[Bug]: App Directory: Navigation between pages is always hard reload

[molniya0207]

Summary

When using App Directory (App Router) in Next.js (to clarify: the problem exists from the first version with app router to current version 13.4.1) every navigation using a link performs a hard reload, instead of expected behavior of refreshing only navigated part of the app (eg. inner page without layout).
Problem occurs on all Next.js versions with App Router and probably all Next.js Plugin versions (I tested this on 4.33.0, 4.30.1, appdir and current latest version).

I'm not the only one with this problem; this problem is already on Next.js 13 App Router Feedback discussion, but it looks like everyone forget that that discussion exists: #1724 (comment)

I reported this problem on Netlify Support forums first: https://answers.netlify.com/t/next-js-13-app-directory-hard-reload-on-navigation/89143, where I shared some network requests info (note that this info is from an old Next.js and plugin version):

When opening /, Next.js also makes requests to links on this page with header RSC: 1 and receives some data (it’s even cached for me). As I understand RSC files are used to make redirects without hard reloads or something.
When clicking on a link to /buy, it first makes the same request again, then makes request to /buy, but now without RSC: 1 so it receives HTML. Then requests are almost the same as on / but for /buy now.

On next js dev server requests go this way:
When opening /, no requests are made with RSC header, only if I hover over a link.
When clicking a link it makes request to /buy with RSC, then to page.js (http://localhost:3000/_next/static/chunks/app/buy/page.js) and that’s all (excluding TRPC request, but that is not related to navigation)

By the way, it also didn’t work on Vercel, but that was because I didn’t remove i18n from my next config. After that, there was no hard reloads on Vercel but on Netlify nothing changed.

Examples so you can test it for yourself:
Deployed on Vercel (working as intended): https://adt.vercel.app/
Deployed on Netlify (latest plugin version, performs hard reload on navigation): https://famous-fox-e34d2e.netlify.app/
The link to test with is "Link" text in top-right corner.

Steps to reproduce

Use the provided examples:
Deployed on Vercel (working as intended): https://adt.vercel.app/
Deployed on Netlify (latest plugin version, performs hard reload on navigation): https://famous-fox-e34d2e.netlify.app/
The link to test with is "Link" text in top-right corner.

OR

Create it for yourself:

1. Create any new App Router project (my configuration is TS+ESLint+Tailwind CSS+Import Alias+App Router)
   (or clone my repo: https://github.com/molniya0207/adt)
2. Add a second page and create links between them
3. Deploy to Netlify
4. Click on the links: it will hard reload

A link to a reproduction repository

https://github.com/molniya0207/adt

Next Runtime version

4.36.0

Is your issue related to the app directory (beta)?

• Yes, I am using the app directory

More information about your build

• I am building using the CLI
• I am building using file-based configuration (netlify.toml)

What OS are you using?

None

Your netlify.toml file

No response

Your public/_redirects file

No response

Your next.config.js file

`next.config.js`

/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {}

module.exports = nextConfig

Builds logs (or link to your logs)

Build logs

9:23:19 PM: build-image version: cd0a67ec27b8bcd87e2a257fe5ebcf1900a8021d (focal)
9:23:19 PM: buildbot version: f3871d4c438bbd4f48a8f44a50bec7489430735e
9:23:19 PM: Fetching cached dependencies
9:23:19 PM: Starting to download cache of 168.6MB
9:23:20 PM: Finished downloading cache in 1.474s
9:23:20 PM: Starting to extract cache
9:23:22 PM: Finished extracting cache in 1.64s
9:23:22 PM: Finished fetching cache in 3.163s
9:23:22 PM: Starting to prepare the repo for build
9:23:22 PM: Preparing Git Reference refs/heads/main
9:23:23 PM: Parsing package.json dependencies
9:23:25 PM: Starting to install dependencies
9:23:25 PM: Python version set to 3.8
9:23:25 PM: Attempting Ruby version 2.7.2, read from environment
9:23:25 PM: Using Ruby version 2.7.2
9:23:26 PM: Started restoring cached go cache
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9:23:26 PM: Installing Go version 1.19.5 (requested 1.19.5)
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9:23:32 PM: Using PHP version 8.0
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9:23:34 PM: v16.20.0 is already installed.
9:23:34 PM: Now using node v16.20.0 (npm v8.19.4)
9:23:34 PM: Enabling Node.js Corepack
9:23:34 PM: Started restoring cached build plugins
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9:23:34 PM: Started restoring cached corepack dependencies
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9:23:35 PM: Found pnpm version (7.13.4) that doesn't match expected ()Usage Error: Invalid package manager specification in CLI arguments; expected a semver version, range, or tag
9:23:35 PM: $ corepack prepare [--activate] [--all] [--json] [-o,--output] ...
9:23:35 PM: No pnpm workspaces detected
9:23:35 PM: Started restoring cached node modules
9:23:35 PM: Finished restoring cached node modules
9:23:35 PM: Installing npm packages using pnpm version 7.13.4
9:23:35 PM:  WARN  Ignoring not compatible lockfile at /opt/build/repo/pnpm-lock.yaml
9:23:36 PM: Progress: resolved 1, reused 0, downloaded 0, added 0
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9:23:38 PM: Progress: resolved 79, reused 0, downloaded 65, added 0
9:23:39 PM: Progress: resolved 155, reused 0, downloaded 143, added 0
9:23:39 PM: Already up to date
9:23:40 PM: Progress: resolved 156, reused 0, downloaded 146, added 0, done
9:23:41 PM: Done in 5.7s
9:23:41 PM: npm packages installed using pnpm
9:23:41 PM: Install dependencies script success
9:23:41 PM: Starting build script
9:23:42 PM: Detected 1 framework(s)
9:23:42 PM: "next" at version "13.4.1"
9:23:42 PM: Section completed: initializing
9:23:44 PM: ​
9:23:44 PM:   Netlify Build                                                 
9:23:44 PM: ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
9:23:44 PM: ​
9:23:44 PM: ❯ Version
9:23:44 PM:   @netlify/build 29.10.1
9:23:44 PM: ​
9:23:44 PM: ❯ Flags
9:23:44 PM:   baseRelDir: true
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9:23:44 PM:   /opt/build/repo
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9:23:44 PM: ❯ Config file
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9:23:44 PM: ❯ Context
9:23:44 PM:   production
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9:23:44 PM: ❯ Using Next.js Runtime - v4.36.0
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9:23:46 PM:   1. @netlify/plugin-nextjs (onPreBuild event)                  
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9:23:46 PM: Next.js cache restored.
9:23:46 PM: Netlify configuration property "build.environment.NEXT_PRIVATE_TARGET" value changed.
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9:23:46 PM: (@netlify/plugin-nextjs onPreBuild completed in 112ms)
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9:23:46 PM:   2. Build command from Netlify app                             
9:23:46 PM: ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
9:23:46 PM: ​
9:23:46 PM: $ npm run build
9:23:46 PM: > adt@0.1.0 build
9:23:46 PM: > next build
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9:23:47 PM: - info Creating an optimized production build...
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9:23:56 PM: - info Generating static pages (5/5)
9:23:57 PM: - info Finalizing page optimization...
9:23:57 PM: Route (app)                                Size     First Load JS
9:23:57 PM: ┌ ○ /                                      188 B          86.8 kB
9:23:57 PM: ├ ○ /asil                                  188 B          86.8 kB
9:23:57 PM: └ ○ /favicon.ico                           0 B                0 B
9:23:57 PM: + First Load JS shared by all              76.8 kB
9:23:57 PM:   ├ chunks/275-d3fb3348b6ec9437.js         24.5 kB
9:23:57 PM:   ├ chunks/b51ee262-fcc8afbf20d0d3c1.js    50.5 kB
9:23:57 PM:   ├ chunks/main-app-9d077d48da18a0c2.js    217 B
9:23:57 PM:   └ chunks/webpack-1102598922600a22.js     1.64 kB
9:23:57 PM: Route (pages)                              Size     First Load JS
9:23:57 PM: ─ ○ /404                                   178 B          85.9 kB
9:23:57 PM: + First Load JS shared by all              85.8 kB
9:23:57 PM:   ├ chunks/main-26535efcf6c893d0.js        83.9 kB
9:23:57 PM:   ├ chunks/pages/_app-7eb8ec636160b3cb.js  192 B
9:23:57 PM:   └ chunks/webpack-1102598922600a22.js     1.64 kB
9:23:57 PM: ○  (Static)  automatically rendered as static HTML (uses no initial props)
9:23:57 PM: ​
9:23:57 PM: (build.command completed in 11.4s)
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9:23:57 PM:   3. @netlify/plugin-nextjs (onBuild event)                     
9:23:57 PM: ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
9:23:57 PM: ​
9:23:57 PM: Patching /opt/build/repo/node_modules/.pnpm/next@13.4.1_biqbaboplfbrettd7655fr4n2y/node_modules/next/dist/server/base-server.js
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9:23:57 PM: Done
9:23:57 PM: Moving static page files to serve from CDN...
9:23:57 PM: Moving /opt/build/repo/.next/server/app/asil.html to /opt/build/repo/.next/asil.html
9:23:57 PM: Moving /opt/build/repo/.next/server/app/asil.rsc to /opt/build/repo/.next/asil.rsc
9:23:57 PM: Moving /opt/build/repo/.next/server/app/index.html to /opt/build/repo/.next/index.html
9:23:57 PM: Moving /opt/build/repo/.next/server/app/index.rsc to /opt/build/repo/.next/index.rsc
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Function logs

Function logs

Nothing useful:

May 5, 10:19:14 PM: 4880eaf8 INFO   [GET] /favicon.ico (SSR)
May 5, 10:19:14 PM: 4880eaf8 Duration: 9.93 ms	Memory Usage: 137 MB	
May 5, 10:19:15 PM: 366fac3e INFO   [GET] /favicon.ico (SSR)
May 5, 10:19:15 PM: 366fac3e Duration: 7.10 ms	Memory Usage: 137 MB	
May 5, 10:19:17 PM: f50b59dd INFO   [GET] /favicon.ico (SSR)
May 5, 10:19:17 PM: f50b59dd Duration: 10.64 ms	Memory Usage: 137 MB	

.next JSON files

No response

[pieh]

There seemed to be change somewhere between next@13.1.6 (this worked) and next@13.3.0 (stopped working) that we didn't address yet - https://github.com/netlify/next-runtime/pull/2056/files#r1177491204 (I think this test basically tries to assert behavior that you are describing with setting property on window and trying to check if it's still set after clicking few navigation links)

[molniya0207]

Is there anything I can help with?

[josehernandezv]

This is happening to me in Next 13.4.2

[tfsomrat]

Same here, waiting for updates...

[l-you]

forceOptimisticNavigation helps to do a workaround for it. But seems like this option can disappear soon
vercel/next.js#47905

Edit: only in dev mode.

[edarioq]

I thought it was an issue with Styled Components and ended up rewriting a lot of components only to figure out that wasn't the issue. I'm deploying on Netlify, using Nextjs 13.4.4. Every route change reloads the page, except for child routes. Navigating between child routes doesn't do the hard refresh. This is annoying and so buggy, should still be in BETA.

[edarioq]

How to use forceOptimisticNavigation ?

[l-you]

@edarioq after deployment it turned out that forceOptimisticNavigation didn't work on production, only in development
In my case, the issue was caused by unicode characters in my query parameters, which is a bug in NextJS.
The current issue doesn't seem to be related to my problem.

If anyone has a similar problem, they can take a look at vercel/next.js#48728

[timrae]

I'm also experiencing the same issue. See here for a sample project. Switching to vercel for now as that solves the problem for me.

[timrae]

Note that on the issue I just linked someone suggested that it might possibly be related to this

[danielcrt]

There seemed to be change somewhere between next@13.1.6 (this worked) and next@13.3.0 (stopped working) that we didn't address yet - https://github.com/netlify/next-runtime/pull/2056/files#r1177491204 (I think this test basically tries to assert behavior that you are describing with setting property on window and trying to check if it's still set after clicking few navigation links)

Tested with

"next": "13.1.6",
"@netlify/plugin-nextjs": "^4.29.5-appdir.0",

The issue still exists. My usecases:

• navigate from / to ?q triggers hard reload (full page load)
• navigate from / to /random-page works
• navigate from /random-page to / triggers hard reload (full page load)

The above happens when using router.push but also with Link component.