NextJS Boilerplates: A Developer's Guide to Efficiency

Most website owners would agree that building a site from scratch is tedious and time-consuming.

Luckily, NextJS boilerplates allow you to kickstart development and build sites more efficiently.

This guide will show you exactly how NextJS boilerplates work, the most popular options, and how to leverage them to streamline your workflow.

Introduction to NextJS Boilerplates

NextJS boilerplates provide developers with an optimized starting point for building web applications using the NextJS framework. Rather than starting projects from scratch, boilerplates offer pre-configured bundles of code, tools, and structure that speed up development.

Using NextJS boilerplates provides several key benefits:

Reduced Setup Time

Boilerplates eliminate many tedious tasks in the initial setup:

NextJS framework is already configured and integrated
Common tools like Babel, Webpack, ESLint preinstalled
Folder structure conventions in place
Styling solutions added like Tailwind CSS or Material UI
State management with Redux or React Query ready to go

This means you skip right to writing application code rather than setting up scaffolding.

Best Practices Out-of-the-Box

Experienced developers carefully craft these boilerplates to demonstrate effective patterns for structuring projects. Building on this foundation ensures you benefit from industry standards from day one.

Common best practices covered:

Scalable file and folder organization
Optimal importing and exporting
Handling SEO, security, testing, and more through built-in configurations

Leveraging this baked-in knowledge means higher quality code and avoiding rookie mistakes.

Updated Regularly

The NextJS ecosystem evolves rapidly. By using an active boilerplate, all dependencies stay current with the latest releases and changes.

This takes the hassle out of maintaining your own starter kit. You get to focus on your application rather than chasing framework updates.

In summary, NextJS boilerplates enable developers to hit the ground running on projects with optimized and streamlined setup right from the start. The time and efficiency gains add up to big savings over the course of building an application.

What is Next.js boilerplate?

A Next.js boilerplate is a starter code template that allows developers to bypass repetitive setup tasks and jump right into building applications with Next.js. These boilerplates come pre-configured with frameworks, tools, and best practices specifically tailored for the Next.js JavaScript framework.

Using a boilerplate can save significant development time compared to starting from scratch. They provide developers a solid foundation to start a project without worrying about configuration and dependencies.

Benefits of using a Next.js boilerplate

Some key benefits of leveraging a Next.js boilerplate include:

Accelerated development workflow - Preset configs skip tedious setup allowing you to focus on coding features
Industry best practices - Leverage vetted project structure, code organization and patterns
Updated dependencies - Start with the latest, stable dependency versions
SEO optimizations - Many include SEO enhancements out-of-the-box
Responsive layouts - Quickly build mobile-friendly, responsive web apps
Built-in testing - Unit tests or end-to-end testing configs accelerate quality assurance
UI component libraries - React component libraries like Chakra or Tailwind improve consistency

Types of Next.js boilerplates

There are a wide variety of boilerplate options for Next.js developers. Some common types include:

Minimal boilerplates - Lightweight codebase focused on simplicity
SEO-optimized - Configured for search engine optimization
Typescript - For type safety and scalability
CMS integrations - Preset to work with content APIs
Styling frameworks - Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, Chakra UI
State management - Redux, Recoil, Zustand, etc
Testing frameworks - Jest, React Testing Library, Cypress

The optimal boilerplate depends on the specific needs of a project. Evaluating different options based on included features, documentation, and customizability is key to selecting the right foundation.

Overall, Next.js boilerplates enable developers to improve productivity. They eliminate repetitive config tasks so teams can dedicate more time towards launching robust applications.

Should I use Next.js as backend?

Next.js has traditionally been viewed as a frontend framework for building reactive user interfaces. However, with recent additions like serverless functions, TypeScript support, and built-in API routes, Next.js has become a viable option for developing backend services as well.

Here are some key benefits of using Next.js for your backend:

Speed and Scalability

Next.js offers automatic code splitting and static site generation, allowing you to build incredibly fast server-side rendered apps right out of the box. And since pages are pre-rendered, your backend can effortlessly scale to handle more traffic without slowdowns.

Unified Development

By handling both frontend and backend within Next.js, you can streamline your development workflow. Changes made on the frontend can instantly leverage new backend features without needing to configure a separate server.

Power of React

Next.js lets you build your backend APIs using React, allowing you to reuse components, hooks, and shared logic between the client and server. This can accelerate development velocity.

TypeScript Support

With built-in TypeScript capabilities, Next.js helps you write type-safe backend code that is scalable, maintainable, and less prone to bugs.

Easy Deployments

Thanks to its serverless architecture, deploying Next.js backends is simple using services like Vercel, Netlify, and AWS Amplify. There's no need to manage servers yourself.

So in summary, Next.js 13 is a powerful and flexible framework that can be used for building both frontend and backend applications. With its built-in support for serverless functions, TypeScript, and File System Routing, it is now easier than ever to create scalable and performant backend APIs using Next.

Is Next.js a full stack framework?

Next.js is not a full-stack framework, but rather a React framework focused on frontend web development. However, its rich ecosystem of plugins and tight integration with backend technologies allow developers to build full-stack applications with Next.js.

Some key things that make Next.js suitable for full-stack web development:

Built-in APIs and server-side rendering - Next.js handles server-side rendering (SSR) out of the box through getServerSideProps and getInitialProps. This enables seamless integration of backend data into a pre-rendered UI.
Easy integration with databases & APIs - Next.js offers data fetching methods like getStaticProps and getServerSideProps that integrate well with databases and external APIs. There are also many database ORM libraries specifically for Next.js.
Authentication support - NextAuth.js provides a complete open-source authentication solution for Next.js. It handles login, registration, account management directly in API routes.
Deployment flexibility - Next.js apps can be deployed to serverless platforms like Vercel or to dedicated Node.js servers. There are also one-click deploys available for many cloud providers.

So in summary, Next.js gives developers the capabilities to build the frontend UI, fetch data, manage user authentication and deploy the app - everything needed for a modern full-stack web application. While it doesn't have backend capabilities built-in, Next.js offers seamless integration with external services to enable full-stack development.

Does Next.js use Express?

Next.js is a React framework that handles server-side rendering and static site generation. It does not include a backend framework like Express. However, Next.js and Express can work together in the same project.

Here is how you can use Express with Next.js:

Set up an Express server to handle routes and APIs. This acts as your backend and serves data to your Next.js frontend.
Use Next.js for all the frontend code and static assets. Next.js will handle routing, rendering pages, etc.
Proxy frontend requests to the Express backend in Next.js. This enables your frontend code to easily get data from Express routes and APIs.

For example:

// Express server
app.get("/api/users", (req, res) => {
  // Return user data
  res.json(users) 
})

// Next.js frontend
async function getUsers() {
  // Proxy /api requests to Express
  const response = await fetch("/api/users") 
  return response.json()
}

This keeps the frontend and backend code separate but makes it easy to connect them.

So in summary, Next.js is focused on frontend React code and Express can handle the backend server and API routes. Together they make a great stack for fullstack JavaScript applications.

Exploring NextJS Boilerplate Varieties

NextJS boilerplates provide an excellent starting point for web development projects by bundling together commonly used configurations, integrations, and best practices. With the wide variety available, developers can choose a boilerplate tailored to their specific needs and hit the ground running.

Kickstarting Projects with Nextjs-starter

Popular starter boilerplates like nextjs-starter.now.sh/" target="_blank">nextjs-starter integrate NextJS with frameworks like React, Redux, and Tailwind CSS to accelerate development. These starters help standardize configurations and eliminate repetitive setup tasks.

For example, the Next JS + Tailwind CSS starter scaffolds a project with:

Next JS 10+
Tailwind CSS 2.0+
Automatic CSS Purging
Built-in Sitemap Generator
Jest Testing
Cypress E2E Testing

With just a single command, developers can initialize their application with this baseline and immediately focus on building features instead of configurations.

Other handy integrations like Redux help manage complex application state while Redux Saga manages side effects like data fetching. These starters provide an instant boost in productivity.

Tailored Boilerplates for Niche Applications

Beyond generic starters, developers can also find boilerplates tailored for specific verticals like e-commerce, healthcare, finance, etc. These include relevant libraries, UI components, and configurations suited for that industry.

For example, an e-commerce boilerplate might include:

Integrations with payment gateways like Stripe or PayPal
Shopping cart and order management functionality
Product display components
Checkout process code samples

Similarly, boilerplates for blogs, dashboards, and other common applications eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel. Developers can use these as reference implementations or extend them further.

Next JS Enterprise Boilerplate for Large-Scale Projects

For large, complex applications, production-grade NextJS enterprise boilerplates provide robust foundations with built-in scalability, security, testing, and more.

These boilerplates help ease development and deployment of high-traffic, data-intensive sites. Common features include:

Authentication via OAuth, JWT
Database integration with MongoDB, SQL
Docker configurations
Container orchestration compatibility
End-to-end testing frameworks
Performance optimization tools

While more barebones starters help accelerate MVP development, enterprise boilerplates provide long-term maintainability for business-critical applications.

In summary, NextJS boilerplates streamline development by providing pre-configured foundations to build upon. With extensive options available, developers can find the perfect starting point tailored to their project's specifications and hit the ground running on web projects.

Evaluating Popular NextJS Boilerplates

NextJS boilerplates provide developers with an excellent starting point for building fast, scalable web applications. Rather than configuring complex build tools and project structure from scratch, these boilerplates offer pre-configured bundles to hit the ground running.

In this section, we'll evaluate some of the most popular open-source NextJS boilerplates available today based on community reviews, customizability, documentation quality, and more. Understanding the strengths and limitations of various starter kits can help streamline your decision when embarking on a new NextJS project.

Nextjs Boilerplate Typescript: The Developer's Choice

For developers seeking the flexibility of TypeScript along with advanced NextJS capabilities like static site generation (SSG) and server-side rendering (SSR), Nextjs Boilerplate Typescript is a leading choice. With over 2.3k stars on GitHub, this boilerplate enjoys widespread community adoption.

Out-of-the-box, the starter kit includes:

TypeScript support
ESLint for code linting
Jest for unit testing
Support for SSG, SSR, and Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR)
Bootstrap styling framework

For those new to TypeScript, this boilerplate makes adoption straightforward with auto-generated type declarations and IntelliSense autocompletion in IDEs like VS Code. The opinionated ESLint and Prettier configuration ensures clean, consistent code styling from the start.

While the boilerplate offers Bootstrap styling by default, developers have the flexibility to swap in alternatives like Tailwind CSS thanks to the project's modularity. The Jest testing framework also kickstarts building comprehensive test suites along the way.

With its balance of convention and customization, Nextjs Boilerplate Typescript takes the complexity out of configuring a TypeScript-based NextJS app yourself while avoiding the constraints of more opinionated starters. Its approachable documentation and engaged maintainers further bolster its popularity.

Styling with Next JS Tailwind Boilerplate

For developers seeking a lightweight styling solution out-of-the-box, the Next JS Tailwind Boilerplate simplifies building visually appealing UIs. With over 500 stars on GitHub, this starter includes the utility-first Tailwind CSS framework along with PostCSS for transforming styles.

Benefits of this boilerplate include:

Rapid UI development with Tailwind CSS classes
PostCSS setup for nesting styles and autoprefixing
PurgeCSS for optimizing final CSS bundle size
Support for SSG and SSR in NextJS
Pre-configured ESLint and Prettier for linting and formatting

Tailwind's utility-centric approach avoids the need to author custom CSS for many common interface elements like buttons, inputs, grids, and more. By composing existing styles, developers can focus more on building components rather than stylistic details.

PurgeCSS further optimizes the final CSS bundle by eliminating unused style rules resulting in a lighter payload for users. Overall, this boilerplate simplifies styling NextJS apps beautifully without the hassle of configuring PostCSS and Tailwind yourself.

Material UI Magic: Nextjs MUI Boilerplate

For developers seeking an elegant, consistent UI out-of-the-box, the Nextjs Material-UI Boilerplate delivers with the popular React component library. Trusted by over 2 million developers globally, Material-UI components help quickly construct intuitive, themeable interfaces.

Benefits of this boilerplate include:

Beautiful, accessible components from Material-UI
Support for light and dark modes
Localization support for internationalization
Tree-shaking and code-splitting optimization
Comprehensive documentation

While many component libraries only style custom UI elements, Material-UI provides complete components like tables, menus, buttons, and more. This avoids needing to style common interfaces from scratch.

The boilerplate further demonstrates best practices like Right-to-Left (RTL) language support and source code splitting to minimize bundle sizes. For those seeking to build complex, data-dense interfaces, Material-UI remains an industry favorite.

Workflow Integration with NextJS Boilerplates

NextJS boilerplates provide an excellent starting point for developers looking to build performant, production-ready web applications with React. By leveraging these reusable codebases instead of starting from scratch, teams can significantly accelerate their development workflow.

However, to fully capitalize on the benefits of boilerplates, it's important to choose and integrate them thoughtfully within your stack. This guide covers actionable tips for selecting, customizing, and maintaining NextJS boilerplates so you can streamline development processes long-term.

Selecting the Perfect Next JS Templates

With the wide variety of Nextjs boilerplate typescript, Next JS Enterprise boilerplate, and other template options available, the first step is narrowing your selection.

Here are key criteria to consider when evaluating boilerplate tools:

Technical stack: Review the base technology selection like TypeScript, Tailwind CSS to ensure alignment with your team's skills and preferences.
Feature set: Prioritize boilerplates like Nextjs-starter that already include the critical features you'll need built-in.
Customizability: Look for modular, well-documented boilerplates like NextJS MUI boilerplate that can be adapted to your use case.
Maintenance: Choose popular, actively maintained options like Next JS redux-saga boilerplate to ensure longevity.
Performance: Leverage options like Next JS templates optimized for SEO, speed, and best practices out of the box.

By balancing these criteria against your specific application roadmap and timeline, you can confidently select a NextJS foundation that will accelerate development.

Tailoring Your NextJS Boilerplate with Customization

While feature-rich boilerplates can speed up initial build time, it's equally important to adapt the foundation to your application's unique specifications.

When customizing your chosen boilerplate:

Extend existing integrations instead of removing them if possible, to avoid breaking upstream dependencies.
Wrap supplementary features in modular plug-and-play components for easy inclusion/exclusion.
Utilize comments and documentation to map modifications for future maintenance.
Add integrations gradually in order of priority to control scope and changes.

Following customization best practices preserves the advantages of building on an existing boilerplate, while still allowing teams to mold it to their product requirements.

Ensuring Longevity: Maintenance and Updates

The final advantage of leveraging boilerplates is reducing the long-tail maintenance as external dependencies and frameworks shift over time.

To sustain longevity of your chosen foundation:

Perform regular audits on community activity levels for continued support.
Follow release notes and upgrade to major boilerplate versions when applicable.
Contribute back fixes and compatibility updates to the open source tool when feasible.
Wrap deprecated integrations in modular layers instead of fully removing them.

Proactively keeping your boilerplate current pays dividends by protecting future development velocity and preventing accumulation of technical debt.

By selecting a feature-rich boilerplate aligned with your technology stack, customizing it incrementally to your product roadmap, and sustaining it over time, teams can realize significant productivity gains versus building from scratch.

Prioritizing these integration strategies allows developers to focus their efforts on delivering differentiated business value - making boilerplates a powerful asset for any modern web tech stack.

Crafting a Custom NextJS Boilerplate

For developers looking to streamline future projects, creating a reusable NextJS boilerplate tailored to your stack and preferences can save considerable time and effort.

Selecting Tools for Your Next JS Redux-Saga Boilerplate

When designing a custom NextJS boilerplate, one of the first steps is finalizing your technology stack. For state management, Redux-Saga is a popular choice providing an intuitive way to handle async logic and side effects.

Here are some recommendations on complementary libraries based on typical developer needs:

Styling: Tailwind CSS for utility-first CSS or Material UI for pre-built React components.
Forms: Formik for form state and validation.
Routing: NextJS built-in routing is simple yet powerful for most use cases.
Data Fetching: SWR for fast, reusable data fetching.
Testing: Jest and React Testing Library.
Linting: ESLint for code quality and consistency.
Deployment: Vercel has excellent NextJS support.

Some helpful boilerplate templates to reference:

// Next JS + Redux Saga + Material UI
github.com/codebucks27/Material-UI-NextJS-Boilerplate

// Next JS + Redux Saga + Tailwind CSS
github.com/codebucks27/next-redux-saga-tailwind-boilerplate

When selecting additional libraries, consider your actual usage in past projects to avoid bloating your boilerplate.

Designing a Boilerplate for Scalability and Flexibility

When structuring your NextJS boilerplate components and layouts, aim for modularity and customization. Here are some tips:

Independent Components

Break down components into reusable building blocks that can be composed together:

components/
  Button.js
  Card.js 
  Navbar.js

Customizable Layouts

Export layout components with props for modification:

export default function PageLayout({children, leftSection}) {

  return (
    <>
      <SidebarSection>
        {leftSection}  
      </SidebarSection>

      <MainSection>
        {children}
      </MainSection>
    </>
  )
}

Variants

For reusable elements like Buttons, export variations for flexibility:

export { PrimaryButton, SecondaryButton }

Theming

Utilize ThemeProvider for managing styles and CSS variables.

Following these patterns will create robust, adaptable components well-suited for a boilerplate foundation.

Automating Repetitive Tasks for Efficiency

Adding script commands to package.json can automate repetitive tasks for a streamlined developer workflow.

Linting

"lint": "eslint . --ext .js,.jsx"

Testing

"test": "jest"

Building

"build": "next build"

Deployment

"deploy": "vercel deploy"

Configuring these scripts eliminates manual commands each time, accelerating development and deployment.

In summary, investing time into an organized, versatile NextJS boilerplate pays dividends across projects in developer experience and productivity. Carefully customized to your typical stack and needs, it can serve as an ever-ready starting point for new applications.

Conclusion: Harnessing Boilerplates for Next-Level Efficiency

The NextJS boilerplate ecosystem offers web developers a multitude of options for drastically improving workflow efficiency. By leveraging these pre-configured boilerplate templates, developers can cut down on redundant configuration tasks and eliminate the hassle of starting projects from scratch.

Maximizing Developer Productivity

NextJS boilerplates contain many pre-built features commonly required in web apps, such as routing, state management with Redux or React Query, TypeScript configuration, CSS frameworks like Tailwind or Material UI, as well as testing frameworks, linting, and more. These ready-made starters allow engineers to skip repetitive setup procedures and dive right into building core application logic.

Additionally, enterprise-grade boilerplates take scalability and production-readiness into account with built-in capabilities like API integration, authentication flows, and deployment optimization. Choosing an advanced boilerplate fitting your tech stack needs can shave off days or weeks of infrastructure development.

Customization and Maintenance

While the abundance of boilerplate options solves many problems, developers should thoughtfully consider long-term maintenance implications when integrating starters into projects. Evaluating complexity, weighing customization needs, and planning to keep dependencies current are all critical.

In most cases, judiciously adapting an unopinionated, lightweight boilerplate with only the essentials results in the most maintainable codebase. Removing unnecessary features prevents accumulating stale or insecure packages down the road. On the other hand, some advanced starter kits warrant added complexity for large, scalable applications.

The Path to NextJS Mastery

By taking advantage of the vibrant NextJS boilerplate ecosystem, developers can make rapid progress creating production-ready apps. Choosing the right foundation accelerates workflows today while allowing room to grow skills over time – a winning combination for boosting efficiency.