PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION, PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO::FETCH_ASSOC, PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES => false, ] ); return $dbInstance; } catch (PDOException $e) { // Return structured JSON instead of raw PHP syntax blocks if the database drops http_response_code(500); die(json_encode([ "status" => "fail", "message" => "Database node offline." ])); } }