Implementing Redux Toolkit in a Next.js Application

Next.js is a popular React framework for building server-rendered and static websites. It provides an excellent foundation for developing scalable and efficient applications. Regarding managing application state, Redux is a widely adopted library in the React ecosystem. To simplify the process of working with Redux, Redux Toolkit was introduced as an official opinionated toolset. In this article, we will explore how to implement Redux Toolkit in a Next.js application.

Why do we prefer the Redux toolkit over Redux in Next js?

Redux Toolkit is a popular library that simplifies the process of working with Redux by providing a set of opinionated tools and utilities. It is often preferred over traditional Redux, especially in Next.js applications, due to the following reasons:

1. Boilerplate reduction: Redux Toolkit significantly reduces the amount of boilerplate code required to set up and configure a Redux store. It provides a concise and intuitive API that abstracts away many of the complexities of Redux, allowing developers to write code more efficiently.
2. Simplified store creation: With Redux Toolkit, creating a Redux store becomes much simpler. It includes a configureStore function that encapsulates the store setup process, including middleware configuration and reducer combination. This makes it easier to create a store instance without having to manually set up each piece.
3. Built-in dev tools integration: Redux Toolkit comes with built-in support for Redux DevTools Extension, which is a powerful tool for debugging and inspecting the Redux store state and actions. Enabling Redux DevTools with Redux Toolkit is straightforward, and it provides a seamless development experience.

Prerequisites

To follow along with this tutorial, it’s recommended to have a basic understanding of React, Next.js, and Redux concepts. Familiarity with JavaScript and npm (Node Package Manager) is also beneficial.

Setting Up a Next.js Application

Before integrating Redux Toolkit, let’s set up a basic Next.js application. Open your terminal and execute the following commands:

npx create-next-app my-app
cd my-app

This will create a new Next.js project named “my-app.” Once the setup is complete, open the project in your preferred code editor.

Installing Dependencies

npm install @reduxjs/toolkit react-redux

This installs Redux Toolkit and React Redux, which integrates Redux and React components.

Creating a Redux Slice

A Redux slice represents a portion of the application state and includes the corresponding reducers and actions. Let’s create a simple slice for managing a counter.

Create a new folder named “slices” inside the “src” folder. Inside the “slices” folder, create a file named “counterSlice.js” and add the following code:

import { createSlice } from '@reduxjs/toolkit';
const counterSlice = createSlice({
 name: 'counter',
 initialState: 0,
 reducers: {
 increment(state) {
 return state + 1;
 },
 decrement(state) {
 return state - 1;
 },
 },
});
export const { increment, decrement } = counterSlice.actions;
export default counterSlice.reducer;

This code defines a slice named “counter” with an initial state of 0. It also includes two reducers, “increment” and “decrement,” which update the state accordingly.

Configuring Redux Store

Next, we need to configure the Redux store. Create a new folder named “store” inside the “src” folder. Inside the “store” folder, create a file named “index.js” and add the following code:

import { configureStore } from '@reduxjs/toolkit';
import counterReducer from '../slices/counterSlice';
const store = configureStore({
 reducer: {
 counter: counterReducer,
 },
});
export default store;

In this code, we import the “configureStore” function from Redux Toolkit and the “counterReducer” from the “counterSlice” we created earlier. The store is configured with the “counter” slice as the reducer.

Integrating Redux Provider

To make the Redux store available to our Next.js application, we must wrap our top-level component with the Redux Provider. Open the “_app.js” file inside the “pages” folder and modify it as follows:

import { Provider } from 'react-redux';
import store from '../src/store';
function MyApp({ Component, pageProps }) {
 return (
 <Provider store={store}>
 <Component {…pageProps} />
 </Provider>
 );
}
export default MyApp;

Conclusion

In conclusion, using Redux Toolkit with Next.js offers a streamlined and efficient approach to state management in your Next.js applications. It simplifies the setup and reduces boilerplate code while providing an optimized Redux store. Combining the server-side rendering capabilities of Next.js with Redux Toolkit allows you to fetch and populate the initial state on the server, improving performance and SEO. Overall, this combination enhances the development experience and promotes type safety, making it a compelling choice for building complex web applications.