Why we're building our front end with Next.js on top of UNA

A bit of behind-the-scenes on how this network is put together. UNA stays as the back end (members, content, permissions, notifications) and we're building the web front end in Next.js, sharing as much code as we can with a React Native app.

  • Speed and SEO: server-side rendering means public pages load fast and search engines see real content, without us wiring up SSR by hand.
  • Simple routing: a new file in the pages folder is a new route, which keeps a growing project easy to find your way around.
  • Fresh pages without full rebuilds: incremental static regeneration refreshes individual pages in the background.
  • One API for web and mobile: everything comes from UNA's API, so both apps can share data hooks and components.

It isn't free: that's a second app to host and keep in step with UNA updates, and we had to be careful about what gets cached for guests versus signed-in members. Has anyone else gone headless with UNA? What tripped you up?

John Hallett
John Hallett
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