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Next.js 14: New Features and How to Use Them

Mayur Dabhi

February 24, 2026

22 min read

Next.js 14 represents a monumental leap forward in React framework development. Released with the tagline "The Foundation for the Web," this version introduces game-changing features that fundamentally reshape how we build modern web applications. From stable Server Actions to the revolutionary Partial Prerendering, Next.js 14 delivers on its promise of making React development faster, simpler, and more powerful than ever before.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore every major feature in Next.js 14, understand why they matter, and most importantly, learn how to implement them in your projects today. Whether you're migrating from an older version or starting fresh, this guide will give you everything you need to leverage the full power of Next.js 14.

What Makes Next.js 14 Special?

Next.js 14 focuses on stability and performance. Server Actions are now stable, Partial Prerendering enables unprecedented loading speeds, and the Turbopack dev server is up to 53% faster. This isn't just an incremental update—it's a new foundation for building the web.

Overview of Key Features

Before diving deep into each feature, let's get a bird's-eye view of what Next.js 14 brings to the table. These aren't just minor improvements—they're fundamental changes to how React applications are built and delivered.

Next.js 14's major features working together to create the ultimate React experience

Server Actions

Stable and production-ready. Write server-side logic directly in your components without creating API endpoints.

Partial Prerendering

Combine static and dynamic content in a single route for ultra-fast initial page loads with streaming dynamic content.

Turbopack Dev

Rust-powered bundler delivering 53% faster local server startup and 94% faster code updates.

Improved Memory

Memory usage optimizations reducing RAM consumption by up to 40% during development.

Server Actions: The Complete Guide

Server Actions are arguably the most transformative feature in Next.js 14. They allow you to define server-side functions that can be called directly from your React components, eliminating the need for separate API routes in many cases. This isn't just syntactic sugar—it's a fundamental shift in how we think about client-server communication.

Server Actions eliminate the API route middleman for cleaner, more maintainable code

Creating Your First Server Action

Server Actions are marked with the 'use server' directive. They can be defined inline within Server Components or in a separate file for reuse across your application.

app/actions.ts

'use server'

import { revalidatePath } from 'next/cache'
import { redirect } from 'next/navigation'
import { db } from '@/lib/db'

// Create a new post
export async function createPost(formData: FormData) {
  const title = formData.get('title') as string
  const content = formData.get('content') as string
  
  // Validate input
  if (!title || title.length < 3) {
    return { error: 'Title must be at least 3 characters' }
  }
  
  // Insert into database
  const post = await db.post.create({
    data: { title, content, authorId: getCurrentUserId() }
  })
  
  // Revalidate the posts page cache
  revalidatePath('/posts')
  
  // Redirect to the new post
  redirect(`/posts/${post.id}`)
}

// Delete a post
export async function deletePost(postId: string) {
  await db.post.delete({ where: { id: postId } })
  revalidatePath('/posts')
  return { success: true }
}

app/posts/new/page.tsx

import { createPost } from '@/app/actions'

export default function NewPostPage() {
  return (
    <form action={createPost}>
      <input 
        type="text" 
        name="title" 
        placeholder="Post title"
        required
        minLength={3}
      />
      
      <textarea 
        name="content" 
        placeholder="Write your post..."
        rows={10}
      />
      
      <button type="submit">
        Create Post
      </button>
    </form>
  )
}

Server Actions with useFormState and useFormStatus

Next.js 14 works seamlessly with React's new form hooks to provide enhanced user experience with loading states and error handling.

components/CreatePostForm.tsx

'use client'

import { useFormState, useFormStatus } from 'react-dom'
import { createPost } from '@/app/actions'

// Initial state for the form
const initialState = {
  error: null,
  success: false
}

function SubmitButton() {
  const { pending } = useFormStatus()
  
  return (
    <button 
      type="submit" 
      disabled={pending}
      className="submit-btn"
    >
      {pending ? (
        <>
          <Spinner /> Creating...
        </>
      ) : (
        'Create Post'
      )}
    </button>
  )
}

export function CreatePostForm() {
  const [state, formAction] = useFormState(createPost, initialState)
  
  return (
    <form action={formAction}>
      {state.error && (
        <div className="error-message">
          {state.error}
        </div>
      )}
      
      <input type="text" name="title" placeholder="Title" />
      <textarea name="content" placeholder="Content" />
      
      <SubmitButton />
    </form>
  )
}

Server Action Best Practices

Always validate input — Never trust form data; validate on the server
Handle errors gracefully — Return error states instead of throwing
Use revalidatePath/revalidateTag — Keep your cache fresh after mutations
Consider rate limiting — Server Actions are exposed endpoints
Add authentication checks — Verify user permissions in every action

Partial Prerendering (PPR)

Partial Prerendering is Next.js 14's answer to the age-old debate between static and dynamic rendering. It allows you to serve a static shell instantly while streaming in dynamic content—giving users the perception of immediate page loads while still supporting personalized, real-time content.

Partial Prerendering delivers the static shell instantly, then streams in dynamic content

Enabling Partial Prerendering

To enable PPR in your Next.js 14 project, add the experimental flag to your configuration and use the Suspense boundary to define what content should be dynamically rendered.

next.config.js

/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
  experimental: {
    ppr: true, // Enable Partial Prerendering
  },
}

module.exports = nextConfig

app/dashboard/page.tsx

import { Suspense } from 'react'
import { UserGreeting } from '@/components/UserGreeting'
import { RecentActivity } from '@/components/RecentActivity'
import { Recommendations } from '@/components/Recommendations'

// Static parts (prerendered at build time)
function StaticHeader() {
  return (
    <header>
      <h1>Dashboard</h1>
      <nav>{/* Static navigation */}</nav>
    </header>
  )
}

function StaticSidebar() {
  return (
    <aside>
      <ul>
        <li>Overview</li>
        <li>Analytics</li>
        <li>Settings</li>
      </ul>
    </aside>
  )
}

// Loading skeletons
function UserSkeleton() {
  return <div className="skeleton h-20 w-full" />
}

function ActivitySkeleton() {
  return <div className="skeleton h-40 w-full" />
}

export default function DashboardPage() {
  return (
    <div className="dashboard-layout">
      {/* These render instantly as static HTML */}
      <StaticHeader />
      <StaticSidebar />
      
      <main>
        {/* Dynamic content wrapped in Suspense */}
        <Suspense fallback={<UserSkeleton />}>
          <UserGreeting /> {/* Fetches user data */}
        </Suspense>
        
        <Suspense fallback={<ActivitySkeleton />}>
          <RecentActivity /> {/* Fetches activity feed */}
        </Suspense>
        
        <Suspense fallback={<ActivitySkeleton />}>
          <Recommendations /> {/* AI-generated recommendations */}
        </Suspense>
      </main>
    </div>
  )
}

PPR Considerations

Partial Prerendering is currently experimental. While stable enough for testing, monitor the Next.js release notes before using in critical production applications. The API may evolve as the feature matures.

Turbopack: The New Era of Bundling

Turbopack is Vercel's Rust-powered bundler designed to replace Webpack. In Next.js 14, the Turbopack dev server has passed 5,000 integration tests and is ready for local development. The performance improvements are staggering.

Turbopack Performance Gains

Benchmarks on large applications show dramatic improvements:

Local Server Startup 53% faster

Turbopack

Code Updates (Fast Refresh) 94% faster

Turbopack

Initial Route Compile 76% faster

Turbopack

Enabling Turbopack

Terminal

# Start development server with Turbopack
next dev --turbo

# Or add to your package.json scripts
{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "next dev --turbo",
    "build": "next build",
    "start": "next start"
  }
}

Feature	Webpack	Turbopack
Language	JavaScript	Rust
Incremental Computation	Basic caching	Function-level caching
Dev Server Memory	Higher	~40% lower
Large Project Startup	Seconds	Milliseconds
Production Build	✅ Stable	🔜 Coming soon

App Router Enhancements

The App Router, introduced in Next.js 13, is now the default and recommended approach for building Next.js applications. Next.js 14 brings several refinements that make it even more powerful and developer-friendly.

The App Router's file-based conventions make routing intuitive and powerful

Enhanced Metadata API

Next.js 14 improves the Metadata API with better streaming support and more configuration options for SEO optimization.

app/products/[id]/page.tsx

import { Metadata, ResolvingMetadata } from 'next'
import { getProduct } from '@/lib/products'

type Props = {
  params: { id: string }
}

// Generate dynamic metadata based on the product
export async function generateMetadata(
  { params }: Props,
  parent: ResolvingMetadata
): Promise<Metadata> {
  const product = await getProduct(params.id)
  
  // Optionally access parent metadata
  const previousImages = (await parent).openGraph?.images || []
  
  return {
    title: product.name,
    description: product.description,
    
    openGraph: {
      title: product.name,
      description: product.description,
      images: [product.image, ...previousImages],
      type: 'website',
    },
    
    twitter: {
      card: 'summary_large_image',
      title: product.name,
      description: product.description,
      images: [product.image],
    },
    
    // Robots directives
    robots: {
      index: product.isPublished,
      follow: true,
      googleBot: {
        index: product.isPublished,
        follow: true,
        'max-image-preview': 'large',
      },
    },
    
    // Canonical URL
    alternates: {
      canonical: `https://example.com/products/${params.id}`,
    },
  }
}

export default async function ProductPage({ params }: Props) {
  const product = await getProduct(params.id)
  return <ProductDetails product={product} />
}

Image Optimization Improvements

The next/image component in Next.js 14 comes with significant performance improvements, including faster image loading and better Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) scores.

components/HeroImage.tsx

import Image from 'next/image'

export function HeroImage() {
  return (
    <div className="hero-container">
      {/* Priority loading for LCP images */}
      <Image
        src="/hero-banner.jpg"
        alt="Hero Banner"
        width={1920}
        height={1080}
        priority  // Load immediately, no lazy loading
        quality={85}
        placeholder="blur"
        blurDataURL="data:image/jpeg;base64,..."
        sizes="100vw"
        style={{
          objectFit: 'cover',
        }}
      />
    </div>
  )
}

// For dynamic images with remote sources
export function ProductGallery({ images }: { images: string[] }) {
  return (
    <div className="gallery-grid">
      {images.map((src, index) => (
        <Image
          key={src}
          src={src}
          alt={`Product image ${index + 1}`}
          width={400}
          height={400}
          loading={index < 4 ? 'eager' : 'lazy'}
          sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 25vw"
        />
      ))}
    </div>
  )
}

Migration Guide

Upgrading to Next.js 14 is straightforward for most applications. Here's a step-by-step guide to ensure a smooth transition.

Update Dependencies

Upgrade Next.js and React to the latest versions. Next.js 14 requires React 18.2.0 or later.

Terminal

# Using npm
npm install next@14 react@latest react-dom@latest

# Using yarn
yarn add next@14 react@latest react-dom@latest

# Using pnpm
pnpm add next@14 react@latest react-dom@latest

Run the Codemod

Next.js provides automatic codemods to update deprecated APIs and patterns.

Terminal

# Run the automatic migration codemod
npx @next/codemod@latest upgrade

# This handles:
# - Updating imports from 'next/image' legacy to new
# - Converting 'next/link' child anchor patterns
# - Updating metadata export patterns

Update Server Actions

If you were using Server Actions experimentally, update your next.config.js to remove the experimental flag.

next.config.js (Before vs After)

// Before (Next.js 13)
module.exports = {
  experimental: {
    serverActions: true, // ❌ Remove this
  },
}

// After (Next.js 14)
module.exports = {
  // Server Actions are stable - no flag needed! ✅
}

Test Thoroughly

Run your test suite and manually verify critical user flows before deploying.

Migration Checklist

✅ Updated Next.js to version 14
✅ Updated React to 18.2.0 or later
✅ Ran automatic codemods
✅ Removed experimental.serverActions flag
✅ Updated any deprecated API usage
✅ Tested all pages and API routes
✅ Verified production build works

Best Practices for Next.js 14

To get the most out of Next.js 14, follow these battle-tested best practices that will help you build faster, more maintainable applications.

Do This

Use Server Components by default, add 'use client' only when needed
Colocate data fetching with the components that need it
Use Server Actions for mutations instead of API routes
Implement proper loading and error states
Use Suspense boundaries strategically for streaming
Leverage the Metadata API for SEO
Enable Turbopack for faster development

Avoid This

Don't make everything a Client Component
Don't fetch data in layouts that could block rendering
Don't ignore TypeScript warnings in Server Actions
Don't skip input validation on server-side
Don't nest too many Suspense boundaries (performance overhead)
Don't use getServerSideProps in new App Router code
Don't forget to handle errors in Server Actions

Conclusion

Next.js 14 is not just an incremental update—it's a paradigm shift in how we build React applications. With stable Server Actions, you can write cleaner, more maintainable code. Partial Prerendering gives you the best of both static and dynamic worlds. And Turbopack makes development faster than ever.

The key takeaways from this guide:

Server Actions are production-ready — Start using them to simplify your data mutations
Partial Prerendering is revolutionary — Test it in experimental mode for ultra-fast page loads
Turbopack delivers on its promise — Enable it for significantly faster development
The App Router is mature — It should be your default choice for new projects
Migration is straightforward — Most apps can upgrade with minimal changes

The future of React development is here, and it's faster, simpler, and more powerful than ever. Start building with Next.js 14 today and experience the difference for yourself.

Further Resources

Next.js React Server Components Server Actions Partial Prerendering Turbopack App Router SSR

Mayur Dabhi

Full-stack developer passionate about React, Next.js, and building modern web applications. Sharing knowledge and exploring the latest in web development.