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Production Best Practices

Production Best Practices

Section titled “Production Best Practices”

Introduction

Section titled “Introduction”

This topic summarizes the key practices for running Next.js applications in production.

Configuration

Section titled “Configuration”
next.config.js
/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
  // Enable strict mode for identifying potential issues
  reactStrictMode: true,


  // Output standalone for self-hosting
  output: 'standalone',


  // Enable gzip compression
  compress: true,


  // Configure image optimization
  images: {
    formats: ['image/avif', 'image/webp'],
    deviceSizes: [640, 750, 1080, 1920],
  },


  // Custom headers
  async headers() {
    return [
      {
        source: '/(.*)',
        headers: [
          { key: 'X-Frame-Options', value: 'DENY' },
          { key: 'X-Content-Type-Options', value: 'nosniff' },
          { key: 'Referrer-Policy', value: 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin' },
        ],
      },
    ]
  },
}


module.exports = nextConfig

Performance Checklist

Section titled “Performance Checklist”
  • Bundle size is analyzed with @next/bundle-analyzer
  • Images use next/image with priority on above-the-fold images
  • Fonts use next/font (no external requests)
  • Scripts use next/script with appropriate strategy
  • Heavy components are dynamically imported
  • Static pages are cached with ISR where appropriate

Security Checklist

Section titled “Security Checklist”
  • HTTPS is enforced
  • Security headers are set
  • Environment variables are not hardcoded
  • API routes are protected with authentication
  • User input is validated with Zod
  • SQL injection is prevented (use ORM parameterized queries)

Monitoring Checklist

Section titled “Monitoring Checklist”
  • Error monitoring is configured (Sentry, or similar)
  • Performance monitoring is active (Vercel Analytics, or similar)
  • Logging is set up for API routes and Server Actions
  • Uptime monitoring is configured

Common Mistakes

Section titled “Common Mistakes”
  • Disabling React Strict Mode — It catches bugs during development. Keep it enabled.
  • No error monitoring — You won’t know about bugs until users report them.
  • Not testing the production build — next dev behaves differently from next start. Always test locally with npm run build && npm start.

Summary

Section titled “Summary”

Production best practices span configuration, performance, security, and monitoring. Use the checklists above to verify your application is ready. Always test the production build locally before deploying.

Section titled “Related Topics”