Problem Statement
What are the best practices for deploying Next.js applications to production and what should you consider?
Explanation
Deploy to platforms optimized for Next.js like Vercel for zero-configuration deployment with automatic previews, edge functions, and analytics, or use Docker containers for self-hosting with Node.js runtime ensuring you handle static assets and server routes properly. Configure environment variables correctly separating development, staging, and production values, never commit secrets to version control, and use platform-provided secret management. Enable compression with gzip or brotli for text assets, configure proper Cache-Control headers for static assets and API routes, and use a CDN for global content delivery. Set up health checks and monitoring to detect issues quickly, implement proper error tracking with services like Sentry to catch production errors, and configure proper logging for debugging. Consider implementing blue-green deployments or canary releases for zero-downtime updates, set up automatic scaling for traffic spikes, and enable HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 for improved performance. Run next build locally before deploying to catch build errors, test production builds with next start, and implement CI/CD pipelines with automatic testing before deployment. Configure custom domains with SSL certificates, implement security headers with next.config.js, and regularly update dependencies to patch security vulnerabilities.