Nextjs-effector NPM

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Installation

yarn add nextjs-effector @effector/next effector-react effector

Usage

Examples

Test App - used for testing the nextjs-effector library. You can find some architecture notes in README.

Initial setup

First, add effector/babel-plugin to your .babelrc:

{
  "presets": ["next/babel"],
  "plugins": ["effector/babel-plugin"]
}

By doing that, all our Effector units will be created with sid constant, which is unique and stable between the server and the client, so we can safely serialize store values for sending to the client.

You can also try out the official @effector/swc-plugin, which is still in early beta as the whole SWC-plugins system itself.

Finally, enhance your App:

/* pages/_app.tsx */

import App from "next/app";
import { withEffector } from "nextjs-effector";

// Passing effector-react exports is required to access the Scope
export default withEffector(App);

After that, the App will be wrapped in Effector's Scope Provider. The withEffector function uses @effector/next under the hood, which handles all of Next.js caveats and special requirements for us. This way you can focus on writing a business logic without thinking about the problems of integrating Effector into your Next.js application.

Main Concepts

There are 2 types of data in any application:

Shared - used on almost every page (translations, logged user info)
Specific - used only in the relevant pages (post content on post page, group info on group page)

Usually, we want these conditions to be met:

The shared data is loaded once in the application lifecycle (expect for manual update)
The specific data is loaded on each navigation between the pages
No shared events boilerplate on every page

Assume we have the following Effector events:

/* Needed everywhere */
export const loadAuthenticatedUser = createEvent();
export const loadTranslations = createEvent();

/* Needed only on the Post page */
export const loadPostCategories = createEvent();
export const loadPostContent = createEvent();

Let's group them into shared and specific:

export const appStarted = createEvent();
export const postPageStarted = createEvent();

sample({
  clock: appStarted,
  target: [loadAuthenticatedUser, loadTranslations],
});

sample({
  clock: postPageStarted,
  target: [loadPostCategories, loadPostContent],
});

We want the appStarted to be called once in the application lifecycle and the postPageStarted to be called on requesting/navigating to the Post page. nextjs-effector library provides a 2-level GIP factory to cover this case:

export const createGIP = createGIPFactory({
  // Will be called once
  sharedEvents: [appStarted],
});

PostPage.getInitialProps = createGIP({
  // Will be called on visiting PostPage
  pageEvent: postPageStarted,
});

Also, the library provides createGSSPFactory for getServerSideProps and createGSPFactory for getStaticProps. They have almost the same API, but both of them run sharedEvents on each request / static page generation.

Factories

`getInitialProps` (server and client-side)

getInitialProps is easier to work with and doesn't require executing the shared logic on each request, including navigation between pages.

/*
 * 1. Create events
 * GIP accepts the events with "PageContext" or "void" payload types
 */
export const appStarted = createEvent();
export const appStarted = createEvent<PageContext>();
export const pageStarted = createEvent();
export const pageStarted = createEvent<PageContext>();
export const pageStarted = createEvent<PageContext<Props, Params, Query>>();

/*
 * 2. Create GIP factory
 * The place depends on your architecture
 */
export const createGIP = createGIPFactory({
  // Will be called once:
  // - Server side on initial load
  // - Client side on navigation (only if not called yet)
  sharedEvents: [appStarted],

  // Allows specifying shared events behavior
  // When "false", the shared events run like pageEvent
  runSharedOnce: true,

  // Allows customizing server-side Scope creation process
  // By default, the library just uses fork(), like below
  // But you can fill the stores in scope with your values (cookies, for example)
  createServerScope: () => fork(),
  
  // The second argument in https://effector.dev/docs/api/effector/serialize
  serializeOptions: { ... },

  // You can define your custom logic using the "customize" function
  // It's run after all events are settled but before Scope serialization
  // So, here you can safely call allSettled
  async customize({ scope, context }) {
    // You can also return nothing (there will be no impact on props in this case)
    return { /* Props */ };
  },
});

/*
 * 3. Create GIP
 * Usually, it's done inside the "pages" directory
 */
Page.getInitialProps = createGIP({
  // Will be called on each page visit:
  // - Server side on initial load
  // - Client side on navigation (even if already called)
  pageEvent: pageStarted,

  // The same as on factory level
  async customize({ scope, context }) { ... },
});

`getServerSideProps` (only server-side)

For everyday cases, we recommend using getInitialProps instead. But getServerSideProps may be useful in some edge cases like executing logic with heavy computations, or accessing the data available only on the server side.

/*
 * 1. Create events
 * GSSP accepts the events with "PageContext" or "void" payload types
 */
export const appStarted = createEvent();
export const appStarted = createEvent<PageContext>();
export const pageStarted = createEvent();
export const pageStarted = createEvent<PageContext>();
export const pageStarted = createEvent<PageContext<Props, Params, Query>>();

/*
 * 2. Create GSSP factory
 * The place depends on your architecture
 */
export const createGSSP = createGSSPFactory({
  // Will be called on the first request and each page navigation (always on the server side)
  sharedEvents: [appStarted],

  // The second argument in https://effector.dev/docs/api/effector/serialize
  serializeOptions: { ... },

  // You can define your custom logic using the "customize" function
  // It's run after all events are settled but before Scope serialization
  // So, here you can safely call allSettled
  customize({ scope, context }) {
    // You can omit the "props" field (there will be no impact on props in this case)
    return { /* GSSP Result */ };
  },
});

/*
 * 3. Create GSSP
 * Usually, it's done inside the "pages" directory
 */
export const getServerSideProps = createGSSP({
  // Will be called on each page navigation (always on the server side)
  // Always called after shared events
  pageEvent: pageStarted,

  // The same as on factory level
  customize({ scope, context }) { ... },
});

`getStaticProps` (only server-side)

Recommended for static pages.

/*
 * 1. Create events
 */
export const appStarted = createEvent();
export const appStarted = createEvent<StaticPageContext>();
export const pageStarted = createEvent();
export const pageStarted = createEvent<StaticPageContext>();
export const pageStarted = createEvent<StaticPageContext<Props, Params>>();

/*
 * 2. Create GSP factory
 * The place depends on your architecture
 */
export const createGSP = createGSPFactory({
  // Will be called on each page generation (always on the server side)
  sharedEvents: [appStarted],
});

/*
 * 3. Create GSP
 * Usually, it's done inside the "pages" directory
 */
export const getStaticProps = createGSP({
  // Will be called on each page generation (always on the server side)
  pageEvent: pageStarted,

  // The second argument in https://effector.dev/docs/api/effector/serialize
  serializeOptions: { ... },

  // You can define your custom logic using the "customize" function
  // It's run after all events are settled but before Scope serialization
  // So, here you can safely call allSettled
  // Important: due to complex types, this method is not available on factory level like in GIP and GSSP
  customize({ scope, context }) {
    // You can omit the "props" field (there will be no impact on props in this case)
    return { /* GSP Result */ };
  },
});

Advanced Page Events Usage

`usePageEvent` (useful on the client side)

Executes the provided Event<void> | Event<PageContext> on the client side.

The hook may be useful for the getStaticProps cases - it allows to keep Next.js optimization and request some user-specific global data at the same time.

The second parameter is options to enhance the event using enhancePageEvent.

Usage:

const Page: NextPage<Props> = () => {
  usePageEvent(appStarted, { runOnce: true });
  return <AboutPage />;
};

export const getStaticProps: GetStaticProps<Props> = async () => {
  /* ... */
};

export default Page;

`enhancePageEvent` (manual flow control)

Wraps your event and adds some logic to it.

The enhanced event can be safely used anywhere.

It doesn't cause any changes to the original event - you may use it just as before.

const enhancedEvent = enhancePageEvent(appStarted, {
  // Works like the "runSharedOnce" option in GIP fabric, but for the single event
  // This option applies to both client and server environments:
  // If the enhanced event was called on the server side, it won't be called on the client side
  runOnce: true,
});

Utility functions

/*
 * PageContext has the "env" field with "client" or "server" value,
 * so you can determine the environment where the code is executed
 *
 * The library provides useful types and type-guards for these purposes
 */
import {
  isClientPageContext,
  isServerPageContext,
  ClientPageContext,
  ServerPageContext
} from 'nextjs-effector'

const pageStartedOnClient = createEvent<ClientPageContext>()
const pageStartedOnServer = createEvent<ServerPageContext>()

sample({
  source: pageStarted,
  filter: isClientPageContext,
  target: pageStartedOnClient
})

sample({
  source: pageStarted,
  filter: isServerPageContext,
  target: pageStartedOnServer
})

sample({
  source: pageStartedOnServer,
  fn: (context) => {
    // You can access "req" and "res" on the server side
    const { req, res } = context
    return req.cookie
  }
})

/*
 * GSP accepts the events with the "StaticPageContext | void" payload
 * Unlike PageContext, the StaticPageContext doesn't include query
 * and some other properties
 */
export const appStarted = createEvent<StaticPageContext>()
export const pageStarted = createEvent<StaticPageContext>()
export const pageStarted = createEvent<StaticPageContext<Props, Params>>()

/*
 * Also, the library exports some utility types
 */
type PageEvent<...> = Event<PageContext<...>>
type StaticPageEvent<...> = Event<StaticPageContext<...>>
type EmptyOrPageEvent<...> = PageEvent<...> | Event<void>
type EmptyOrStaticPageEvent<...> = StaticPageEvent<...> | Event<void>

Recipes

Cookies

You can use createServerScope to set cookies before executing any logic:

export const createGIP = createGIPFactory({
  sharedEvents: [appStarted],
  createServerScope: (context) => {
    return fork({
      values: [[$cookies, context.req?.headers.cookie ?? ""]],
    });
  },
});

Also, you can access the req object in effector logic by using isServerContext

import { isServerPageContext } from "nextjs-effector";

sample({
  source: appStarted,
  filter: isServerPageContext,
  fn: (context) => context.req.cookie,
  target: $cookies,
});

Common Questions

Where should I call createGIPFactory / createGSSPFactory / createGSPFactory?

The place depends on your architecture. But one thing is certain - creating factories on each page is a really bad idea. They are designed to simplify and encapsulate the repeated logic parts.

For example, with Feature Sliced Design you might consider creating a layouts layer, which can be used to create reusable page layouts and factories.

How are multiple customize work?

GIP:

Execute factory-level customize and save result
Execute page-level customize and save result
Merge results (page-level priority is higher)
Merge nextjs-effector props inside and return the result from GIP

GSSP:

Execute factory-level customize and save result
It has redirect field? Return the result from GSSP
It has notFound field? Return the result from GSSP
Execute page-level customize and save result
It has redirect field? Return the result from GSSP
It has notFound field? Return the result from GSSP
Deep merge results (page-level priority is higher)
Merge nextjs-effector props inside and return the result from GSSP

Why in GSSP are the shared events called on each request?

getServerSideProps, unlike the getInitialProps, is run only on the server side. The problem is that the pageEvent logic may depend on globally shared data. So, we need either to run shared events on each request (as we do now), or get this globally shared data in some other way, for example by sending it back from the client in a serialized form (sounds risky and hard).

Also, to check if shared events need to be executed, we should either ask it from the client or persist this data on a server. Both ways sound hard to implement.

That's why getInitialProps is the more recommended way to bind your Effector models to the Page lifecycle. When navigating between pages, it runs on the client side, so we can easily omit the app event execution.

I need to run sharedEvents and pageEvent in parallel. How can I do that?

You can create GIP / GSSP fabric without sharedEvents, and define the flow manually:

const createGIP = createGIPFactory();

Page.getInitialProps = createGIP({
  pageEvent: pageStarted,
});

sample({
  source: pageStarted,
  target: appStarted,
});

Also, you can use enhancePageEvent to run specific events only once in the application lifecycle.

What do I do if there are bundling issues?

Since Next.js 12 ESM imports are prioritized over CommonJS imports. While CJS-only dependencies are still supported, it is not recommended to use them, as those can lead to library doubles in the bundle and really weird bugs.

You can read about it here

In case when there is a CommonJS-only dependency, which uses Effector and you absolutely need it and the author can't fix it - you can copy the library to your project as the last resort measure.

How to

Download repository
Copy the src folder contents into your project, for example into src/nextjs-effector

Create the alias using tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "./",
    "paths": {
      "nextjs-effector": ["./src/nextjs-effector"],
      "nextjs-effector/*": ["./src/nextjs-effector/*"]
    }
  }
}

Contributing

Fork this repo
Use the Regular flow

Please follow Conventions

Maintenance

The dev branch is main - any developer changes are merged in there.

Also, there is a release/latest branch. It always contains the actual source code for release published with the latest tag.

All changes are made using Pull Requests - the push is forbidden. PR can be merged only after successful test-and-build workflow checks.

When PR is merged, the release-drafter workflow creates/updates a draft release. The changelog is built from the merged branch scope (feat, fix, etc) and PR title. When the release is ready - we publish the draft.

Then, the release workflow handles everything:

It runs tests, builds a package, and publishes it
It synchronizes the released tag with the release/latest branch

Regular flow

Create feature branch
Make changes in your feature branch and commit
Create a Pull Request from your feature branch to main
The PR is needed to test the code before pushing it to the release branch
If your PR contains breaking changes, don't forget to put a BREAKING CHANGES label
Merge the PR in main
All done! Now you have a drafted release - just publish it when ready

Prerelease flow

Assume your prerelease tag is beta
Create release/beta branch
Create feature branch
Make changes in your feature branch and commit
Create a Pull Request from your feature branch to release/beta
The PR is needed to test the code before pushing to release branch
Create a GitHub release with a tag like v1.0.0-beta, pointing to release/beta branch
For the next beta versions use semver build syntax: v1.0.0-beta+1
After that, the release workflow will publish your package with the beta tag
When the beta version is ready to become latest - create a Pull Request from release/beta to the main branch
Continue from the Regular flow's #5 step

Conventions

Feature branches:

Should start with feat/, fix/, docs/, refactor/, etc., depending on the changes you want to propose (see pr-labeler.yml for a full list of scopes)

Commits: