A Few Things I Learned While Working with Next.js in Real Projects

Hi everyone,
After working mostly with React projects, I recently spent more time working with Next.js in production applications. I liked many things about it, but I also learned a few lessons while building real features.

I thought I would share a few of them.

1. Folder structure becomes important very quickly
When a Next.js project is small, everything feels simple. But as the project grows, it can become messy if there is no clear structure.
In one project we had pages, components, hooks, and API logic mixed in many places.
Later we organized things better:

1. components
2. hooks
3. services
4. utilities

It made the code much easier to navigate for the team.

2. Server vs Client components can be confusing at first
One thing that confused me in the beginning was when to use server components and when to use client components.
Sometimes I accidentally used a hook in a server component and the build failed.
After some time I started following a simple rule:

1. Server components for data and layout
2. Client components for interactivity

That helped avoid many issues.

3. Data fetching strategy matters Next.js gives many ways to fetch data:

1. server-side
2. static
3. client-side

At first I used client-side fetching for many pages. Later I realized some pages worked better with server-side fetching for SEO and faster first load.
Choosing the right method really affects performance.

4. Performance improvements come almost for free

One thing I like about Next.js is that many optimizations are built-in.

For example:

1. automatic code splitting
2. image optimization
3. better routing These small things make a big difference in production apps.

Final thoughts

Working with Next.js feels very productive once you understand the basics and structure your project well.

I’m still learning new patterns, but overall it has been a great experience building real applications with it.

If you have worked with Next.js in production, I’d be interested to hear what challenges you faced.

Thanks for reading.