@rsc-kit/mcp 0.15.0 → 0.16.0

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+ # Coming from Next.js
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+
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+ > What carries over unchanged, what to rename, and what is different on purpose.
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+
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+ Most of a Next.js app directory moves over as it is. This page is the rest,
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+ in the order a port meets it.
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+
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+ ## What is the same
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+
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+ The `app/` conventions are the same conventions: `layout.tsx`, `page.tsx`,
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+ `loading.tsx`, `error.tsx`, `not-found.tsx`, `route.ts`, `[slug]`,
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+ `[...path]`, `(group)`, `@slot` and `(.)intercept`. `"use client"` and
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+ `"use server"` mean what they mean in React. `cookies()` and `headers()` are
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+ async and have the same names. `redirect()`, `notFound()`,
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+ `generateStaticParams()` and `export const metadata` all exist. Streaming
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+ through `<Suspense>` works the same way, because it is React doing it.
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+
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+ Copy `src/app` across first and fix imports second. Most files need only the
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+ imports.
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+
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+ ## Imports
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+
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+ | Next.js | here |
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+ | --- | --- |
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+ | `next/link` | `@rsc-kit/core/Link` — `href` is typed to your routes, and `search` to the page's schema |
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+ | `useRouter().push(url)` | `visit(url)` from `@rsc-kit/core/router`; `replace: true` for `.replace()` |
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+ | `useRouter().refresh()` | `refresh()` from `@rsc-kit/core/router` — or better, `revalidate()` from the action |
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+ | `usePathname()` | `@rsc-kit/core/usePathname` |
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+ | `useSearchParams()` | `@rsc-kit/core/useSearchParams`, or [nuqs](/guides/routing#search-params-as-state) with our adapter |
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+ | `useParams()` | the page's `params` prop, passed down |
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+ | `cookies()`, `headers()` from `next/headers` | the same names from `@rsc-kit/core/request` |
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+ | `redirect()` from `next/navigation` | `@rsc-kit/core/redirect` |
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+ | `notFound()` | `@rsc-kit/core/not-found` |
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+ | `revalidatePath()`, `revalidateTag()` | `revalidate('tag')` from `@rsc-kit/core/revalidate` — see below, it is narrower |
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+ | `Metadata` from `next` | `@rsc-kit/core/metadata` — `metadataBase`, `openGraph`, `twitter`, `icons` as you had them |
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+ | `next/font` | [Fontsource](/guides/fonts): install the font, import its CSS |
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+ | `next/image` | [unpic](/guides/images) for a CDN, `vite-imagetools` for files in the repo |
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+ | `next/script` | [a `<script>` tag](/guides/third-party-scripts): React 19 hoists and dedupes `async` scripts itself |
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+ | `NEXT_PUBLIC_*` | `VITE_*`, read through `import.meta.env`; everything else stays `process.env` on the server |
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+ | `next.config.js` | `vite.config.ts` — Tailwind, aliases and plugins are Vite's |
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+ | `next-safe-action` | `createActionClient()` — same shape, [below](#actions) |
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+
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+ ## Different on purpose
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+
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+ ### Nothing is dynamic by declaration
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+
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+ There is no `export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic'` and no `revalidate = 60`.
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+ A page is frozen at build time unless it **reads the request** — `cookies()`,
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+ `headers()`, `searchParams`, `await connection()` — and then it renders per
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+ request, or as a shell with the reading part streamed in. The build prints
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+ which, and why:
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+
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+ ```
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+ ○ /about no js
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+ ◐ /orders 85 kB
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+ dynamic — called cookies()
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+ ```
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+
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+ `await connection()` is the one explicit mark, for a page that must render per
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+ visitor and does not happen to read anything. Time-based ISR does not exist:
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+ a frozen page changes when you build, a dynamic one on every request, and
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+ [edge caching](/guides/edge-caching) covers the middle.
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+
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+ ### Middleware is per directory, not one file at the edge
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+
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+ Next has one `middleware.ts` that runs on a matcher, on the edge runtime, with
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+ a restricted API. Here a `middleware.ts` sits in the directory it protects,
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+ runs on the server with the full API, and covers everything below it:
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+
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+ ```ts title="src/app/admin/middleware.ts"
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+ export default async function middleware() {
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+ if (!(await currentUser())?.isAdmin) redirect('/login');
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+ }
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+ ```
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+
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+ It does not run for actions — an action renders no route — which is why the
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+ check for an action belongs in the action. See [Authorization](/guides/authorization).
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+
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+ ### Actions
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+
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+ `next-safe-action` users will find the same shape under a different name.
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+ `createActionClient()` chains middleware, validates with any Standard Schema,
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+ and **returns** failures as `{ validationErrors }` or `{ serverError }` rather
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+ than throwing them across the wire:
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+
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+ ```ts
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+ export const client = createActionClient().use(async ({ next }) => {
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+ const user = await currentUser();
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+ if (!user) throw new ServerAuthenticationError();
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+ return next({ ctx: { user } });
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+ });
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+
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+ export const createPost = client.input(schema).handler(async ({ input, ctx, fieldErrors }) => {
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+ if (await slugTaken(input.slug)) return fieldErrors({ slug: 'Already taken' });
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+ return save(input, ctx.user);
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+ });
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+ ```
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+
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+ `returnValidationErrors(schema, { email: { _errors: [...] } })` becomes
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+ `return fieldErrors({ email: 'Account not found' })`. `useAction` from
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+ next-safe-action is `useActionState`, or a `<Form action={createPost}>` that
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+ reads the returned errors on its own. The build lists any action not built
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+ from a client, because nothing checks who calls those.
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+
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+ ### Revalidation is targeted
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+
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+ `revalidatePath('/orders')` re-renders the page. `revalidate('orders')`
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+ re-renders the [section](/guides/sections) registered under that name and
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+ sends it back **with the action's own response** — one request, the rest of
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+ the page untouched, a half-typed input elsewhere on it still typed. Wrap the
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+ region in `section('orders', Orders)` and name it from the action.
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+
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+ ### Forms
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+
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+ `<Form>` from `@rsc-kit/core/form` submits to an action, shows pending state,
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+ places field errors, and works before hydration. It is uncontrolled by
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+ default like React Hook Form's `register`, with `field()` for a controlled
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+ binding and `useField()` for a value read anywhere. shadcn's `Field`
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+ components fit as they are. See [Forms](/guides/forms).
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+
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+ ### Query strings are typed
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+
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+ Export a schema beside the page and the values arrive parsed; the same schema
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+ types every `<Link search={…}>` to it. `Number(searchParams.get('page'))` is
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+ not a thing you write here. See [URL validation](/guides/url-validation).
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+
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+ ### There is no image optimizer, and no `opengraph-image.tsx`
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+
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+ Both are processes Next runs for you at request time. Put `opengraph-image.png`
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+ in `src/app` and it is picked up; generate one at build time if it has to be
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+ generated. Images: [unpic or imagetools](/guides/images).
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+
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+ ### Testing does not need a browser
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+
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+ `createTestApp()` hands back the deployed `Request → Response` handler.
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+ Actions, queries and api routes are plain functions. There is no equivalent
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+ in Next; see [Testing](/guides/testing).
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+
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+ ## The porting order that worked
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+
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+ 1. `bun create rsc-kit@latest` and copy `src/app` over the scaffold's.
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+ 2. Fix imports from the table. `bun run typecheck` finds the rest.
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+ 3. `bun run build` and **read the output**: every route that is not `○` says
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+ why. Most surprises are a `cookies()` in a layout making everything
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+ dynamic — the build says so under the summary.
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+ 4. Actions not built from a client are listed. Decide for each.
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+ 5. `bun run check`. Then a browser, for the parts that are a browser's.
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+
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+ An agent doing the port has all of this: the `.mcp.json` in the scaffold
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+ answers `how_to({ topic })` and `read_guide({ slug })` from the installed
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+ version, and the build report is what it reads instead of guessing.
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+ # Getting started
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+
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+ > Serve React Server Components from any JavaScript backend.
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+
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+ A host is a `Request` in and a `Response` out. You do not normally write the
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+ server that calls it: [Nitro](https://nitro.build) builds one around your route
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+ tree, and where it runs is a preset in `vite.config.ts`.
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+
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+ ## Building
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+
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+ Three steps, and only the first is required:
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+
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+ ```bash
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+ npm run dev # vite — serves from source, no build step
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+ npm run build # bundles, renders every route once, then Nitro assembles .output/
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+ npm run start # runs .output/server/index.mjs
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+ ```
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+
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+ `dev` is Vite's own dev server, and edits reach the browser without a reload:
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+
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+ | you edit | what happens |
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+ | --- | --- |
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+ | a client component | Fast Refresh — the code updates and its state survives |
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+ | a page or layout | the payload is re-fetched and the tree re-rendered |
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+ | adding or deleting a page | the server restarts to pick up the new route table |
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+
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+ The browser never holds a server component, so Vite cannot hot-swap it. Instead
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+ the client re-fetches the page — which remounts any client component below, so
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+ their state resets.
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+
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+ Edit a client component directly and its state does survive; that is Fast
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+ Refresh.
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+
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+ The restart on a new page is because the route tree is read when the server
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+ starts: a page that appears later would otherwise 404 while sitting right there
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+ on disk.
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+
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+ `build` ends by rendering every route once and storing what it can, which is
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+ what turns a route into a file on disk instead of a render per request.
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+
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+ It is part of `build` rather than a separate command because forgetting it costs
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+ you everything and looks like nothing — every page still works, each one just
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+ renders again for every visitor.
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+
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+ Turn it off with `rscKit({ prerender: false })` when the build machine
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+ cannot do what the pages need. See [Static
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+ generation](/guides/static-generation).
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+
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+ <Aside type="note" title="There is no NODE_ENV to set">
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+ React picks its build from it, and getting it wrong gives you a page that
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+ renders perfectly and never hydrates. The build stamps the mode it ran in
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+ into the server bundles, so a server is production because it was built that
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+ way — `npm run start` needs no environment at all.
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+ </Aside>
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+
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+ ## Compiling to a single binary
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+
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+ With the Bun preset the whole application ends up in one file:
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+
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+ ```bash
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+ npm run compile # builds, then bun build --compile
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+ ./dist/app
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+ ```
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+
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+ That works because the generated config sets `serveStatic: 'inline'`. Without
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+ it the binary compiles, starts, serves pages, and 404s every asset — the static
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+ path resolves into Bun's virtual filesystem, where the files on disk are not.
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+
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+ ### What it costs
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+
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+ Measured on the example — eleven routes, 240 KB of assets, 164 KB of stored
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+ pages:
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+
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+ | | compiled | run from `.output/` |
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+ | --- | --- | --- |
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+ | Cold start | 45 ms | 56–65 ms |
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+ | Resident, idle | 18 MB | 19 MB |
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+ | Resident, after 300 requests | 27 MB | 32 MB |
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+ | On disk | 62 MB | 240 KB + a runtime |
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+
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+ Memory is flat between the two: the binary holds its assets as `Response`
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+ objects built at boot, which for 240 KB is nothing, and both settle in the high
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+ twenties once React has warmed up. A live render is what moves it — 40 MB after
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+ 200 of them — and that is the renderer, not the packaging.
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+
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+ <Aside type="note" title="What compiling is actually for">
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+ Deployment shape, not speed. One file, no `node_modules`, no runtime to
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+ install. Throughput between the two is inside the noise of any benchmark I
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+ could run on one machine — the only differences I can defend are the ~15 ms
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+ of cold start and the shape of what you ship.
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+ </Aside>
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+
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+ <Aside type="caution" title="What embedding costs">
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+ Every asset goes in whole. Three files is nothing; a media-heavy app is
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+ hundreds of megabytes of executable, with no CDN in front and no streaming
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+ from disk. Keep large or rarely-read files outside the binary and serve them
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+ from wherever they already live.
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+
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+ Frozen pages are not embedded either. The build writes them to
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+ `.output/server/rsc-static` and the server reads them from beside itself; a
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+ binary has no filesystem to read, so it renders those pages live. Everything
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+ still answers — what you lose is the stored render, not the page.
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+ </Aside>
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+
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+ ## If you work with an AI agent
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+
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+ The scaffold writes an `AGENTS.md` beside your `README.md`. Claude Code, Cursor
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+ and the rest read it, and it covers the things an agent otherwise gets wrong
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+ from React or Next habits — `"use client"` versus `"use server"`, where an
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+ authorisation check belongs, which props are async, and that the build output is
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+ worth reading rather than ignoring.
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+
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+ Beside it is `.mcp.json`, which connects the [MCP server](/guides/mcp): Claude
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+ Code asks you to approve it on first use, and from then on an agent can read
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+ what your last build actually did instead of guessing.
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+
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+ And there is a test to extend, `tests/app.test.ts`, which goes through the
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+ real build: `bun run check` runs typecheck, lint and tests together, and is
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+ the one command an agent — or you — runs before calling something done.
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+
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+ Edit it as your project grows. It is yours; nothing regenerates it.
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+
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+ There is also an MCP server, which answers from your actual build rather than
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+ from memory:
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+
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+ ```sh
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+ claude mcp add rsc-kit -- npx -y @rsc-kit/mcp
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+ ```
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+
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+ It can say why a particular page is not static, what each route ships to the
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+ browser, and how to build a form or an api route the way this framework
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+ expects. See [Working with an AI agent](/guides/mcp/).
package/guides/index.json CHANGED
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  "title": "Asking once per request",
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  "description": "cache() — one lookup, however many places need it."
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  },
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+ {
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+ "slug": "coming-from-next",
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+ "title": "Coming from Next.js",
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+ "description": "What carries over unchanged, what to rename, and what is different on purpose."
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+ },
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  {
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  "slug": "connection",
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  "title": "Rendering per request",
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  "title": "Forms",
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  "description": "Progressive forms, pending state and validation errors."
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  },
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+ {
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+ "slug": "getting-started",
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+ "title": "Getting started",
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+ "description": "Serve React Server Components from any JavaScript backend."
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+ },
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  {
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  "slug": "images",
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  "title": "Images",
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  "description": "Responsive images with no optimizer to run — unpic for a CDN, imagetools for files in the repo."
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  },
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+ {
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+ "slug": "installation",
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+ "title": "Installation",
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+ "description": "From an empty directory to a streaming RSC app."
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+ },
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+ {
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+ "slug": "introduction",
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+ "title": "Introduction",
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+ "description": "React Server Components as a Vite plugin, deployed wherever you like."
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+ },
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  {
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  "slug": "mcp",
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  "title": "Working with an AI agent",
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  "title": "Queries",
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  "description": "Reading from the server over GET, and letting TanStack Query or SWR own everything above it."
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  },
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+ {
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+ "slug": "quick-start",
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+ "title": "Quick start",
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+ "description": "A running app in one command, or added to a project you already have."
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+ },
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  {
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  "slug": "react-compiler",
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  "title": "React Compiler",
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+ # Installation
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+
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+ > From an empty directory to a streaming RSC app.
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+
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+ There is no scaffolding command. An app is a Vite project with one plugin and
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+ one request handler, so this is the whole of it.
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+
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+ ## Create an app
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+
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+ One command, and it asks the rest:
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+
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+ ```sh
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+ bun create rsc-kit@latest my-app
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+ ```
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+
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+ It asks where it will run (Bun, Node or Cloudflare Workers), whether you want the
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+ React Compiler and which implementation, and whether to include Tailwind. Every
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+ answer has a flag, so it also runs unattended:
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+
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+ ```sh
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+ bun create rsc-kit@latest my-app --host=bun --compiler=oxc --tailwind
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+ ```
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+
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+ What comes out builds, prerenders, typechecks and serves before you edit it.
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+
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+ The rest of this page is for adding rsc-kit to an app you already have.
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+
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+ ## Install
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+
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+ <PackageManagers pkg="@rsc-kit/core react react-dom" />
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+
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+ <PackageManagers pkg="vite @vitejs/plugin-rsc @vitejs/plugin-react @types/react @types/react-dom" dev />
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+
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+ `@rsc-kit/core` brings the Vite plugin, the render engine and the client
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+ runtime. React 19 and Vite 8 are peer dependencies — the versions the RSC build
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+ needs, not ones this package pins for you.
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+
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+ <Aside type="note" title="What @vitejs/plugin-react is for">
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+ Fast Refresh: edit a client component and React keeps its state, instead of
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+ the page reloading and losing it. Put it *after* `rscKit()`.
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+ </Aside>
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+
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+ ## Configure Vite
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+
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+ ```ts title="vite.config.ts"
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+ import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
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+ import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'
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+ import { nitro } from 'nitro/vite'
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+ import { rscKit } from '@rsc-kit/core/vite'
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+
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+ /**
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+ * The full route tree, built the way every scaffolded app is built.
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+ *
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+ * Nitro owns the server and the entry is generated — there is no server file
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+ * in this directory, which is the point.
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+ */
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+ export default defineConfig({
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+ plugins: [
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+ nitro({ preset: 'bun', serveStatic: 'inline' }),
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+ rscKit({
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+ sourceDir: 'src',
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+ outDir: 'build',
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+ viewTransitions: true,
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+ offline: true,
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+ }),
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+ react(),
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+ ],
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+ })
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+ ```
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+
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+ `sourceDir` is where your route tree lives. The defaults are plain Vite ones —
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+ `src/app` in, `dist/client` and `.rsc` out — so a project that adopts them can
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+ call `rscKit()` with nothing at all.
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+
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+ <Aside type="note" title="Add your own plugins after it">
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+ `rscKit()` includes `@vitejs/plugin-rsc`, which has to see modules before
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+ any React layer transforms them. Tailwind, the React Compiler and anything
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+ else go after it in the array.
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+ </Aside>
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+
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+ ## Write a root layout
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+
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+ The root layout renders the **whole document** — there is no separate HTML
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+ template, and the build injects the bootstrap script and stylesheet links into
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+ what you return here.
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+
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+ ```tsx title="src/app/layout.tsx"
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+ import './styles.css'
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+ // Preloaded so the browser finds it before the stylesheet does. ?url is Vite's
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+ // and hands back the hashed path the build serves.
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+ import frauncesLatin from '@fontsource-variable/fraunces/files/fraunces-latin-full-normal.woff2?url'
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+ import type { ReactNode } from 'react'
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+ import { Nav } from '../components/Nav'
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+ import type { Metadata } from '@rsc-kit/core/metadata'
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+
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+ export const metadata: Metadata = {
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+ title: { template: '%s · rsc-kit', default: 'rsc-kit' },
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+ description: 'React Server Components as a Vite plugin',
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+ // Once, here. A share-card scraper needs an absolute image url, and this is
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+ // what turns the opengraph-image.png in app/ into one.
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+ metadataBase: new URL('https://example.rsc-kit.dev'),
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+ openGraph: {
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+ siteName: 'rsc-kit example',
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+ type: 'website',
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+ },
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+ twitter: {
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+ card: 'summary_large_image',
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+ site: '@rsckit',
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+ },
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+ }
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+
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+ // `modal` is a parallel slot: the @modal directory beside this file fills it.
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+ // It renders alongside children, not instead of them.
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+ export default function RootLayout({ children, modal }: { children: ReactNode; modal?: ReactNode }) {
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+ return (
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+ <html lang="en">
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+ <head>
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+ <meta charSet="utf-8" />
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+ <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
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+ <link rel="preload" href={frauncesLatin} as="font" type="font/woff2" crossOrigin="anonymous" />
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+ </head>
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+ <body>
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+ <Nav />
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+ <main>{children}</main>
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+ {modal}
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+ </body>
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+ </html>
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+ )
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+ }
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+ ```
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+
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+ ## Write a page
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+
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+ ```tsx title="src/app/page.tsx"
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+ export default function HomePage() {
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+ return <h1>Hello</h1>;
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+ }
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+ ```
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+
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+ `app/page.tsx` serves `GET /`, wrapped in `app/layout.tsx`. Nothing registers
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+ it — the plugin reads the directory at build time. See
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+ [Routing](/guides/routing) for the rest of the conventions.
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+
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+ ## Serve it
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+
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+ There is no server file to write. Nitro builds one around the route tree, and
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+ `npm run build` leaves it in `.output/`:
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+
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+ ```sh
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+ npm run build
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+ npm run start
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+ ```
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+
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+ Where it runs is the preset in `vite.config.ts` — see [Where it
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+ runs](/hosts/where-it-runs).
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+
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+ ## Scripts
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+
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+ ```json title="package.json"
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+ {
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+ "type": "module",
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+ "scripts": {
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+ "dev": "vite",
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+ "build": "vite build",
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+ "start": "bun .output/server/index.mjs",
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+ "compile": "bun build --compile .output/server/index.mjs --outfile my-app"
167
+ }
168
+ }
169
+ ```
170
+
171
+ `build` freezes every page it can, so there is no separate prerender step and
172
+ no command for one — freezing runs the app, which needs the bundle the build
173
+ just wrote, and only the build knows where that is. Turn it off with
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+ `rscKit({ prerender: false })`.
175
+
176
+ `start` runs what the build wrote. There is no server file in a scaffolded app —
177
+ Nitro builds the server around the route tree, and where it runs is a preset in
178
+ `vite.config.ts`. See [Where it runs](/hosts/where-it-runs).
179
+
180
+ `compile` produces a standalone binary containing the engine, the route tree,
181
+ the frozen pages **and** the assets. That last part is `serveStatic: 'inline'`
182
+ in the vite config; without it the binary serves pages and 404s every asset.
183
+
184
+ <Aside type="note" title="Do not set NODE_ENV">
185
+ The build stamps its mode into the bundle, so `npm run start` is
186
+ production because it was *built* that way. Setting `NODE_ENV` yourself adds a
187
+ second source of truth that can disagree — and when it disagrees, every page
188
+ renders and none of them become interactive.
189
+
190
+ For a development build with React's real error messages, use
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+ `vite build --mode development`.
192
+ </Aside>
193
+
194
+ Then:
195
+
196
+ ```bash
197
+ npm run build # bundles, and freezes every page it can
198
+ npm run start
199
+ ```
200
+
201
+ Worth adding a `typecheck` script beside them (`tsc --noEmit`) and running it
202
+ in CI. Server components are ordinary functions and pages are ordinary
203
+ modules, so the typechecker sees the whole route tree — a page whose props do
204
+ not match its `[param]` segment is a compile error rather than a blank page.
205
+
206
+ ## TypeScript
207
+
208
+ ```json title="tsconfig.json"
209
+ {
210
+ "compilerOptions": {
211
+ "target": "ESNext",
212
+ "module": "ESNext",
213
+ "moduleResolution": "bundler",
214
+ "jsx": "react-jsx",
215
+ "strict": true,
216
+ "noEmit": true,
217
+ "skipLibCheck": true,
218
+ "resolveJsonModule": true,
219
+ "types": [
220
+ "@types/bun",
221
+ "vite/client"
222
+ ]
223
+ },
224
+ "include": ["src/**/*", "server/**/*", ".rsc-kit/**/*", "vite.config.ts"]
225
+ }
226
+ ```
227
+
228
+ `vite/client` is doing real work in that list: without it a side-effect import
229
+ of a stylesheet (`import './styles.css'` in the root layout) is an error, and
230
+ `import.meta.env` is untyped.
231
+
232
+ ### Environment variables
233
+
234
+ There is nothing to install and nothing this package adds — Vite already owns
235
+ this. Two rules and one declaration.
236
+
237
+ Anything named `VITE_*` is **inlined into the client bundle** and ships to the
238
+ browser, whether or not a browser file reads it. Everything else stays on the
239
+ server, read through `process.env`.
240
+
241
+ The prefix is the whole boundary, so never put a secret behind it.
242
+ `VITE_STRIPE_KEY` is a published key.
243
+
244
+ Declare the ones you use, and Vite types them:
245
+
246
+ ```ts title="src/env.d.ts"
247
+ interface ViteTypeOptions {
248
+ // Turns an unknown import.meta.env key into an error instead of `any`.
249
+ strictImportMetaEnv: unknown;
250
+ }
251
+
252
+ interface ImportMetaEnv {
253
+ readonly VITE_API_URL: string;
254
+ }
255
+ ```
256
+
257
+ <Aside type="caution" title="On Bun, a misspelled variable still compiles">
258
+ `@types/bun` declares its own `ImportMetaEnv`, which cancels out the strictness
259
+ Vite's option adds. You still get autocomplete and `string` instead of
260
+ `string | undefined` — but a typo is `any`, not an error.
261
+ </Aside>
262
+
263
+ #### When they are read
264
+
265
+ `import.meta.env.VITE_*` is a literal in the bundle: changing one means a
266
+ rebuild. `process.env.*` is a live read, so the deploy's environment wins —
267
+ with one exception the build makes for you. A route that reads an environment
268
+ variable and nothing request-bound is frozen at build time, value included,
269
+ because nothing marked it as needing a request. That is the right answer for
270
+ `PUBLIC_SITE_NAME` and the wrong one for a feature flag flipped per deploy. For
271
+ the second kind, read it after `await connection()`, which keeps the route on
272
+ the server. See [Static generation](/guides/static-generation).
273
+
274
+ #### Validating them
275
+
276
+ Vite checks the prefix and nothing else: a missing `DATABASE_URL` is
277
+ `undefined` until the first query fails. There is nothing native for this
278
+ because nothing native is needed — [t3-env](https://env.t3.gg/docs/core) works
279
+ unchanged, with any Standard Schema validator:
280
+
281
+ ```ts title="src/env.ts"
282
+ import { createEnv } from '@t3-oss/env-core';
283
+ import { z } from 'zod';
284
+
285
+ export const env = createEnv({
286
+ server: { DATABASE_URL: z.string().url() },
287
+ clientPrefix: 'VITE_',
288
+ client: { VITE_API_URL: z.string().url() },
289
+ runtimeEnv: typeof process === 'undefined' ? import.meta.env : { ...import.meta.env, ...process.env },
290
+ emptyStringAsUndefined: true,
291
+ });
292
+ ```
293
+
294
+ Read `env.DATABASE_URL` instead of `process.env.DATABASE_URL` and three things
295
+ follow. It is a `string`, not `string | undefined`. A server variable touched
296
+ from a client component throws by name rather than being silently `undefined`.
297
+ And because the module validates when it is first imported, a missing variable
298
+ fails the **build** — the prerender imports it — instead of the first request
299
+ in production.
300
+
301
+ The build writes its declaration files into `.rsc-kit/` at the project root,
302
+ not among your own source. Three of them:
303
+
304
+ - `rsc-routes.d.ts` — the routes it found, which is what makes `Link` and
305
+ `redirect()` [typed](/guides/routing#typed-links)
306
+ - `rsc-env.d.ts` — the host global
307
+ - `rsc-engine.d.ts` — the generated bundle
308
+
309
+ Only what has to be generated is. Anything you can import, you import —
310
+ [`Metadata`](/guides/metadata/) comes from the package and works before you have
311
+ built anything.
312
+
313
+ These are ambient, which needs only that they are inside the project and that
314
+ the typechecker is told the directory exists:
315
+
316
+ ```json title="tsconfig.json"
317
+ { "include": ["src/**/*", ".rsc-kit/**/*"] }
318
+ ```
319
+
320
+ A scaffolded app has that line, and `rsc-kit init` adds it. Leave it out and
321
+ the build says so — otherwise typed routes fall back to plain `string` and
322
+ nothing else would tell you.
323
+
324
+ Add `.rsc-kit/` to `.gitignore`.
325
+
326
+ ## Where next
327
+
328
+ <CardGrid>
329
+ <Card title="Routing" icon="ph:tree-structure">
330
+ [Pages, layouts, slots and navigation →](/guides/routing)
331
+ </Card>
332
+ <Card title="Server actions" icon="ph:lightning">
333
+ [Calling the server from a client component →](/guides/server-actions)
334
+ </Card>
335
+ <Card title="Static generation" icon="ph:snowflake">
336
+ [Rendering ahead of time, and exporting →](/guides/static-generation)
337
+ </Card>
338
+ </CardGrid>