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Engineering24 June 2024·3 min read

Migrating to Next.js App Router with zero downtime

The engineering questions that matter are rarely about which tool.

Paycux engineering

The engineering questions that matter are rarely about which tool. They are about which failure you are willing to own, and how loudly it will tell you when it happens.

This piece walks through how we think about it at Paycux, what we have changed our minds about, and where the sharp edges are.

App Router challenges

That brings us to app router challenges. Idempotency is not a nice-to-have in any system with retries. Key on an identifier the caller supplies, store the outcome, and return the same answer to the same key rather than doing the work twice.

Measure before you optimise, then measure the thing users feel rather than the thing that is easy to instrument. A p50 that looks fine while the p99 is unusable is a reporting failure, not a performance one.

Migration strategy

Migration strategy is where this gets concrete. Measure before you optimise, then measure the thing users feel rather than the thing that is easy to instrument. A p50 that looks fine while the p99 is unusable is a reporting failure, not a performance one.

Measure before you optimise, then measure the thing users feel rather than the thing that is easy to instrument. A p50 that looks fine while the p99 is unusable is a reporting failure, not a performance one.

  • Name the boundary before you cross it
  • Measure what users feel, not what is easy to instrument
  • Make every retried operation idempotent
  • Write down the assumption that would invalidate the design

Step 1: Upgrade Next.js

That brings us to step 1: upgrade next.js. Make the boundary explicit. When one part of the system can only talk to another through a named interface, you can change either side without a meeting; when it cannot, every change becomes a negotiation.

Measure before you optimise, then measure the thing users feel rather than the thing that is easy to instrument. A p50 that looks fine while the p99 is unusable is a reporting failure, not a performance one.

Step 2: Migrate routing hooks

Consider step 2: migrate routing hooks. Idempotency is not a nice-to-have in any system with retries. Key on an identifier the caller supplies, store the outcome, and return the same answer to the same key rather than doing the work twice.

Idempotency is not a nice-to-have in any system with retries. Key on an identifier the caller supplies, store the outcome, and return the same answer to the same key rather than doing the work twice.

Make the boundary explicit.

Step 3: Create a temporary /app/new directory

Step 3: Create a temporary /app/new directory is where this gets concrete. Idempotency is not a nice-to-have in any system with retries. Key on an identifier the caller supplies, store the outcome, and return the same answer to the same key rather than doing the work twice.

Make the boundary explicit. When one part of the system can only talk to another through a named interface, you can change either side without a meeting; when it cannot, every change becomes a negotiation.

Step 4: Import existing code from /pages

Step 4: Import existing code from /pages deserves its own treatment. Idempotency is not a nice-to-have in any system with retries. Key on an identifier the caller supplies, store the outcome, and return the same answer to the same key rather than doing the work twice.

Make the boundary explicit. When one part of the system can only talk to another through a named interface, you can change either side without a meeting; when it cannot, every change becomes a negotiation.

Step 5: Use a query param to access the App Router

Step 5: Use a query param to access the App Router deserves its own treatment. Make the boundary explicit. When one part of the system can only talk to another through a named interface, you can change either side without a meeting; when it cannot, every change becomes a negotiation.

Measure before you optimise, then measure the thing users feel rather than the thing that is easy to instrument. A p50 that looks fine while the p99 is unusable is a reporting failure, not a performance one.

Where this leaves us

None of this is exotic. It is the ordinary discipline of deciding what you own, writing down what you assume, and making the failures loud enough to notice.

If you are working through the same problem and want to compare notes, the docs cover the mechanics and the console shows the behaviour on your own data.

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