React Server Components Framework

Overview

React Server Components (RSC) enable server-first rendering with client-side interactivity. This skill covers Next.js 16.2 LTS App Router patterns, Server Components, Server Actions, and streaming.

Next.js 16.2.6 / React 19.2.6 (security release, May 2026) — Turbopack is the default bundler (no --turbo flag needed), Server Fast Refresh is on by default, and the new cacheComponents config flag replaces the legacy experimental_ppr escape hatch. For AI-agent debugging Next.js ships Next DevTools MCP — wire npx -y next-devtools-mcp@latest into .mcp.json (it connects via the dev server's /_next/mcp endpoint) to inspect render trees and cache boundaries mid-session.

When to use this skill:

• Building Next.js 16+ applications with the App Router
• Designing component boundaries (Server vs Client Components)
• Implementing data fetching with caching and revalidation
• Creating mutations with Server Actions
• Optimizing performance with streaming and Suspense

Quick Reference

Server vs Client Components

Key Rule: Server Components can render Client Components, but Client Components cannot directly import Server Components (use children prop instead).

Data Fetching Quick Reference

Next.js 16 Cache Components (Recommended):

import { cacheLife, cacheTag } from 'next/cache'

// Default — shared across all users (public CDN-cached)
async function CachedProducts() {
  'use cache'
  cacheLife('hours')
  cacheTag('products')
  return await db.product.findMany()
}

// Remote variant (16.2+) — always served from the edge/CDN, never rendered
// inline on the origin. Best for static product listings, marketing content.
async function MarketingHero() {
  'use cache: remote'
  cacheLife('days')
  return <Hero />
}

// Private variant (16.2+) — cached per-user session. Never shared across
// users. Use for personalized dashboards with expensive computation.
async function UserDashboard({ userId }: { userId: string }) {
  'use cache: private'
  cacheLife('minutes')
  cacheTag(`user:${userId}`)
  return await loadDashboard(userId)
}

// Invalidate cache — v16 requires a cacheLife profile as the 2nd arg
import { revalidateTag } from 'next/cache'
revalidateTag('products', 'max') // or updateTag('products') for read-your-writes

Enable via next.config.ts:

import type { NextConfig } from 'next'
const config: NextConfig = {
  cacheComponents: true,  // 16.2+ — replaces experimental_ppr flag
}
export default config

Legacy Fetch Options (Next.js 15):

// Static (cached indefinitely)
await fetch(url, { cache: 'force-cache' })

// Revalidate every 60 seconds
await fetch(url, { next: { revalidate: 60 } })

// Always fresh
await fetch(url, { cache: 'no-store' })

// Tag-based revalidation
await fetch(url, { next: { tags: ['posts'] } })

Server Actions Quick Reference

'use server'

export async function createPost(formData: FormData) {
  const title = formData.get('title') as string
  const post = await db.post.create({ data: { title } })
  revalidatePath('/posts')
  redirect("/posts/" + post.id)
}

Async Params/SearchParams (Next.js 16)

Route parameters and search parameters are now Promises that must be awaited:

// app/posts/[slug]/page.tsx
export default async function PostPage({
  params,
  searchParams,
}: {
  params: Promise<{ slug: string }>
  searchParams: Promise<{ page?: string }>
}) {
  const { slug } = await params
  const { page } = await searchParams
  return <Post slug={slug} page={page} />
}

Note: Also applies to layout.tsx, generateMetadata(), and route handlers. Load: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/nextjs-16-upgrade.md") for complete migration guide.

Dev Server (Next.js 16.2 LTS)

• Turbopack default — next dev and next build run Turbopack without any flag. Pass --webpack only when forced (legacy plugin).
• Server Fast Refresh — Server Components hot-reload on save without losing client state. No extra config; it's on by default in 16.2.
• Next DevTools MCP — register npx -y next-devtools-mcp@latest in .mcp.json; it attaches to the running dev server over the /_next/mcp endpoint and exposes RSC payloads and cache boundaries to an MCP client. Designed for AI agents that need to inspect render trees mid-session without screenshotting. (There is no next-browser binary.)

References

Load on demand with Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/<file>"):

Best Practices Summary

Component Boundaries

• Keep Client Components at the edges (leaves) of the component tree
• Use Server Components by default
• Extract minimal interactive parts to Client Components
• Pass Server Components as children to Client Components

Data Fetching

• Fetch data in Server Components close to where it's used
• Use parallel fetching (Promise.all) for independent data
• Set appropriate cache and revalidate options
• Use generateStaticParams for static routes

Performance

• Use Suspense boundaries for streaming
• Implement loading.tsx for instant loading states
• Enable PPR for static/dynamic mix
• Use route segment config to control rendering mode

Templates

• scripts/ServerComponent.tsx - Basic async Server Component with data fetching
• scripts/ClientComponent.tsx - Interactive Client Component with hooks
• scripts/ServerAction.tsx - Server Action with validation and revalidation

Troubleshooting

Resources

• Next.js 16 Documentation
• React 19.2 Blog Post
• React Server Components RFC
• App Router Migration Guide

Related Skills

After mastering React Server Components:

1. Streaming API Patterns - Real-time data patterns
2. Type Safety & Validation - tRPC integration
3. Edge Computing Patterns - Global deployment
4. Performance Optimization - Core Web Vitals

Capability Details

Keyword and problem-mapping metadata for each RSC capability (react-19-patterns, use-hook-suspense, optimistic-updates-async, rsc-patterns, server-actions, data-fetching, streaming-ssr, caching, cache-components, tanstack-router-patterns, async-params, nextjs-16-upgrade).

Load full capability details: Read("${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/capability-details.md")