Migrate from Next.js

Nowaki keeps the parts of Next.js that make it productive and swaps the runtime model: HTML-first with islands, on a Rust toolchain. Here's how the concepts line up.

Concept mapping

The big difference: islands, not "use client"

In Next, a page is a React tree and you carve out server vs client boundaries. In Nowaki, a page is HTML by default and you opt specific components into the browser by putting them in islands/. The mental shift: instead of asking "what can be a server component?", ask "what actually needs to be interactive?". Everything else ships zero JS.

React libraries

Nowaki aliases react, react-dom, and react/jsx-runtimeto their preact/compat equivalents, so many React libraries work unchanged in your islands. Hooks (useState, useEffect, …) come frompreact/hooks or through the compat layer.

Data & mutations

// Next: getServerSideProps        →  Nowaki: export const loader
export const loader = async ({ params }) => ({ post: await db.post(params.slug) });

// Next: Server Action             →  Nowaki: "use server" function
// actions/posts.ts
"use server";
export async function like(id) { /* ...runs on the server... */ }

What to expect

• Use explicit file extensions in relative imports (../islands/Counter.tsx).
• No app-router streaming/Suspense semantics yet; Nowaki has opt-in streaming = true per route.
• Nowaki is alpha — APIs can still shift. Start with a small surface and grow.