Question About Integrating Next.js Server-Side Rendering with Electron

[simon-sudo]

Hi there! 👋

Firstly, I just want to say, what you've managed to achieve by combining Electron and Next.js into a single project is absolutely fantastic! As someone who is relatively new to the frontend world, your project is both inspiring and a bit magical to me.

I'm a student working on a small project for school, and I've been dabbling a bit in React. The goal of my project is to create an application that can be packaged as a binary for desktop usage 📦, but also, ideally, be capable of being deployed as a web server to serve web pages.

Your project seems like it could be the perfect starting point for what I'm trying to accomplish. However, I'm a bit puzzled about one thing and was hoping you could help clarify. I'm interested in leveraging Next.js's server-side rendering capabilities within the Electron framework. Since you've brilliantly utilized Electron primarily for backend tasks, I'm curious:

• Is it possible to integrate Next.js's server-side rendering with Electron, where Electron serves more as the UI rendering engine (akin to a browser)? 🖥️➡️🌍
• If so, do you have any examples or documentation that could guide me through this process? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated and incredibly helpful for my learning journey.

I understand this might be a bit of an unusual request, but your expertise and innovative approach to combining these technologies have really caught my eye, and I'm eager to learn more from your work.

Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your amazing project with the community. Looking forward to any advice you can provide!

[DarkGuy10]

Hey!! 👋

Thank you so much for your incredibly kind words! I'm thrilled to hear that this project could be of help. I truly appreciate your support!

Now to the question at hand, I understand that you want to use Next.js's server-side rendering for the backend tasks, leaving only the UI rendering and window management with Electron (please correct me if I have it wrong).

Theoretically, what you're trying to achieve is possible. Currently, this project builds the frontend part of the code into static exports (html/css/js files), that are then bundled with the binary (this is achieved by the output: export field in next.config.js). You can read more about static exports here.

[from next docs]
When you run next build to generate a static export, Server Components consumed inside the app directory will run during the build, similar to traditional static-site generation.
The resulting component will be rendered into static HTML for the initial page load and a static payload for client navigation between routes.

Since static export provides the html/css/js assets directly, we dont need to run a next server instance for the Electron app to consume, and it simply loads the static files. However, this also results in a bunch of features getting unsupported (here's the list)

In your case, since you need the Server-Side Rendering capabilities, you need to have a running "server" instance that can process these requests. This is doable,you'll just have to write a script to launch the next server everytime the app is launched. However, this is extremely discouraged because of several (critical) reasons:

• It is not possible to keep the server instance "restricted" in context of your application. Since the server is hosted on your local machine, any application (including browsers, scripts, etc.) can access your webapp by communicating through the server.

• Even worse, the application will be exposed to any device connected to your local network. Say the local address of the server instance (running on your machine) looks something like 127.0.0.1:3000 (the port can be any arbitrary number). Any device that is connected to your network, can now communicate with your app through <your-private-ip>:3000.

Both of these are severe security concerns, not to mention they also come with the overhead of running the webserver in the first place ( ~> super high CPU and RAM usage).

In conclusion:

Is it possible? Yes

Is it a good idea? Not at all :(

Let me know if you have any other questions, or if the explanation was ambiguous in any area. I'll be glad to help!

[simon-sudo]

Hey! 👋

First off, a huge thank you for your swift and thorough response! I deeply appreciate the time you took to shed light on the complexities and considerations surrounding my inquiry. Your explanation was both insightful and eye-opening, especially regarding the potential security concerns and technical limitations of running a Next.js server within an Electron app. 🙏

After reading through your feedback and considering the documentation on static exports, I understand why static export emerges as the best approach given the constraints and features it supports. My initial thought was to leverage Next.js's server-side features to maintain the dynamic nature of my application, aiming for a packaged executable that could also easily transform into a traditional web application for server deployment.

Reflecting on your advice, I'm contemplating a solution that revolves around environment-specific behavior, but with a slight twist aimed at streamlining the frontend development process. The concept involves implementing a check within the Next.js frontend to determine the current running environment. If it detects that the application is not running within an Electron context, it would then automatically default to making requests to a RESTful API (powered by Golang's Gin and Gorm) for any backend interactions. This strategy allows for a single, unified frontend build that doesn't require separate versions or modifications for the Electron and web environments. This dual-path approach not only seems like a feasible way to navigate the trade-offs but also minimizes the need to duplicate backend logic or maintain two distinct sets of frontend code. It's a harmony of efficiency and flexibility, aiming to leverage the best of both environments without the extra overhead of managing divergent codebases.🤔

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this proposed approach. Do you see any glaring issues or have suggestions on managing the potential duplication of backend logic more efficiently? Any additional insights would be invaluable as I navigate these architectural decisions for my project.

Again, thank you so much for your help and for being so accessible. This dialogue has been incredibly enriching for me as a student and budding developer. ❤️