Next.js

Nx comes with first-class Next.js support. In this guide we will look at how to use it.

Creating a New Nx Workspace

Create a new Nx workspace. The easiest way to do it is to use npx.

npx --ignore-existing create-nx-workspace happynrwl

You can also create a workspace with a Next.js application in place by running:

npx --ignore-existing create-nx-workspace happynrwl --preset=next

Adding Next.js capabilities to a workspace

If you used the Next.js preset, you are all set and can skip this. If you created an empty workspace or have an existing workspace, you can add Next.js capabilities to the workspace:

yarn add @nrwl/next

Generating a Next.js Application

Run

nx g @nrwl/next:app tuskdesk

and you will see the following:

happynrwl/
├── apps/
│   ├── tuskdesk/
│   │   ├── pages/
│   │   │   ├── index.css
│   │   │   └── index.tsx
│   │   ├── jest.conf.js
│   │   ├── tsconfig.json
│   │   ├── tsconfig.spec.json
│   │   └── .eslintrc.json
│   └── tuskdesk-e2e/
│   │   ├── src/
│   │   │   ├── integrations/
│   │   │   │   └── app.spec.ts
│   │   │   ├── fixtures/
│   │   │   ├── plugins/
│   │   │   └── support/
│   │   ├── cypress.json
│   │   ├── tsconfig.e2e.json
│   │   └── .eslintrc.json
├── libs/
├── workspace.json
├── nx.json
├── package.json
├── tools/
├── tsconfig.base.json
└── .eslintrc.json

Run:

  • nx serve tuskdesk to serve the application
  • nx serve tuskdesk --prod to serve the application in the production mode
  • nx build tuskdesk to build the application
  • nx lint tuskdesk to lint the application
  • nx test tuskdesk to test the application using Jest
  • nx export tuskdesk to export the application
  • nx e2e tuskdesk-e2e to test the application using Cypress

When using Next.js in Nx, you get the out-of-the-box support for TypeScript, Cypress, Jest. No need to configure anything: watch mode, source maps, and typings just work.

Generating a React Library

Run

nx g @nrwl/react:lib shared-components

and you will see the following:

happynrwl/
├── apps/
│   ├── tuskdesk/
│   └── tuskdesk-e2e/
├── libs/
│   └── shared-components/
│       ├── src/
│       │   ├── lib/
│       │   │    ├── home.css
│       │   │    ├── home.tsx
│       │   │    └── home.spec.tsx
│       │   └ index.ts
│       ├── jest.config.js
│       ├── tsconfig.json
│       ├── tsconfig.lib.json
│       ├── tsconfig.spec.json
│       └── tslint.json
├── nx.json
├── workspace.json
├── package.json
├── tools/
├── tsconfig.base.json
└── tslint.json

Run:

  • nx test shared-components to test the library
  • nx lint shared-components to lint the library

Using the Library in an Application

You can import the shared-components library into the Next.js application like this.

1import { Home } from '@happynrwl/shared-components';
2import React from 'react';
3
4export const Index = () => {
5  return (
6    <>
7      <Home />
8      <div>the rest of the component</div>
9    </>
10  );
11};
12
13export default Index;

Sharing Code

Without Nx, creating a new shared library can take from several hours or even weeks: a new repo needs to be provisioned, CI needs to be set up, etc.. In an Nx Workspace, it only takes minutes.

You can share React components between multiple Next.js applications. You can also share web components between Next.js and plain React applications. You can even share code between the backend and the frontend. All can be done without any unnecessary ceremony.

Deploying to Vercel

You may know that the company behind Next.js, Vercel, has a great hosting platform offering that is developed in tandem with Next.js itself to offer a great overall developer and user experience.

In order to deploy your Next.js application from your Nx workspace you should do the following:

Verify the project's next.config.js

Let's continue to use our tuskdesk example from above, and so we need to check out our config at apps/tuskdesk/next.config.js. If you created the application using a recent (at the time of writing) version of Nx, such as Nx 11, then you will likely see the following in that config by default:

1// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-var-requires
2const withNx = require('@nrwl/next/plugins/with-nx');
3
4module.exports = withNx({});

If you have a config which looks like that (leveraging the withNx() config plugin) AND the version of Nx you are using is 11.1.0 or later, no further action is needed in your config.

If, however, you created the application using an older version of Nx, you may just see an empty object:

1module.exports = {};

If this is the case, or if you are using a version of Nx older than 11.1.0, then you must do one of the following:

[Option 1] We would naturally highly recommend upgrading to the latest Nx (for many reasons), and updating the next.config.js to match the first example which leverages the withNx() config plugin (which as of 11.1.0 sets target to 'experimental-serverless-trace' behind the scenes for Vercel builds).

[Option 2] If for some reason you cannot upgrade to a version of Nx which provides the updated withNx() config plugin, you can manually add a target property to your exported config with a value of 'experimental-serverless-trace'.

E.g.

1// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-var-requires
2const withNx = require('@nrwl/next/plugins/with-nx');
3
4module.exports = withNx({
5  target: 'experimental-serverless-trace',
6  // ...You can of course have other Next.js config options specified here too, but the "target" is critical for Vercel deployments...
7});

OR

1module.exports = {
2  target: 'experimental-serverless-trace',
3  // ...You can of course have other Next.js config options specified here too, but the "target" is critical for Vercel deployments...
4};

Vercel themselves have informed us that this target will not be required in future versions of Next.js and their platform, but that even when that is the case this option will not cause any issues, so we do not need to worry too much about the name containing "experimental".

Configure your Vercel project's settings appropriately

New Vercel project

  1. If you are "importing" your Nx workspace's repository for the first time, make sure you do not choose a root directory as part of the repo selection process (therefore leaving it to be the root of the full repo/workspace)
  2. Ensure the Next.js "Framework Preset" is selected
  3. Expand the "Build and Output Settings" and toggle the override switch for the build command. For our tuskdesk project the value will look like this:
npx nx build tuskdesk --prod
  1. Toggle the override switch for the output directory. Point it to the .next directory inside the built app:
dist/apps/tuskdesk/.next

Therefore, our full configuration (based on a repo called "nx-workspace" and a project called "tuskdesk") will look like this:

image

Existing Vercel project

If you have an existing project on Vercel then the exact same guidance applies as for the section above, it's just that you will need to update the project's existing settings.

When everything is updated appropriately, for our tuskdesk example we would see the following in our "General" settings UI:

image

Naturally, you can continue on and set any additional Environment Variables etc that may be appropriate for your projects, but we have now covered the key points needed to deploy Next.js projects from Nx workspaces on Vercel!