Next.js 12.0.4 and React 18 Beta Demo & Benchmark

Next.js 12 comes with React 18 Beta support.

React 18 will add features like Suspense, automatic batching of updates, APIs like startTransition, and a new streaming API for server rendering with support for React.lazy.

This is a Next.js project bootstrapped with create-next-app.

This project referenced the Next.js 12.0.1 React 18 Alpha Demo (released on Oct 27).

React 18 usage in Next.js

I'm making these features available to try today in Next.js 12. This project have the beta version of React installed:

$ npm install next@latest react@beta react-dom@beta

I have enabled these advanced features (Alpha quality):

Server-Side Streaming: Concurrent features in React 18 include built-in support for server-side Suspense and SSR streaming support. This allows you to server-render pages using HTTP streaming. This is an experimental feature in Next.js 12, but once enabled, SSR will use the same strict runtime as Middleware. Enabled using the experimental flag concurrentFeatures: true in next.config.js. (See docs for more details)
React Server Components: React Server Components allow us to render everything, including the components themselves, on the server. This is fundamentally different from server-side rendering where you're pre-generating HTML on the server. With Server Components, there's zero client-side JavaScript needed, making page rendering faster. This improves the user experience of your application, pairing the best parts of server-rendering with client-side interactivity. Enabled using the experimental flag serverComponents: true. (See docs for more details)

This is the demo of Hacker News built with Next.js and React Server Components.

Try the demo: https://next-news-rsc.vercel.sh

Getting Started

First, run the development server:

npm run dev
# or
yarn dev

Open http://localhost:3000 with your browser to see the result.

Compile

$ npm run build

> build
> next build

warn  - You have enabled experimental feature(s).
warn  - Experimental features are not covered by semver, and may cause unexpected or broken application behavior. Use them at your own risk.

info  - Checking validity of types  

info  - Need to disable some ESLint rules? Learn more here: https://nextjs.org/docs/basic-features/eslint#disabling-rules
info  - Using the createRoot API for React
warn  - You are using an unsupported prerelease of 'react-dom' which may cause unexpected or broken application behavior. Continue at your own risk.
warn  - You are using the experimental Edge Runtime with `concurrentFeatures`.
warn  - You have experimental React Server Components enabled. Continue at your own risk.
info  - Creating an optimized production build  
info  - Compiled successfully
info  - Collecting page data  
Page                                       Size     First Load JS
┌ ℇ /                                      1.97 kB        78.9 kB
├   /_app                                  0 B            76.9 kB
├ λ /404                                   384 B          77.3 kB
├ λ /500                                   393 B          77.3 kB
├ λ /api/hello                             0 B            76.9 kB
├ ℇ /csr                                   3.36 kB        80.3 kB
├ ℇ /rsc                                   2.31 kB        79.2 kB
├ ℇ /slow                                  3.32 kB        80.2 kB
└ ℇ /ssr                                   2.57 kB        79.5 kB
+ First Load JS shared by all              76.9 kB
  ├ chunks/framework-f4a6e75f8d3c80e4.js   44.9 kB
  ├ chunks/main-5d1d5b9b49f6a7f4.js        30 kB
  ├ chunks/pages/_app-7961434b35938642.js  587 B
  └ chunks/webpack-f5637e6c804d3e68.js     1.42 kB

ℇ  (Streaming)  server-side renders with streaming (uses React 18 SSR streaming or Server Components)
λ  (Server)     server-side renders at runtime (uses getInitialProps or getServerSideProps)

Performance and UX Benchmark

I have been casually tracking and researching the progress of the plan for React 18. I have tested multiple React 18 versions since, from Alpha release to the current Beta release.

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