#103: Better-Auth adopts Auth.js, React 19.2, Next.js Improvements, State Management in 2025, Server-Side React

React 19.2 – Highlights include <Activity /> for controlling hidden/visible UI states, useEffectEvent for safer event handling inside effects, and cacheSignal for React Server Components. There’s also support for Partial Pre-rendering, which lets you pre-render static shells and resume them later, and Web Streams support for SSR in Node. Check out the release post for a full description of the changes

Quick Next.js Updates:

• Mark React Compiler integration as stable
• Every Route Handler in Next.js is now 200ms+ faster in development
• Compiling the very first route in Next.js is now 570ms faster.
• `next build` is now 800-900ms faster for all applications
• Turbopack as the default in Next.js coming in Next.js 16
• Next.js and Turbopack now support the TC39 Debug ID proposal

Self-host Next.js with Docker Swarm and CI/CD Pipeline – This step‑by‑step guide walks you through self‑hosting a Next.js blog with Postgres on a VPS using Docker Swarm, Nginx, and GitLab CI/CD

React State Management in 2025: What You Actually Need – Nadia makes a case for not overthinking state management anymore. Split your state into categories: remote (TanStack Query / SWR), URL (nuqs), local (useState), and shared (Context or Zustand)

React Frameworks and Server-Side Features: Beyond Client-Side Rendering – Covers newer React patterns like Server Components and Server Functions, showing how they move work to the server, cut down client JavaScript, and provide safer, simpler ways to fetch data or run server logic from client components

► Dan Abramov Interview - The Future of React – Dan talks about his React journey, the misconceptions around React Server Components, and why clear communication is so important for wider adoption

Auth.js is now part of Better Auth – BIG NEWS: Auth.js (formerly NextAuth.js) is now managed by the Better Auth team. Current users don’t need to worry, as updates and patches will continue, but new projects are encouraged to use Better Auth

Civic Auth + Next.js sample app – A complete, ready-to-run Next.js project showing how to add secure auth with Civic Auth in minutes. Includes signup/login flows, wallet integration, and best practices.

func-to-route – Transform any async function into a type-safe API route with built-in auth and error handling

mochi-motion – An animation library built on top of Framer Motion that gives you smooth, spring-based scroll animations

eslint-plugin-react-you-might-not-need-an-effect – Catch unnecessary React useEffect hooks to make your code simpler, faster, and safer.

Add a powerful PDF viewer to your Next.js app in minutes! – React PDF is a high performance PDF viewer. It gives you full control over how your users interact with PDFs: zoom, search, print and rotate. Built for developers. Works with React 19 and Next.js 15 ready.

Builders Guide to the AI SDK – If you’ve been curious about how to add AI features into your apps without drowning in API details, this new course walks you through Vercel’s AI SDK step by step. You’ll build real things like data extraction scripts, auto-summarizers with Next.js Server Actions, and a full chatbot with streaming, tool calling, and professional UI

Animating Elements through framer motion with React.js – A beginner’s guide that shows how Framer Motion makes it easy to add smooth animations in React apps. From simple fade-ins to drag-and-drop lists, the article explains how to replace long CSS code with short, readable React components

Mastering NPX: A Cheatsheet for npm and Node.js Power Users – Highlights some of the lesser known npx features, like finding executable paths, using environment variables, or testing scripts across multiple Node versions

State of JavaScript 2025 – With the ecosystem feeling more stable than a few years back, the spotlight is now on meta‑framework rivalries (Astro vs. Next.js) and modern build tools (Vite vs. webpack). Takes ~15–20 minutes, and results will drop publicly in November