01Engineering

Why We Moved to the Next.js 16 App Router (and Never Looked Back)

After migrating three production apps to the App Router, here are the real performance gains, the gotchas, and why server components changed how we think about data fetching.

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Salman AnsariFebruary 28, 20268 min read

The win is the mental model, not the megabytes

The headline numbers are nice — smaller client bundles, faster first loads — but the durable win is conceptual. Server components let data fetching live next to the markup that needs it, which deletes an entire category of client-side state and waterfalls.

The gotchas we hit so you don't

Async params and headers trip up every team once. Caching defaults changed and will silently serve stale data if you don't opt into the behavior you want. And the boundary between server and client components is a real architectural decision, not a syntax detail — draw it deliberately.

Salman Ansari

Writing for NextWebX

02KEEP READING

EngineeringMay 12, 2026

Why Platform Architecture Decisions Made in Year One Compound for a Decade

The infrastructure choices you defer never disappear — they resurface as scaling crises, security debt, and team friction. We unpack the five decisions that define a product's long-term trajectory.

DesignApril 22, 2026

Designing for Trust: How UI Patterns Signal Credibility Before a Word is Read

Users form first impressions in 50ms. This piece examines the typography, spacing, and motion cues that communicate competence before your content ever loads.

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