One Year with Next.js App Router – Why We're Moving On

6 months ago

The author critiques Next.js App Router and React Server Components (RSC), citing fundamental design flaws.
Server Components and Client Components in Next.js are confusingly named and lead to execution environment misunderstandings.
Optimistic updates are impossible with Server Components, complicating dynamic UI development.
Navigation in Next.js requires re-fetching data even when the client already has it, leading to inefficiency.
Layouts in Next.js are artificially restricted, complicating data sharing and reuse.
Next.js sends duplicate content (HTML and RSC payload), increasing bandwidth usage.
Turbopack, Next.js's bundler, is criticized for poor performance, debugging issues, and bad error messages.
The author recommends migrating from Next.js to TanStack Start for better performance and developer experience.
next/metadata and next/og are highlighted as positive aspects of Next.js.
The author advocates for using tools that respect developers, criticizing Next.js and Vercel for not meeting this standard.

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