next/server

The next/server module provides several exports for server-only helpers, such as Middleware.

NextMiddleware

Middleware is created by using a middleware function that lives inside a _middleware file. The Middleware API is based upon the native Request, FetchEvent, and Response objects.

These native Web API objects are extended to give you more control over how you manipulate and configure a response, based on the incoming requests.

The function signature is defined as follows:

type NextMiddlewareResult = NextResponse | Response | null | undefined

type NextMiddleware = (
  request: NextRequest,
  event: NextFetchEvent
) => NextMiddlewareResult | Promise<NextMiddlewareResult>

It can be imported from next/server with the following:

import type { NextMiddleware } from 'next/server'

The function can be a default export and as such, does not have to be named middleware. Though this is a convention. Also note that you only need to make the function async if you are running asynchronous code.

NextRequest

The NextRequest object is an extension of the native Request interface, with the following added methods and properties:

cookies - Has the cookies from the Request
nextUrl - Includes an extended, parsed, URL object that gives you access to Next.js specific properties such as pathname, basePath, trailingSlash and i18n
ip - Has the IP address of the Request
ua - Has the user agent
geo - (Optional) Has the geo location from the Request, provided by your hosting platform

You can use the NextRequest object as a direct replacement for the native Request interface, giving you more control over how you manipulate the request.

NextRequest is fully typed and can be imported from next/server.

import type { NextRequest } from 'next/server'

NextFetchEvent

The NextFetchEvent object extends the native FetchEvent object, and includes the waitUntil() method.

The waitUntil() method can be used to prolong the execution of the function, after the response has been sent. In practice this means that you can send a response, then continue the function execution if you have other background work to make.

An example of why you would use waitUntil() is integrations with logging tools such as Sentry or DataDog. After the response has been sent, you can send logs of response times, errors, API call durations or overall performance metrics.

The event object is fully typed and can be imported from next/server.

import type { NextFetchEvent } from 'next/server'

NextResponse

The NextResponse class extends the native Response interface, with the following:

Public methods

Public methods are available on an instance of the NextResponse class. Depending on your use case, you can create an instance and assign to a variable, then access the following public methods:

cookies - An object with the cookies in the Response
cookie() - Set a cookie in the Response
clearCookie() - Accepts a cookie and clears it

import { NextResponse } from 'next/server'
import type { NextRequest } from 'next/server'

export function middleware(request: NextRequest) {
  // create an instance of the class to access the public methods. This uses `next()`,
  // you could use `redirect()` or `rewrite()` as well
  let response = NextResponse.next()
  // get the cookies from the request
  let cookieFromRequest = request.cookies['my-cookie']
  // set the `cookie`
  response.cookie('hello', 'world')
  // set the `cookie` with options
  const cookieWithOptions = response.cookie('hello', 'world', {
    path: '/',
    maxAge: 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 7,
    httpOnly: true,
    sameSite: 'strict',
    domain: 'example.com',
  })
  // clear the `cookie`
  response.clearCookie('hello')

  return response
}

Static methods

The following static methods are available on the NextResponse class directly:

redirect() - Returns a NextResponse with a redirect set
rewrite() - Returns a NextResponse with a rewrite set
next() - Returns a NextResponse that will continue the middleware chain
json() - A convenience method to create a response that encodes the provided JSON data

import { NextResponse } from 'next/server'
import type { NextRequest } from 'next/server'

export function middleware(req: NextRequest) {
  // if the request is coming from New York, redirect to the home page
  if (req.geo.city === 'New York') {
    return NextResponse.redirect('/home')
    // if the request is coming from London, rewrite to a special page
  } else if (req.geo.city === 'London') {
    return NextResponse.rewrite('/not-home')
  }

  return NextResponse.json({ message: 'Hello World!' })
}

All methods above return a NextResponse object that only takes effect if it's returned in the middleware function.

NextResponse is fully typed and can be imported from next/server.

import { NextResponse } from 'next/server'

Setting the cookie before a redirect

In order to set the cookie before a redirect, you can create an instance of NextResponse, then access the cookie method on the instance, before returning the response.

Note that there is a Chrome bug which means the entire redirect chain must be from the same origin, if they are from different origins, then the cookie might be missing until a refresh.

import { NextResponse } from 'next/server'
import type { NextRequest } from 'next/server'

export function middleware(req: NextRequest) {
  const res = NextResponse.redirect('/') // creates an actual instance
  res.cookie('hello', 'world') // can be called on an instance
  return res
}

Why does redirect use 307 and 308?

When using redirect() you may notice that the status codes used are 307 for a temporary redirect, and 308 for a permanent redirect. While traditionally a 302 was used for a temporary redirect, and a 301 for a permanent redirect, many browsers changed the request method of the redirect, from a POST to GET request when using a 302, regardless of the origins request method.

Taking the following example of a redirect from /users to /people, if you make a POST request to /users to create a new user, and are conforming to a 302 temporary redirect, the request method will be changed from a POST to a GET request. This doesn't make sense, as to create a new user, you should be making a POST request to /people, and not a GET request.

The introduction of the 307 status code means that the request method is preserved as POST.

302 - Temporary redirect, will change the request method from POST to GET
307 - Temporary redirect, will preserve the request method as POST

The redirect() method uses a 307 by default, instead of a 302 temporary redirect, meaning your requests will always be preserved as POST requests.

How do I access Environment Variables?

process.env can be used to access Environment Variables from Middleware. These are evaluated at build time, so only environment variables actually used will be included.

Any variables in process.env must be accessed directly, and cannot be destructured:

// Accessed directly, and not destructured works. process.env.NODE_ENV is `"development"` or `"production"`
console.log(process.env.NODE_ENV)
// This will not work
const { NODE_ENV } = process.env
// NODE_ENV is `undefined`
console.log(NODE_ENV)
// process.env is `{}`
console.log(process.env)