Research Alternative Implementation Approaches for Environment Debugging (vibe-kanban)

[mrdavidlaing-mo]

Research better architectural patterns and approaches for environment variable debugging in Next.js applications.

Objective:
Find architectural approaches that avoid the issues we've been having with server-side code being processed in Edge Runtime.

Research Areas:

• Using API routes vs instrumentation vs middleware for server-side debugging
• Client-side debugging patterns that don't conflict with server-side code
• Development-only debugging architectures
• Best practices for environment variable inspection in Next.js
• Separation of server/client debugging concerns
• Using React dev tools or browser extensions instead of custom components
• Alternative Next.js lifecycle hooks for environment debugging
• Development vs production debugging strategies

Deliverables:

1. Create specs/env-debugging-architecture-patterns.md with findings
2. Document different architectural approaches with clear diagrams
3. Include implementation examples for each pattern that avoid Edge Runtime issues
4. Compare approaches and recommend best practices based on our learnings
5. Provide migration path from our current broken implementation
6. Test recommended approaches to ensure they work
7. Commit findings to repository

Success Criteria:

• Clear architectural recommendations that solve our current issues
• Tested implementation examples that work without Edge Runtime errors
• Best practices based on both research and our painful experience
• Actionable next steps for fixing our current implementation