Dynamic Routes for Next.js

Deprecation Notice: This package was a popular choice in the early years of Next.js and is no longer maintained. Please check the Next.js docs for its current ways of routing.

Easy to use universal dynamic routes for Next.js

• Express-style route and parameters matching
• Request handler middleware for express & co
• Link and Router that generate URLs by route definition

How to use

Install:

npm install next-routes --save

Create routes.js inside your project:

const routes = require('next-routes')

// Name   Page      Pattern
module.exports = routes() // ----   ----      -----
  .add('about') // about  about     /about
  .add('blog', '/blog/:slug') // blog   blog      /blog/:slug
  .add('user', '/user/:id', 'profile') // user   profile   /user/:id
  .add('/:noname/:lang(en|es)/:wow+', 'complex') // (none) complex   /:noname/:lang(en|es)/:wow+
  .add({name: 'beta', pattern: '/v3', page: 'v3'}) // beta   v3        /v3

This file is used both on the server and the client.

API:

• routes.add([name], pattern = /name, page = name)
• routes.add(object)

Arguments:

• name - Route name
• pattern - Route pattern (like express, see path-to-regexp)
• page - Page inside ./pages to be rendered

The page component receives the matched URL parameters merged into query

export default class Blog extends React.Component {
  static async getInitialProps({query}) {
    // query.slug
  }
  render() {
    // this.props.url.query.slug
  }
}

On the server

// server.js
const next = require('next')
const routes = require('./routes')
const app = next({dev: process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production'})
const handler = routes.getRequestHandler(app)

// With express
const express = require('express')
app.prepare().then(() => {
  express().use(handler).listen(3000)
})

// Without express
const {createServer} = require('http')
app.prepare().then(() => {
  createServer(handler).listen(3000)
})

Optionally you can pass a custom handler, for example:

const handler = routes.getRequestHandler(app, ({req, res, route, query}) => {
  app.render(req, res, route.page, query)
})

Make sure to use server.js in your package.json scripts:

"scripts": {
  "dev": "node server.js",
  "build": "next build",
  "start": "NODE_ENV=production node server.js"
}

On the client

Import Link and Router from your routes.js file to generate URLs based on route definition:

Link example

// pages/index.js
import {Link} from '../routes'

export default () => (
  <div>
    <div>Welcome to Next.js!</div>
    <Link route="blog" params={{slug: 'hello-world'}}>
      <a>Hello world</a>
    </Link>
    or
    <Link route="/blog/hello-world">
      <a>Hello world</a>
    </Link>
  </div>
)

API:

• <Link route='name'>...</Link>
• <Link route='name' params={params}> ... </Link>
• <Link route='/path/to/match'> ... </Link>

Props:

• route - Route name or URL to match (alias: to)
• params - Optional parameters for named routes

It generates the URLs for href and as and renders next/link. Other props like prefetch will work as well.

Router example

// pages/blog.js
import React from 'react'
import {Router} from '../routes'

export default class Blog extends React.Component {
  handleClick() {
    // With route name and params
    Router.pushRoute('blog', {slug: 'hello-world'})
    // With route URL
    Router.pushRoute('/blog/hello-world')
  }
  render() {
    return (
      <div>
        <div>{this.props.url.query.slug}</div>
        <button onClick={this.handleClick}>Home</button>
      </div>
    )
  }
}

API:

• Router.pushRoute(route)
• Router.pushRoute(route, params)
• Router.pushRoute(route, params, options)

Arguments:

• route - Route name or URL to match
• params - Optional parameters for named routes
• options - Passed to Next.js

The same works with .replaceRoute() and .prefetchRoute()

It generates the URLs and calls next/router

Optionally you can provide custom Link and Router objects, for example:

const routes = module.exports = require('next-routes')({
  Link: require('./my/link')
  Router: require('./my/router')
})

Related links

• zeit/next.js - Framework for server-rendered React applications
• path-to-regexp - Express-style path to regexp