nextjs-pages-router

Development

Set up tRPC in Next.js Pages Router with createNextApiHandler, createTRPCNext, withTRPC HOC, SSR via ssr option and ssrPrepass, SSG via createServerSideHelpers with getStaticProps, and server-side helpers for getServerSideProps prefetching.

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This skill builds on [server-setup] and [client-setup]. Read them first for foundational concepts.

tRPC -- Next.js Pages Router

File Structure

.
├── src
│   ├── pages
│   │   ├── _app.tsx              # withTRPC() HOC
│   │   ├── api/trpc
│   │   │   └── [trpc].ts        # tRPC API handler
│   │   └── index.tsx             # page using tRPC hooks
│   ├── server
│   │   ├── routers
│   │   │   └── _app.ts          # main app router
│   │   ├── context.ts           # createContext
│   │   └── trpc.ts              # initTRPC, procedure helpers
│   └── utils
│       └── trpc.ts              # createTRPCNext, hooks
└── ...

Setup

1. Install

npm install @trpc/server @trpc/client @trpc/react-query @trpc/next @tanstack/react-query zod

2. Server init

import { initTRPC } from '@trpc/server';

const t = initTRPC.create();

export const router = t.router;
export const procedure = t.procedure;

3. Define the router

import { z } from 'zod';
import { procedure, router } from '../trpc';

export const appRouter = router({
  hello: procedure.input(z.object({ text: z.string() })).query(({ input }) => ({
    greeting: `hello ${input.text}`,
  })),
});

export type AppRouter = typeof appRouter;

4. API handler

import { createNextApiHandler } from '@trpc/server/adapters/next';
import { appRouter } from '../../../server/routers/_app';

export default createNextApiHandler({
  router: appRouter,
  createContext: () => ({}),
});

5. Create tRPC hooks

import { httpBatchLink } from '@trpc/client';
import { createTRPCNext } from '@trpc/next';
import type { AppRouter } from '../server/routers/_app';

function getBaseUrl() {
  if (typeof window !== 'undefined') return '';
  if (process.env.VERCEL_URL) return `https://${process.env.VERCEL_URL}`;
  return `http://localhost:${process.env.PORT ?? 3000}`;
}

export const trpc = createTRPCNext<AppRouter>({
  config() {
    return {
      links: [
        httpBatchLink({
          url: `${getBaseUrl()}/api/trpc`,
        }),
      ],
    };
  },
  ssr: false,
});

6. Wrap app with withTRPC HOC

import type { AppType } from 'next/app';
import { trpc } from '../utils/trpc';

const MyApp: AppType = ({ Component, pageProps }) => {
  return <Component {...pageProps} />;
};

export default trpc.withTRPC(MyApp);

7. Use hooks in pages

import { trpc } from '../utils/trpc';

export default function IndexPage() {
  const hello = trpc.hello.useQuery({ text: 'client' });
  if (!hello.data) return <div>Loading...</div>;
  return <p>{hello.data.greeting}</p>;
}

Core Patterns

SSR with ssr: true

Enable SSR to prefetch all queries on the server automatically. Requires ssrPrepass and forwarding client headers.

import { httpBatchLink } from '@trpc/client';
import { createTRPCNext } from '@trpc/next';
import { ssrPrepass } from '@trpc/next/ssrPrepass';
import type { AppRouter } from '../server/routers/_app';

function getBaseUrl() {
  if (typeof window !== 'undefined') return '';
  if (process.env.VERCEL_URL) return `https://${process.env.VERCEL_URL}`;
  return `http://localhost:${process.env.PORT ?? 3000}`;
}

export const trpc = createTRPCNext<AppRouter>({
  ssr: true,
  ssrPrepass,
  config({ ctx }) {
    if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {
      return {
        links: [httpBatchLink({ url: '/api/trpc' })],
      };
    }
    return {
      links: [
        httpBatchLink({
          url: `${getBaseUrl()}/api/trpc`,
          headers() {
            if (!ctx?.req?.headers) return {};
            return { cookie: ctx.req.headers.cookie };
          },
        }),
      ],
    };
  },
});

SSG with createServerSideHelpers and getStaticProps

import { createServerSideHelpers } from '@trpc/react-query/server';
import type {
  GetStaticPaths,
  GetStaticPropsContext,
  InferGetStaticPropsType,
} from 'next';
import superjson from 'superjson';
import { appRouter } from '../../server/routers/_app';
import { trpc } from '../../utils/trpc';

export async function getStaticProps(
  context: GetStaticPropsContext<{ id: string }>,
) {
  const helpers = createServerSideHelpers({
    router: appRouter,
    ctx: {},
    transformer: superjson,
  });
  const id = context.params?.id as string;

  await helpers.post.byId.prefetch({ id });

  return {
    props: {
      trpcState: helpers.dehydrate(),
      id,
    },
    revalidate: 1,
  };
}

export const getStaticPaths: GetStaticPaths = async () => {
  return { paths: [], fallback: 'blocking' };
};

export default function PostPage(
  props: InferGetStaticPropsType<typeof getStaticProps>,
) {
  const { id } = props;
  const postQuery = trpc.post.byId.useQuery({ id });

  if (postQuery.status !== 'success') return <>Loading...</>;
  return <h1>{postQuery.data.title}</h1>;
}

Server-side helpers with getServerSideProps

import { createServerSideHelpers } from '@trpc/react-query/server';
import type {
  GetServerSidePropsContext,
  InferGetServerSidePropsType,
} from 'next';
import superjson from 'superjson';
import { appRouter } from '../../server/routers/_app';
import { trpc } from '../../utils/trpc';

export async function getServerSideProps(
  context: GetServerSidePropsContext<{ id: string }>,
) {
  const helpers = createServerSideHelpers({
    router: appRouter,
    ctx: {},
    transformer: superjson,
  });
  const id = context.params?.id as string;

  await helpers.post.byId.prefetch({ id });

  return {
    props: {
      trpcState: helpers.dehydrate(),
      id,
    },
  };
}

export default function PostPage(
  props: InferGetServerSidePropsType<typeof getServerSideProps>,
) {
  const { id } = props;
  const postQuery = trpc.post.byId.useQuery({ id });

  if (postQuery.status !== 'success') return <>Loading...</>;
  return <h1>{postQuery.data.title}</h1>;
}

SSR response caching

import { httpBatchLink } from '@trpc/client';
import { createTRPCNext } from '@trpc/next';
import { ssrPrepass } from '@trpc/next/ssrPrepass';
import type { AppRouter } from '../server/routers/_app';

export const trpc = createTRPCNext<AppRouter>({
  ssr: true,
  ssrPrepass,
  config() {
    return {
      links: [httpBatchLink({ url: '/api/trpc' })],
    };
  },
  responseMeta(opts) {
    const { clientErrors } = opts;
    if (clientErrors.length) {
      return { status: clientErrors[0].data?.httpStatus ?? 500 };
    }
    const ONE_DAY_IN_SECONDS = 60 * 60 * 24;
    return {
      headers: new Headers([
        [
          'cache-control',
          `s-maxage=1, stale-while-revalidate=${ONE_DAY_IN_SECONDS}`,
        ],
      ]),
    };
  },
});

CORS on the API handler

import { createNextApiHandler } from '@trpc/server/adapters/next';
import type { NextApiRequest, NextApiResponse } from 'next';
import { appRouter } from '../../../server/routers/_app';

const nextApiHandler = createNextApiHandler({
  router: appRouter,
  createContext: () => ({}),
});

export default async function handler(
  req: NextApiRequest,
  res: NextApiResponse,
) {
  res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', '*');
  res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'OPTIONS, GET, POST');
  res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', '*');

  if (req.method === 'OPTIONS') {
    res.writeHead(200);
    return res.end();
  }

  return nextApiHandler(req, res);
}

Limiting batch size with maxBatchSize

import { createNextApiHandler } from '@trpc/server/adapters/next';
import { appRouter } from '../../../server/routers/_app';

export default createNextApiHandler({
  router: appRouter,
  createContext: () => ({}),
  maxBatchSize: 10,
});

Requests batching more than maxBatchSize operations are rejected with a 400 Bad Request error. Set maxItems on your client's httpBatchLink to the same value to avoid exceeding the limit.

Common Mistakes

Using ssr: true without understanding implications

Enabling ssr: true imports react-dom and runs ssrPrepass on every request, rendering the component tree repeatedly until no queries are fetching. This adds latency and server load. For better control, keep ssr: false (the default) and use createServerSideHelpers in getServerSideProps or getStaticProps to selectively prefetch only the queries you need.

SSR prepass renders multiple times

The SSR prepass loop re-renders the component tree repeatedly until all queries resolve. This is by design but causes performance issues with expensive renders. Keep SSR-rendered pages lightweight, or switch to selective prefetching with server-side helpers.

Mixing App Router and Pages Router patterns

App Router uses fetchRequestHandler, createTRPCOptionsProxy, and @trpc/tanstack-react-query. Pages Router uses createNextApiHandler, createTRPCNext, and @trpc/next/@trpc/react-query. Applying App Router patterns (like HydrationBoundary or prefetchQuery) in Pages Router, or vice versa, produces non-functional code.

Forgetting to return trpcState from getStaticProps/getServerSideProps

When using createServerSideHelpers, you must return trpcState: helpers.dehydrate() in props. Without this, the prefetched data is lost and queries re-fetch on the client.

// WRONG
return { props: { id } }; // missing trpcState!

// CORRECT
return { props: { trpcState: helpers.dehydrate(), id } };