Next.js

Next.js is a React web development framework. When used with Convex, Next.js provides:

• File-system based routing
• API routes
• Fast refresh in development
• Font and image optimization

and more!

Getting started

Follow the Next.js Quickstart to add Convex to a new or existing Next.js project.

Adding client-side authentication

The simplest approach to authentication in Next.js is to keep it client-side.

For example Auth0 describes this approach in Next.js Authentication with Auth0 guide, describing it in "Next.js Static Site Approach" and "Serverless with the user on the frontend".

To require login on every page of your application you can add logic to _app.jsx to conditionally render page content, blocking it until the user is logged in.

If you're using Auth0, the helper component ConvexProviderWithAuth0 can be imported from convex/react-auth0.

pages/_app.jsx

import { ConvexReactClient } from "convex/react";
import { ConvexProviderWithAuth0 } from "convex/react-auth0";
import { Auth0Provider } from "@auth0/auth0-react";

const convex = new ConvexReactClient(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL);

export default function MyApp({ Component, pageProps }) {
  return (
    <Auth0Provider
      domain={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_AUTH0_DOMAIN}
      clientId={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_AUTH0_CLIENT_ID}
      authorizationParams={{
        redirect_uri:
          typeof window === "undefined" ? undefined : window.location.origin,
      }}
      useRefreshTokens={true}
      cacheLocation="localstorage"
    >
      <ConvexProviderWithAuth0 client={convex}>
        <Component {...pageProps} />
      </ConvexProviderWithAuth0>
    </Auth0Provider>
  );
}

Custom loading and logged out views can be built with the helper Authenticated, Unauthenticated and AuthLoading components from convex/react, see the Convex Next.js demo for an example.

If only some routes of your app require login, the same helpers can be used directly in page components that do require login instead of being shared between all pages from pages/_app.jsx. Share a single ConvexReactClient instance between pages to avoid needing to reconnect to Convex on client-side page navigation.

Read more about authenticating users with Convex in Authentication. In particular, be sure to run npx convex auth add to configure Convex for your chosen auth provider.

API routes

Next.js supports building API routes by adding files to the pages/api directory.

To load and edit Convex data in your endpoints, you can use the ConvexHttpClient to call your query and mutation functions:

pages/api/clicks.js

import { ConvexHttpClient } from "convex/browser";

const convex = new ConvexHttpClient(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL);

export default async function handler(_req, res) {
  const clicks = await convex.query("getCounter", { counterName: "clicks" });
  res.status(200).json({ clicks });
}

Server-side rendering

We currently recommend client-side rendering Convex data when using Next.js. This is because data from Convex is fully reactive. Convex needs a connection from your deployment to the browser in order to push updates as data changes and that must happen on the client.

If you need Convex data on the server, you can load data from Convex in getStaticProps or getServerSideProps, but it will be non-reactive. To do this, use the ConvexHttpClient to call query functions just like you would in API routes.

To make authenticated requests to Convex during server-side rendering, the ConvexHttpClient instance needs authentication info present server-side. Auth0 describes this approach in Serverless with the user on the backend. When server-side rendering, call ConvexHttpClient.setAuth to fetch the user's identity token before making the query.

We are investigating ways to combine Next.js server-side rendering with end-to-end reactivity. Stay tuned!