Quick Reference

Convention	File	Purpose
Page	`page.tsx`	Route UI (required for route)
Layout	`layout.tsx`	Shared UI (persists across navigations)
Loading	`loading.tsx`	Loading UI with Suspense
Error	`error.tsx`	Error boundary (must be 'use client')
Not Found	`not-found.tsx`	404 UI
Template	`template.tsx`	Re-renders on navigation

Pattern	Syntax	Example
Dynamic Route	`[slug]`	`/blog/[slug]/page.tsx`
Catch-all	`[...slug]`	`/docs/[...slug]/page.tsx`
Optional Catch-all	`[[...slug]]`	`/shop/[[...slug]]/page.tsx`
Route Group	`(name)`	`/(marketing)/about/page.tsx`
Parallel Route	`@slot`	`/@analytics/page.tsx`

When to Use This Skill

Use for App Router fundamentals:

•Setting up new Next.js 15 projects with App Router
•Understanding file-based routing conventions
•Creating layouts that persist across navigation
•Implementing loading states and error boundaries
•Organizing routes with groups

Related skills:

•For data fetching: see nextjs-data-fetching
•For advanced routing: see nextjs-routing-advanced
•For caching strategies: see nextjs-caching

Next.js App Router Fundamentals

Project Structure

App Directory

code

app/
├── layout.tsx              # Root layout (required)
├── page.tsx                # Home page (/)
├── loading.tsx             # Loading UI
├── error.tsx               # Error boundary
├── not-found.tsx           # 404 page
├── global-error.tsx        # Global error boundary
├── template.tsx            # Re-renders on navigation
│
├── (marketing)/            # Route group (no URL impact)
│   ├── about/
│   │   └── page.tsx        # /about
│   └── contact/
│       └── page.tsx        # /contact
│
├── dashboard/
│   ├── layout.tsx          # Dashboard layout
│   ├── page.tsx            # /dashboard
│   ├── loading.tsx         # Dashboard loading
│   ├── @analytics/         # Parallel route
│   │   └── page.tsx
│   ├── @team/              # Parallel route
│   │   └── page.tsx
│   └── settings/
│       └── page.tsx        # /dashboard/settings
│
├── blog/
│   ├── page.tsx            # /blog
│   └── [slug]/             # Dynamic route
│       ├── page.tsx        # /blog/:slug
│       └── opengraph-image.tsx
│
├── products/
│   └── [...slug]/          # Catch-all route
│       └── page.tsx        # /products/*
│
├── shop/
│   └── [[...slug]]/        # Optional catch-all
│       └── page.tsx        # /shop or /shop/*
│
└── api/
    └── users/
        └── route.ts        # API route handler

Layouts

Root Layout (Required)

tsx

// app/layout.tsx
import type { Metadata } from 'next';
import { Inter } from 'next/font/google';
import './globals.css';

const inter = Inter({ subsets: ['latin'] });

export const metadata: Metadata = {
  title: {
    template: '%s | My App',
    default: 'My App',
  },
  description: 'My application description',
};

export default function RootLayout({
  children,
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode;
}) {
  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <body className={inter.className}>
        <header>
          <nav>{/* Navigation */}</nav>
        </header>
        <main>{children}</main>
        <footer>{/* Footer */}</footer>
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

Nested Layout

tsx

// app/dashboard/layout.tsx
import { Sidebar } from '@/components/sidebar';

export default function DashboardLayout({
  children,
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode;
}) {
  return (
    <div className="dashboard">
      <Sidebar />
      <div className="dashboard-content">{children}</div>
    </div>
  );
}

Layout with Parallel Routes

tsx

// app/dashboard/layout.tsx
export default function DashboardLayout({
  children,
  analytics,
  team,
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode;
  analytics: React.ReactNode;
  team: React.ReactNode;
}) {
  return (
    <div className="dashboard">
      <div className="main">{children}</div>
      <div className="sidebar">
        {analytics}
        {team}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}

Pages

Basic Page

tsx

// app/page.tsx
export default function HomePage() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Welcome to My App</h1>
      <p>This is the home page.</p>
    </div>
  );
}

Async Server Component Page

tsx

// app/posts/page.tsx
import { db } from '@/lib/db';

async function getPosts() {
  return db.posts.findMany({
    orderBy: { createdAt: 'desc' },
  });
}

export default async function PostsPage() {
  const posts = await getPosts();

  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Blog Posts</h1>
      <ul>
        {posts.map((post) => (
          <li key={post.id}>
            <a href={`/posts/${post.slug}`}>{post.title}</a>
          </li>
        ))}
      </ul>
    </div>
  );
}

Dynamic Route Page

tsx

// app/posts/[slug]/page.tsx
import { notFound } from 'next/navigation';
import { db } from '@/lib/db';

interface PageProps {
  params: Promise<{ slug: string }>;
}

export async function generateMetadata({ params }: PageProps) {
  const { slug } = await params;
  const post = await db.posts.findUnique({ where: { slug } });

  if (!post) {
    return { title: 'Post Not Found' };
  }

  return {
    title: post.title,
    description: post.excerpt,
  };
}

export async function generateStaticParams() {
  const posts = await db.posts.findMany({ select: { slug: true } });
  return posts.map((post) => ({ slug: post.slug }));
}

export default async function PostPage({ params }: PageProps) {
  const { slug } = await params;
  const post = await db.posts.findUnique({ where: { slug } });

  if (!post) {
    notFound();
  }

  return (
    <article>
      <h1>{post.title}</h1>
      <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: post.content }} />
    </article>
  );
}

Loading UI

Loading Component

tsx

// app/dashboard/loading.tsx
export default function Loading() {
  return (
    <div className="loading-container">
      <div className="spinner" />
      <p>Loading dashboard...</p>
    </div>
  );
}

Skeleton Loading

tsx

// app/posts/loading.tsx
export default function PostsLoading() {
  return (
    <div className="posts-skeleton">
      {Array.from({ length: 5 }).map((_, i) => (
        <div key={i} className="post-skeleton">
          <div className="skeleton-title" />
          <div className="skeleton-excerpt" />
        </div>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

Streaming with Suspense

tsx

// app/dashboard/page.tsx
import { Suspense } from 'react';
import { Analytics } from './analytics';
import { RecentSales } from './recent-sales';

export default function DashboardPage() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Dashboard</h1>

      <Suspense fallback={<AnalyticsSkeleton />}>
        <Analytics />
      </Suspense>

      <Suspense fallback={<SalesSkeleton />}>
        <RecentSales />
      </Suspense>
    </div>
  );
}

Error Handling

Error Boundary

tsx

// app/dashboard/error.tsx
'use client';

import { useEffect } from 'react';

export default function Error({
  error,
  reset,
}: {
  error: Error & { digest?: string };
  reset: () => void;
}) {
  useEffect(() => {
    console.error(error);
  }, [error]);

  return (
    <div className="error-container">
      <h2>Something went wrong!</h2>
      <p>{error.message}</p>
      <button onClick={() => reset()}>Try again</button>
    </div>
  );
}

Global Error Boundary

tsx

// app/global-error.tsx
'use client';

export default function GlobalError({
  error,
  reset,
}: {
  error: Error & { digest?: string };
  reset: () => void;
}) {
  return (
    <html>
      <body>
        <h2>Something went wrong!</h2>
        <button onClick={() => reset()}>Try again</button>
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

Not Found Page

tsx

// app/not-found.tsx
import Link from 'next/link';

export default function NotFound() {
  return (
    <div className="not-found">
      <h2>Page Not Found</h2>
      <p>Could not find the requested resource.</p>
      <Link href="/">Return Home</Link>
    </div>
  );
}

Triggering Not Found

tsx

// app/posts/[slug]/page.tsx
import { notFound } from 'next/navigation';

export default async function PostPage({ params }: PageProps) {
  const { slug } = await params;
  const post = await getPost(slug);

  if (!post) {
    notFound();
  }

  return <article>{/* ... */}</article>;
}

Metadata

Static Metadata

tsx

// app/about/page.tsx
import type { Metadata } from 'next';

export const metadata: Metadata = {
  title: 'About Us',
  description: 'Learn more about our company',
  openGraph: {
    title: 'About Us',
    description: 'Learn more about our company',
    images: ['/og-about.jpg'],
  },
};

export default function AboutPage() {
  return <div>About content</div>;
}

Dynamic Metadata

tsx

// app/products/[id]/page.tsx
import type { Metadata, ResolvingMetadata } from 'next';

interface PageProps {
  params: Promise<{ id: string }>;
}

export async function generateMetadata(
  { params }: PageProps,
  parent: ResolvingMetadata
): Promise<Metadata> {
  const { id } = await params;
  const product = await getProduct(id);

  const previousImages = (await parent).openGraph?.images || [];

  return {
    title: product.name,
    description: product.description,
    openGraph: {
      images: [product.image, ...previousImages],
    },
  };
}

Metadata Template

tsx

// app/layout.tsx
export const metadata: Metadata = {
  title: {
    template: '%s | My Store',
    default: 'My Store',
  },
  metadataBase: new URL('https://mystore.com'),
};

// app/products/page.tsx
export const metadata: Metadata = {
  title: 'Products', // Results in "Products | My Store"
};

Templates vs Layouts

tsx

// app/dashboard/template.tsx
// Template re-mounts on navigation (state resets)
export default function DashboardTemplate({
  children,
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode;
}) {
  return (
    <div>
      <nav>Dashboard Navigation</nav>
      {children}
    </div>
  );
}

Route Groups

tsx

// (marketing)/about/page.tsx → /about
// (marketing)/contact/page.tsx → /contact
// (shop)/products/page.tsx → /products
// (shop)/cart/page.tsx → /cart

// Different layouts for different sections
// app/(marketing)/layout.tsx - Marketing layout
// app/(shop)/layout.tsx - Shop layout

Client Components

tsx

// components/Counter.tsx
'use client';

import { useState } from 'react';

export function Counter() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

  return (
    <div>
      <p>Count: {count}</p>
      <button onClick={() => setCount((c) => c + 1)}>Increment</button>
    </div>
  );
}

Composing Server and Client Components

tsx

// app/page.tsx (Server Component)
import { Counter } from '@/components/Counter';
import { db } from '@/lib/db';

export default async function Page() {
  const initialData = await db.getData();

  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Server rendered title</h1>
      <Counter />
      <ClientDataDisplay data={initialData} />
    </div>
  );
}

Navigation

Link Component

tsx

import Link from 'next/link';

export function Navigation() {
  return (
    <nav>
      <Link href="/">Home</Link>
      <Link href="/about">About</Link>
      <Link href="/blog" prefetch={false}>Blog</Link>
      <Link href="/dashboard" replace>Dashboard</Link>
    </nav>
  );
}

useRouter Hook

tsx

'use client';

import { useRouter } from 'next/navigation';

export function NavigateButton() {
  const router = useRouter();

  return (
    <button onClick={() => router.push('/dashboard')}>
      Go to Dashboard
    </button>
  );
}

usePathname and useSearchParams

tsx

'use client';

import { usePathname, useSearchParams } from 'next/navigation';

export function CurrentPath() {
  const pathname = usePathname();
  const searchParams = useSearchParams();
  const query = searchParams.get('q');

  return (
    <div>
      <p>Current path: {pathname}</p>
      {query && <p>Search query: {query}</p>}
    </div>
  );
}

Best Practices

Practice	Description
Default to Server Components	Only use 'use client' when needed
Colocate related files	Keep page, loading, error together
Use route groups	Organize without affecting URL
Implement loading states	Use loading.tsx or Suspense
Handle errors gracefully	Use error.tsx boundaries
Optimize metadata	Use generateMetadata for dynamic pages