Server Components run on the server and send rendered HTML to the client. They can directly access databases, filesystems, and internal APIs without exposing them to the browser.
// app/products/page.tsx (Server Component by default)
async function ProductsPage() {
const products = await db.query("SELECT * FROM products WHERE active = true");
return (
<main>
<h1>Products</h1>
<ProductList products={products} />
<AddToCartButton /> {/* Client Component */}
</main>
);
}
Rules:
useState, useEffect, or browser APIs'use client' at the top of the file'use client' boundary as deep in the tree as possibleimport { Suspense } from 'react';
export default function Dashboard() {
return (
<div>
<Header /> {/* renders immediately */}
<Suspense fallback={<ChartSkeleton />}>
<AnalyticsChart /> {/* streams when ready */}
</Suspense>
<Suspense fallback={<TableSkeleton />}>
<RecentOrders /> {/* streams independently */}
</Suspense>
</div>
);
}
Each Suspense boundary streams independently. Place boundaries around data-fetching components to avoid blocking the entire page.
import dynamic from 'next/dynamic';
const HeavyEditor = dynamic(() => import('@/components/Editor'), {
loading: () => <EditorSkeleton />,
ssr: false,
});
const AdminPanel = dynamic(() => import('@/components/AdminPanel'));
Split on:
// next.config.js
module.exports = {
experimental: {
optimizePackageImports: ['lucide-react', '@heroicons/react', 'lodash-es'],
},
};
Checklist:
npx next build and review the output size per route@next/bundle-analyzer to identify large dependenciesmoment with date-fns or dayjs (save ~200KB)import { debounce } from 'lodash-es/debounce'
import { Search } from 'lucide-react'
| Metric | Good | Needs Work | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | <2.5s | 2.5-4.0s | >4.0s |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | <200ms | 200-500ms | >500ms |
| CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | <0.1 | 0.1-0.25 | >0.25 |
<link rel="preload" as="image" href="..." />
priority prop on above-the-fold <Image> componentswidth/height on images to prevent layout shiftsimport Image from 'next/image';
<Image
src="/hero.jpg"
alt="Descriptive alt text"
width={1200}
height={630}
priority // preload for LCP images
sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 50vw"
placeholder="blur"
blurDataURL={base64} // inline tiny placeholder
/>
next/image or equivalent (automatic WebP/AVIF, responsive srcset)sizes attribute to avoid downloading oversized imagesplaceholder="blur" with a base64 data URL for perceived performance// app/layout.tsx
import { Inter } from 'next/font/google';
const inter = Inter({
subsets: ['latin'],
display: 'swap', // show fallback font immediately
preload: true,
variable: '--font-inter',
});
export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
return (
<html className={inter.variable}>
<body>{children}</body>
</html>
);
}
next/font for zero-CLS font loading with automatic subsettingdisplay: 'swap' to avoid invisible text during loadwidth and height on images and videosaspect-ratio CSS for responsive media containersmin-height
contain: layout for components that change sizeimport { onCLS, onINP, onLCP } from 'web-vitals';
onCLS(console.log);
onINP(console.log);
onLCP(console.log);
Measure real user metrics (RUM), not just lab scores. Vercel Analytics and Google Search Console provide field data.