What's New in Next.js — What Actually Matters for Production Apps

Next.js ships fast, and most release notes read like a firehose: some of it is genuinely production-relevant, some is experimental, and some only matters if you're on a specific edge case.

I keep a running version of this post specifically so it stays current — each update, I re-triage what actually changed how I'd architect a new app or what's worth migrating existing ones toward, versus what's safe to ignore for another release or two.

Expect this one to get revisited every time Next.js ships something that changes real architectural decisions, not just every time a new version number ships.