React Server Components in Production: What We Learned

The Migration

We migrated a 200-component React SPA to Next.js App Router with React Server Components. Here's the honest truth about how it went.

The Wins

Bundle size dropped 40%. By moving data fetching and heavy logic to the server, our client bundle went from 380KB to 228KB gzipped.

Time to First Byte improved 60%. Server-rendered HTML streams to the client immediately. No more loading spinners for initial content.

Simplified data fetching. No more useEffect + useState + loading state + error state. Just async/await in your component.

The Challenges

Mental model shift. The biggest challenge wasn't technical — it was getting the team to think in terms of server vs. client boundaries.

Third-party library compatibility. Many React libraries assume a client-only environment. We had to wrap several with 'use client' boundaries.

Debugging is harder. When something goes wrong, you need to think about whether the error is on the server or client.

Our Approach

We followed a gradual migration strategy:

1. Start with leaf components (no children)
2. Move data-fetching components to server
3. Push 'use client' boundaries as far down as possible
4. Optimize with Suspense boundaries for streaming

Performance Results

Server Components aren't a silver bullet, but for content-heavy applications with lots of data fetching, the benefits are substantial.