Learn Next.js in 10 DaysDay 10: Deployment and Production
books.chapter 10Learn Next.js in 10 Days

Day 10: Deployment and Production

What You'll Learn Today

  • Deploying to Vercel
  • Managing environment variables
  • Performance optimization
  • Error monitoring
  • Next steps

Building for Production

Production Build

npm run build

Build output:

Route (app)                              Size     First Load JS
β”Œ β—‹ /                                    5.2 kB        89.5 kB
β”œ β—‹ /about                               2.1 kB        86.4 kB
β”œ ● /blog                                3.4 kB        87.7 kB
β”œ ● /blog/[slug]                         4.1 kB        88.4 kB
β”” Ζ’ /dashboard                           6.3 kB        90.6 kB

β—‹  (Static)   prerendered as static content
●  (SSG)      prerendered as static HTML (uses generateStaticParams)
Ζ’  (Dynamic)  server-rendered on demand

Test Production Mode Locally

npm run build && npm run start

Deploying to Vercel

Connect GitHub Repository

  1. Go to Vercel
  2. Login with GitHub
  3. Click "New Project"
  4. Import repository
  5. Review settings and click "Deploy"
flowchart LR
    subgraph GitHub["GitHub"]
        PUSH["git push"]
    end

    subgraph Vercel["Vercel"]
        BUILD["Build"]
        DEPLOY["Deploy"]
        CDN["Global CDN"]
    end

    PUSH --> BUILD --> DEPLOY --> CDN

    style GitHub fill:#24292e,color:#fff
    style Vercel fill:#000,color:#fff

Deploy with Vercel CLI

# Install Vercel CLI
npm install -g vercel

# Deploy
vercel

# Deploy to production
vercel --prod

Preview Deployments

When you create a PR, a preview URL is automatically generated.

https://my-app-git-feature-branch-username.vercel.app

Managing Environment Variables

Local Environment

# .env.local (include in gitignore)
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://..."
NEXTAUTH_SECRET="your-secret"
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL="http://localhost:3000/api"

Types of Environment Variables

Prefix Exposure
NEXT_PUBLIC_ Exposed to browser
None Server only 
// Available on server only
const secret = process.env.DATABASE_URL;

// Available in browser too
const apiUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL;

Setting Environment Variables on Vercel

  1. Project Settings β†’ Environment Variables
  2. Select environment (Production, Preview, Development)
  3. Enter key and value
flowchart TB
    subgraph Environments["Environments"]
        DEV["Development<br/>.env.local"]
        PREVIEW["Preview<br/>Per PR"]
        PROD["Production<br/>Live"]
    end

    subgraph Variables["Environment Variables"]
        DB_DEV["DATABASE_URL<br/>(Dev DB)"]
        DB_PREVIEW["DATABASE_URL<br/>(Staging DB)"]
        DB_PROD["DATABASE_URL<br/>(Prod DB)"]
    end

    DEV --> DB_DEV
    PREVIEW --> DB_PREVIEW
    PROD --> DB_PROD

    style Environments fill:#3b82f6,color:#fff
    style Variables fill:#22c55e,color:#fff

Performance Optimization

Enable Next.js Analytics

// src/app/layout.tsx
import { Analytics } from "@vercel/analytics/react";
import { SpeedInsights } from "@vercel/speed-insights/next";

export default function RootLayout({
  children,
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode;
}) {
  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <body>
        {children}
        <Analytics />
        <SpeedInsights />
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

Analyze Bundle Size

npm install @next/bundle-analyzer

// next.config.ts
import bundleAnalyzer from "@next/bundle-analyzer";

const withBundleAnalyzer = bundleAnalyzer({
  enabled: process.env.ANALYZE === "true",
});

export default withBundleAnalyzer({
  // config
});

ANALYZE=true npm run build

Performance Checklist

Item Solution
Images Use next/image
Fonts Use next/font
Large libraries Dynamic imports
Unnecessary re-renders Memoization (memo, useMemo)
Third-party scripts Use next/script

Dynamic Imports

import dynamic from "next/dynamic";

// Load only on client
const Chart = dynamic(() => import("@/components/Chart"), {
  loading: () => <div>Loading chart...</div>,
  ssr: false,
});

export default function DashboardPage() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Dashboard</h1>
      <Chart />
    </div>
  );
}

Third-Party Scripts with next/script

import Script from "next/script";

export default function RootLayout({
  children,
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode;
}) {
  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <body>
        {children}
        <Script
          src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXX"
          strategy="afterInteractive"
        />
        <Script id="google-analytics" strategy="afterInteractive">
          {`
            window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
            function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
            gtag('js', new Date());
            gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXX');
          `}
        </Script>
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

Error Monitoring

Sentry Integration

npx @sentry/wizard@latest -i nextjs

// sentry.client.config.ts
import * as Sentry from "@sentry/nextjs";

Sentry.init({
  dsn: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SENTRY_DSN,
  tracesSampleRate: 1.0,
});

Error Boundary

// src/app/error.tsx
"use client";

import * as Sentry from "@sentry/nextjs";
import { useEffect } from "react";

export default function Error({
  error,
  reset,
}: {
  error: Error & { digest?: string };
  reset: () => void;
}) {
  useEffect(() => {
    Sentry.captureException(error);
  }, [error]);

  return (
    <div className="min-h-screen flex items-center justify-center">
      <div className="text-center">
        <h2 className="text-2xl font-bold mb-4">Something went wrong</h2>
        <button
          onClick={reset}
          className="px-4 py-2 bg-blue-600 text-white rounded"
        >
          Try again
        </button>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}

Security

Security Headers

// next.config.ts
const nextConfig = {
  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",
          },
          {
            key: "Content-Security-Policy",
            value: "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline';",
          },
        ],
      },
    ];
  },
};

export default nextConfig;

Environment Variable Security

  • Only use NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefix when necessary
  • Keep sensitive info server-side only
  • Always include .env.local in .gitignore

Production Best Practices

Deployment Checklist

## Pre-Deployment Checklist

### Build
- [ ] `npm run build` succeeds
- [ ] No TypeScript errors
- [ ] No ESLint errors

### Environment Variables
- [ ] Production environment variables set
- [ ] Sensitive info not exposed to client

### Performance
- [ ] Images optimized with next/image
- [ ] Fonts optimized with next/font
- [ ] Large libraries dynamically imported

### SEO
- [ ] Metadata configured
- [ ] OGP images set
- [ ] sitemap.xml generated
- [ ] robots.txt configured

### Security
- [ ] Security headers configured
- [ ] Authentication working correctly
- [ ] API routes protected

### Monitoring
- [ ] Error monitoring configured
- [ ] Analytics configured

10-Day Review

flowchart TB
    subgraph Week1["Week 1: Fundamentals"]
        D1["Day 1<br/>Next.js Intro"]
        D2["Day 2<br/>Routing"]
        D3["Day 3<br/>Server/Client Components"]
        D4["Day 4<br/>Data Fetching"]
        D5["Day 5<br/>Server Actions"]
    end

    subgraph Week2["Week 2: Advanced"]
        D6["Day 6<br/>Optimization"]
        D7["Day 7<br/>Rendering Strategies"]
        D8["Day 8<br/>Styling"]
        D9["Day 9<br/>Authentication"]
        D10["Day 10<br/>Deployment"]
    end

    D1 --> D2 --> D3 --> D4 --> D5
    D5 --> D6 --> D7 --> D8 --> D9 --> D10

    style Week1 fill:#3b82f6,color:#fff
    style Week2 fill:#22c55e,color:#fff

What You Learned

Day Topic Key Concepts
1 Next.js Intro App Router, file-based routing
2 Routing Dynamic routes, route groups, loading/error
3 Components Server Components, Client Components
4 Data Fetching fetch, caching, parallel fetching, Suspense
5 Server Actions Form handling, mutations, revalidation
6 Optimization next/image, next/font, metadata
7 Rendering SSG, SSR, ISR, streaming
8 Styling CSS Modules, Tailwind, dark mode
9 Authentication Middleware, NextAuth.js
10 Deployment Vercel, environment variables, monitoring

Next Steps

Topics to Explore Further

  1. Database Integration

    • Prisma + PostgreSQL
    • Drizzle ORM
    • PlanetScale / Neon

  2. Advanced Features

    • Internationalization (i18n)
    • Edge Functions
    • Turbopack

  3. Testing

    • Jest + Testing Library
    • Playwright (E2E)

  4. Practice Projects

    • Blog platform
    • E-commerce site
    • SaaS application

Recommended Resources

Resource URL
Next.js Documentation https://nextjs.org/docs
Next.js Learn https://nextjs.org/learn
Vercel Templates https://vercel.com/templates
GitHub Examples https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/examples

Summary

Concept Description
Vercel Deployment Automated deployment with GitHub
Environment Variables Separate prod/preview/dev
Performance Analytics, bundle analysis
Security Headers, environment variable protection
Error Monitoring Sentry integration

Final Points

  1. Vercel is optimal: Same developers as Next.js
  2. Separate environments: Production/staging/development
  3. Monitoring is essential: Errors and performance
  4. Continue learning: Follow official docs

Conclusion

Congratulations on completing the 10-day journey!

Over these 10 days, you've built practical skills from Next.js fundamentals to production deployment. Next.js is an actively developed framework. Keep following the official documentation to learn the latest features and best practices.

Happy coding!

References