Unlock the Power of AWS: Deploying Next.js Applications with SST and OpenNext
When it comes to deploying a Next.js application, the options are endless. However, choosing AWS as your hosting platform offers a multitude of benefits, especially if you’re already invested in the AWS ecosystem. In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to harness the power of OpenNext, an open-source adapter for Next.js, to seamlessly deploy a Next.js app on AWS Lambda.
Getting Started with JuiceBox
We’ll be using a pre-built demo Next.js application called JuiceBox, which renders an imaginary juice-selling service’s “Coming Soon” page styled with Tailwind CSS. Our goal is to implement a waitlist feature for potential customers visiting the site, allowing them to input an email address and receive notifications when the service starts selling.
Understanding SST and OpenNext
SST, formerly known as Serverless Stack, simplifies the process of deploying full-stack serverless applications to AWS. By abstracting away the complexities of provisioning underlying resources, SST enables you to focus on building scalable applications. SST leverages the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) for automation and includes several CDK components and concepts, such as Constructs, which represent a cloud service within an application.
OpenNext plays a crucial role in deploying SST applications by generating a build output and converting it into a package for SST to deploy to AWS Lambda or S3 services.
Setting Up Our Next.js Application
To get started, clone the JuiceBox application from its GitHub repository and install its dependencies. Run the application to view it in your web browser at port 3000 before modifying it.
Initializing SST in Your Next.js Project
To use SST features, you need to initialize it within your project. The SST CLI simplifies the initialization process by generating boilerplate configuration files. Run the command to initialize SST within your project, which will create configuration files, list dependencies, and modify the dev script.
Defining Your AWS Services
Open the sst.config.ts file and replace its content with the code block below, which creates a table construct for DynamoDB with an id, email, and createdAt field. This binds the table construct to the NextjsSite stack, giving Lambda functions running the application the necessary IAM role to interact with the DynamoDB table.
Using SST Constructs within a Next.js Application
Install the Node.js SDK and uuid package, and create a route handler to interact with the DynamoDB service through its NodeJS SDK. This will subscribe a visitor to the waitlist by inserting a new document into the DynamoDB table.
Deploying SST Apps to AWS with OpenNext
Run the command to deploy the JuiceBox application to AWS through OpenNext, which will prompt you to create a new stage for production. During deployment, OpenNext will execute the build command before deploying it to AWS.
Conclusion
Congratulations on completing this comprehensive tutorial! We’ve covered how to use SST and OpenNext to initialize a Next.js application using DynamoDB and deploy it to AWS. By leveraging the power of AWS, SST, and OpenNext, you can build robust and scalable solutions for modern web applications.