revalidatePath(), redirect() and <Link> without using strings?

[DamienCassou]

Goals

1. change routes without changing many strings
2. validate arguments to revalidatePath(), redirect() and <Link>

Non-Goals

No response

Background

The functions revalidatePath() (from next/cache) and redirect() (from next/navigation) take a string as argument. For example (from the official tutorial):

  revalidatePath('/dashboard/invoices');
  redirect('/dashboard/invoices');

The string as argument is a bit annoying because it means duplicating the paths in many places of the application without any refactoring support. Also, there is absolutely no validation that the path actually exists. The problem is the same for Link (from next/link).

Proposal

Would it be possible to pass a Page component instead? Something like:

import InvoicesPage from "@/app/dashboard/invoices/page.tsx";
...
revalidatePath(InvoicesPage);
redirect(InvoicesPage);

This is not a final solution (e.g., "@/app/dashboard/invoices/[id]/edit/page.tsx" isn't enough to know which invoice "id" should be used) but just an idea. Given that Next.js already knows how to map files to routes, I guess something like that should be possible to implement.

I have no idea how this feature could be implemented. I'm not even sure if it's a good idea. But I think the problem is real and the suggested idea makes sense.

I would be happy implementing this (this would be my first contribution).

[DamienCassou]

I initially asked the same question on https://nextjs-forum.com/post/1245377842120888411 and was redirected here.