeDelete = [];
+  if (!sanitized.hooks.afterDelete) sanitized.hooks.afterDelete = [];
+
+
+  if (sanitized.upload) {
+    if (sanitized.upload === true) sanitized.upload = {};
 
     if (!sanitized.upload.staticDir) sanitized.upload.staticDir = sanitized.slug;
     if (!sanitized.upload.staticURL) sanitized.upload.staticURL = `/${sanitized.slug}`;
@@ -91,13 +101,18 @@ const sanitizeCollection = (collections: PayloadCollectionConfig[], collection:
     ];
   }
 
-  if (collection.auth) {
+  if (sanitized.auth) {
     if (typeof collection.auth === 'object') {
       sanitized.auth = collection.auth;
     } else {
       sanitized.auth = {};
     }
 
+    if (!sanitized.hooks.beforeLogin) sanitized.hooks.beforeLogin = [];
+    if (!sanitized.hooks.afterLogin) sanitized.hooks.afterLogin = [];
+    if (!sanitized.hooks.afterForgotPassword) sanitized.hooks.afterForgotPassword = [];
+    if (!sanitized.auth.forgotPassword) sanitized.auth.forgotPassword = {};
+
     let authFields = baseAuthFields;
 
     if (sanitized.auth.useAPIKey) {
@@ -105,13 +120,10 @@ const sanitizeCollection = (collections: PayloadCollectionConfig[], collection:
     }
 
     if (sanitized.auth.verify) {
+      if (sanitized.auth.verify === true) sanitized.auth.verify = {};
       authFields = authFields.concat(baseVerificationFields);
     }
 
-    if (!sanitized?.hooks?.beforeLogin) sanitized.hooks.beforeLogin = [];
-    if (!sanitized?.hooks?.afterLogin) sanitized.hooks.afterLogin = [];
-    if (!sanitized?.hooks?.afterForgotPassword) sanitized.hooks.afterForgotPassword = [];
-
     sanitized.auth.maxLoginAttempts = typeof sanitized.auth.maxLoginAttempts === 'undefined' ? 5 : sanitized.auth.maxLoginAttempts;
     sanitized.auth.lockTime = sanitized.auth.lockTime || 600000; // 10 minutes
 
@@ -129,7 +141,6 @@ const sanitizeCollection = (collections: PayloadCollectionConfig[], collection:
       if (!sanitized.auth.cookies.secure) sanitized.auth.cookies.secure = false;
       if (!sanitized.auth.cookies.sameSite) sanitized.auth.cookies.sameSite = 'Lax';
     }
-
     authFields = mergeBaseFields(sanitized.fields, authFields);
 
     sanitized.fields = [
@@ -145,7 +156,7 @@ const sanitizeCollection = (collections: PayloadCollectionConfig[], collection:
   const validRelationships = collections.map((c) => c.slug);
   sanitized.fields = sanitizeFields(sanitized.fields, validRelationships);
 
-  return sanitized;
+  return sanitized as CollectionConfig;
 };
 
 export default sanitizeCollection;
diff --git a/src/collections/config/types.ts b/src/collections/config/types.ts
index 1c789314ce..0244ad97ee 100644
--- a/src/collections/config/types.ts
+++ b/src/collections/config/types.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ import { PaginateModel, Document, PassportLocalModel } from 'mongoose';
 import { Access } from '../../config/types';
 import { Field } from '../../fields/config/types';
 import { PayloadRequest } from '../../express/types/payloadRequest';
-import { Auth } from '../../auth/types';
+import { IncomingAuthType, Auth } from '../../auth/types';
+import { IncomingUploadType, Upload } from '../../uploads/types';
 
 interface CollectionModel extends PaginateModel<Document>, PassportLocalModel<Document>{}
 
@@ -79,20 +80,6 @@ export type AfterForgotPasswordHook = (args?: {
   args?: any;
 }) => any;
 
-export type ImageSize = {
-  name: string,
-  width: number,
-  height: number,
-  crop: string, // comes from sharp package
-};
-
-export type Upload = {
-  imageSizes?: ImageSize[];
-  staticURL?: string;
-  staticDir?: string;
-  adminThumbnail?: string;
-}
-
 export type PayloadCollectionConfig = {
   slug: string;
   labels?: {
@@ -126,13 +113,13 @@ export type PayloadCollectionConfig = {
     admin?: Access;
     unlock?: Access;
   };
-  auth?: Auth | boolean;
-  upload?: Upload | boolean;
+  auth?: IncomingAuthType | boolean;
+  upload?: IncomingUploadType | boolean;
 };
 
-export interface CollectionConfig extends DeepRequired<PayloadCollectionConfig> {
-  auth: DeepRequired<Auth>
-  upload: DeepRequired<Upload>
+export interface CollectionConfig extends Omit<DeepRequired<PayloadCollectionConfig>, 'auth' | 'upload'> {
+  auth: Auth | boolean
+  upload: Upload | boolean
 }
 
 export type Collection = {
diff --git a/src/config/build.ts b/src/config/build.ts
index 1e410bf8ff..38734f6131 100644
--- a/src/config/build.ts
+++ b/src/config/build.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import { PayloadConfig, Config } from './types';
 import sanitize from './sanitize';
-import validate from './validate';
 
 /**
  * @description Builds and validates Payload configuration
@@ -8,8 +7,7 @@ import validate from './validate';
  * @returns Built and sanitized Payload Config
  */
 export function buildConfig(config: PayloadConfig): Config {
-  const validated = validate(config);
-  const sanitized = sanitize(validated);
+  const sanitized = sanitize(config);
 
   return sanitized;
 }
diff --git a/src/config/load.ts b/src/config/load.ts
index fa16f6e0d1..83cd8aadb4 100644
--- a/src/config/load.ts
+++ b/src/config/load.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import path from 'path';
 import { Config } from './types';
 import findConfig from './find';
+import validate from './validate';
 
 const removedExtensions = ['.scss', '.css', '.svg', '.png', '.jpg', '.eot', '.ttf', '.woff', '.woff2'];
 
@@ -14,14 +15,16 @@ const loadConfig = (): Config => {
   });
 
   // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-var-requires
-  let publicConfig = require(configPath);
+  let config = require(configPath);
 
-  if (publicConfig.default) publicConfig = publicConfig.default;
+  if (config.default) config = config.default;
+
+  const validatedConfig = validate(config);
 
   return {
-    ...publicConfig,
+    ...validatedConfig,
     paths: {
-      ...(publicConfig.paths || {}),
+      ...(validatedConfig.paths || {}),
       configDir: path.dirname(configPath),
       config: configPath,
     },
diff --git a/src/config/sanitize.ts b/src/config/sanitize.ts
index 815b241b2e..14cb827fd9 100644
--- a/src/config/sanitize.ts
+++ b/src/config/sanitize.ts
@@ -1,14 +1,16 @@
-import { Config } from './types';
+import { PayloadConfig, Config } from './types';
 import defaultUser from '../auth/defaultUser';
 import sanitizeCollection from '../collections/config/sanitize';
 import { InvalidConfiguration } from '../errors';
 import sanitizeGlobals from '../globals/config/sanitize';
 import checkDuplicateCollections from '../utilities/checkDuplicateCollections';
 
-const sanitizeConfig = (config: Config): Config => {
+const sanitizeConfig = (config: PayloadConfig): Config => {
   const sanitizedConfig = { ...config };
 
-  sanitizedConfig.csrf.push(config.serverURL);
+  if (sanitizedConfig.publicENV === undefined) sanitizedConfig.publicENV = {};
+
+  if (sanitizedConfig.defaultDepth === undefined) sanitizedConfig.defaultDepth = 2;
 
   sanitizedConfig.collections = sanitizedConfig.collections.map((collection) => sanitizeCollection(sanitizedConfig.collections, collection));
   checkDuplicateCollections(sanitizedConfig.collections);
@@ -19,6 +21,21 @@ const sanitizeConfig = (config: Config): Config => {
     sanitizedConfig.globals = [];
   }
 
+  if (!sanitizedConfig.cookiePrefix) sanitizedConfig.cookiePrefix = 'payload';
+
+  sanitizedConfig.csrf = [
+    ...(Array.isArray(config.csrf) ? config.csrf : []),
+    config.serverURL,
+  ];
+
+  sanitizedConfig.admin = config.admin || {};
+
+  if (!sanitizedConfig.admin.meta) {
+    sanitizedConfig.admin.meta = {};
+  }
+
+  sanitizedConfig.upload = config.upload || {};
+
   if (!sanitizedConfig.admin.user) {
     sanitizedConfig.admin.user = 'users';
     sanitizedConfig.collections.push(sanitizeCollection(sanitizedConfig.collections, defaultUser));
@@ -26,7 +43,33 @@ const sanitizeConfig = (config: Config): Config => {
     throw new InvalidConfiguration(`${sanitizedConfig.admin.user} is not a valid admin user collection`);
   }
 
-  return sanitizedConfig;
+  sanitizedConfig.email = config.email || {};
+  // if (!sanitizedConfig.email.transport) sanitizedConfig.email.transport = 'mock';
+
+  sanitizedConfig.graphQL = config.graphQL || {};
+  sanitizedConfig.graphQL.maxComplexity = (sanitizedConfig.graphQL && sanitizedConfig.graphQL.maxComplexity) ? sanitizedConfig.graphQL.maxComplexity : 1000;
+  sanitizedConfig.graphQL.disablePlaygroundInProduction = (sanitizedConfig.graphQL && sanitizedConfig.graphQL.disablePlaygroundInProduction !== undefined) ? sanitizedConfig.graphQL.disablePlaygroundInProduction : true;
+
+  sanitizedConfig.routes = {
+    admin: (config.routes && config.routes.admin) ? config.routes.admin : '/admin',
+    api: (config.routes && config.routes.api) ? config.routes.api : '/api',
+    graphQL: (config.routes && config.routes.graphQL) ? config.routes.graphQL : '/graphql',
+    graphQLPlayground: (config.routes && config.routes.graphQLPlayground) ? config.routes.graphQLPlayground : '/graphql-playground',
+  };
+
+  sanitizedConfig.rateLimit = config.rateLimit || {};
+  sanitizedConfig.rateLimit.window = sanitizedConfig?.rateLimit?.window || 15 * 60 * 100; // 15min default
+  sanitizedConfig.rateLimit.max = sanitizedConfig?.rateLimit?.max || 500;
+
+  if (!sanitizedConfig.express) {
+    sanitizedConfig.express = {
+      json: {},
+    };
+  }
+
+  sanitizedConfig.hooks = { ...(config.hooks || {}) };
+
+  return sanitizedConfig as Config;
 };
 
 export default sanitizeConfig;
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index cf5a425705..a7d7613468 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import express, { Express, Router } from 'express';
 import crypto from 'crypto';
 import { TestAccount } from 'nodemailer';
-import { AuthenticateOptions } from 'passport';
 import {
   Config,
   EmailOptions,
diff --git a/src/types/index.ts b/src/types/index.ts
index ebae56acae..85cc4d1637 100644
--- a/src/types/index.ts
+++ b/src/types/index.ts
@@ -8,10 +8,7 @@ export type Where = {
   [key: string]: unknown
 }
 
-export type Document = {
-  id: string;
-  [key: string]: unknown;
-};
+export type Document = any;
 
 export type CreateOptions = {
   collection: string;
diff --git a/src/uploads/types.ts b/src/uploads/types.ts
index bd487e8e85..3c0c706d32 100644
--- a/src/uploads/types.ts
+++ b/src/uploads/types.ts
@@ -18,3 +18,24 @@ export type FileData = {
   height: number;
   sizes: FileSizes;
 };
+
+export type ImageSize = {
+  name: string,
+  width: number,
+  height: number,
+  crop: string, // comes from sharp package
+};
+
+export type IncomingUploadType = {
+  imageSizes?: ImageSize[];
+  staticURL?: string;
+  staticDir?: string;
+  adminThumbnail?: string;
+}
+
+export type Upload = {
+  imageSizes?: ImageSize[]
+  staticURL: string
+  staticDir: string
+  adminThumbnail?: string
+}
diff --git a/src/utilities/canUseDOM.ts b/src/utilities/canUseDOM.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..472188d327
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utilities/canUseDOM.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+export default !!(
+  (typeof window !== 'undefined'
+    && window.document && window.document.createElement)
+);
diff --git a/src/utilities/checkDuplicateCollections.ts b/src/utilities/checkDuplicateCollections.ts
index f3d0f23870..366df08d96 100644
--- a/src/utilities/checkDuplicateCollections.ts
+++ b/src/utilities/checkDuplicateCollections.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 import { DuplicateCollection } from '../errors';
-import { CollectionConfig } from '../collections/config/types';
+import { PayloadCollectionConfig } from '../collections/config/types';
 
 const getDuplicates = (arr: string[]) => arr.filter((item, index) => arr.indexOf(item) !== index);
 
-const checkDuplicateCollections = (collections: CollectionConfig[]): void => {
+const checkDuplicateCollections = (collections: PayloadCollectionConfig[]): void => {
   const duplicateSlugs = getDuplicates(collections.map((c) => c.slug));
   if (duplicateSlugs.length > 0) {
     throw new DuplicateCollection('slug', duplicateSlugs);
diff --git a/src/webpack/mocks/emptyModule.js b/src/webpack/mocks/emptyModule.js
index ff8b4c5632..2d1ec23827 100644
--- a/src/webpack/mocks/emptyModule.js
+++ b/src/webpack/mocks/emptyModule.js
@@ -1 +1 @@
-export default {};
+export default () => {};