Migrate from Next.Js 12 to Next.Js 13

Migrating from Next.js 12 to Next.js 13 is an important step for developers looking to take advantage of the latest features and improvements in the popular React framework. In this article, we will go through the process of migrating a Next.js 12 application to Next.js 13 in detail, covering the most important steps and considerations along the way.

The first step in migrating to Next.js 13 is to update the version of Next.js that you are currently using. To do this, you will need to update the version of the next package in your project's package.json file.

npm update next react react-dom
"dependencies": {
    "next": "13.0.0",
    ...
  }

After updating the version of the next package, run npm install or yarn install to update the dependencies.

Next, review the official documentation for breaking changes in Next.js 13. Some of the most notable breaking changes in Next.js 13 include changes to the _app.js and getStaticProps APIs. Make sure to check for these changes and adjust your application accordingly.

Another important feature in Next.js 13 is the built-in image optimization. It can help improve the performance of your application by automatically compressing and resizing images. To take advantage of this feature, you will need to install the next-optimized-images package and configure it in your next.config.js file.

Next.js 13 includes a new configuration file format that allows you to split your configuration into multiple files. This means you can now split your next.config.js file into multiple files, where each file exports an object which will be deep-merged with the main config. This feature can be helpful for larger projects with multiple environments and different configurations.

Lastly, as Next.js 13 is built on top of webpack 5, it requires that you have an upgraded version of webpack and other dependencies. Make sure you have the latest versions of your dependencies and devDependencies.

It's important to test the updated code and do a thorough testing to ensure that everything is working as expected.

Updating to Next.js 13 can provide your application with better performance, improved developer experience, and new features. With the above steps, you should be able to successfully migrate your Next.js 12 application to Next.js 13. As always, be sure to thoroughly test your application after the migration to ensure that everything is working as expected.