Breaking Change: How Next.js "Revolutionized" Web Development
~7 min read
TL;DR
Remember when Next.js felt like a magical trail guide who promised to handle all the hard stuff while you focused on building? Well, it delivered on that promise—but with a side of constant evolution that keeps us all on our toes. From the Pages Router to App Router migration chaos, to breaking changes that break our weekends, Next.js has reshaped how we think about React apps. But hey, at least we're not hand-rolling webpack configs anymore.
Maybe You and I Could Partner Up
Picture this: It's 2021, and you're trying to set up a React app with server-side rendering. You're juggling Create React App, Express, webpack configs, and enough npm scripts to fill a novel. Then Next.js shows up like that friend who's really good at directions and always has snacks.
"I've got routing, SSR, code-splitting, and even image optimization," it says. "You just focus on shipping features." And for a while? It actually worked. We felt like full-stack pioneers with a proper map instead of just following our noses through the wilderness.
I am not in React, I am the React!
Fast forward a few years, and Next.js isn't just popular—it's the obvious choice. React's own documentation now steers newcomers toward frameworks, with Next.js front and center. When they officially sunsetted Create React App, they didn't just say "find something else" —they specifically recommended Next.js.
Next.js wrapped up all the common web needs—SSR, SSG, ISR, file-based routing—into one cohesive package. Then they added React Server Components and the App Router, letting us fetch data on the server by default and stream UI as it becomes ready. It's like they took all the ceremony we used to invent from scratch and baked it in.
Some terminology: When React officially recommends you by name, that's called "market validation."
You Are Done. Fired. Do Not Ever Use Pages Router Again.
Enter Next.js 13, stage left, with the App Router and React Server Components. Remember when it was just a cute routing library? Well, apparently that wasn't ambitious enough. Now it wanted to completely redesign how we think about data fetching, layouts, and pretty much everything else in our React apps.
Sure, some folks loved the server-first approach—data fetching happens automatically on the server, UI streams in progressively as data becomes available, and nested layouts made everything feel more composable. Performance was better too, shipping less JavaScript to the client. But let's be real: this wasn't just an upgrade, it was a complete mental model makeover.
The learning curve? Steep doesn't even begin to cover it. Everything about data fetching and rendering changed overnight. Migrating from pages/ to app/ felt like trying to port a house from one foundation to another while it's still occupied. Libraries needed time to catch up, documentation was playing catch-up, and developers everywhere were left wondering if they'd accidentally signed up for a complete rewrite of everything they thought they knew about Next.js.
The honest take: Even Vercel had to publicly ask developers to "give App Router another chance." That's polite speak for "yeah, there was some pushback, but trust us, it's worth it."
I am the One who Breaks!
If you've been around Next.js for more than a year, you've probably experienced this pattern:
If you've ever felt like an experienced Next.js developer who suddenly "knows nothing," you're not alone. You finally mastered getServerSideProps vs getStaticProps, and then RSC showed up. You memorized Pages Router conventions, and then layouts and parallel routes wanted a word.
I am not in Framework Business, I am in the Empire Business
Zoom out for a second: Next.js normalized SSR, SSG, ISR, and RSC for the entire web community. It dragged server-first React into the mainstream and gave developers a paved path instead of a dirt trail. You can argue about the defaults and timing, but the impact is undeniable.
The breaking changes? They're annoying, sometimes exhausting, but they come with guidance, codemods, and increasingly good warnings. Vercel and the Next.js team are listening—shipping fixes, improving DX, and tightening the upgrade story with each release.
But here's the real tea: maybe the Vercel team is just too visionary for us mere mortals. They don't seem to care much about our little React development experience or the fact that every major release breaks our weekend plans. They're playing a much bigger game—revolutionizing the entire web development process from the ground up.
While we're busy complaining about migration pains and learning curve nightmares, they're building the future. Server Components? Streaming? Edge functions? These aren't just features—they're paradigm shifts. The team is so far ahead of the curve that our "developer experience" concerns probably sound like caveman grunts to them. They see the web's evolution in decades, not deployments.
What if all the breaking changes aren't bugs in their system, but features of their master plan? What if the pain we're feeling now is just the growing pains of the web's next evolution? Time will tell if their grand vision was worth our collective developer trauma.
At the end of the day, Next.js dragged the entire industry forward, even if it occasionally drags us through some rough terrain. For that alone, it deserves our respect—and maybe a little patience during the breaking changes. Or maybe we're all just along for the ride as Vercel builds the future we didn't know we needed.