Simple way to use craft for databaseless prototypes
Using Craft without a database isn't possible, you're probably best off doing things the way you are now (with a minimal Craft install).

At its core, Craft is built on two very powerful frameworks:


Twig
Yii


(There are other components as well, but these are the driving forces.)

You can, of course, just use Twig as a templating language for your prototyping. But that's all you'll have... a templating language.

You can't use Yii without a database, since the primary purpose of Yii is to act as a DAO (Data Access Object). Without a database, it's kinda useless.

My official recommendation: Create a "base installation" repo with a generic website, and have Craft completely installed. Then you can quickly clone that and work your prototyping magic!