Building Robust Web Applications: My Journey with Next.js, Prisma, PostgreSQL, and Shadcn-ui

Learn how to build a custom UI plugin for Shadcn

Dashboard. Source: shadcn-ui

Introduction

In my recent project, I delved into the world of modern web development, leveraging the power of Next.js, Prisma ORM, PostgreSQL, SHAdCN, and NextAuth. This article shares my experiences, challenges, and solutions, aiming to guide you through similar processes in your projects.

Section 1: Why Next.js?

I chose Next.js for its seamless server-side rendering and static generation capabilities. This decision significantly improved my project’s performance and SEO friendliness. Let me walk you through its key features and how they benefited my project.

Section 2: Database Magic with Prisma ORM and PostgreSQL

Managing data effectively is crucial. I integrated Prisma ORM with PostgreSQL for its intuitive database management. Here, I’ll show you how I added new tables and configured relationships, with snippets from my prisma/schema.prisma file.

Section 3: Theming with a Twist — shadcn

SHAdCN offered a flexible way to extend themes in my Next.js project. By using the shacdn plugin, I could dynamically alter the look and feel of the application. I’ll share how I implemented this, including code examples from my styles and components folders.

Section 4: Secure Authentication with NextAuth

Implementing robust authentication was a breeze with NextAuth. It allowed me to quickly set up secure login mechanisms. I’ll discuss the setup process, configuration options, and how I integrated it into the lib and middleware.ts files.

Section 5: Organizing Chaos — My Folder and Component Strategy

A well-organized project is easy to maintain and scale. I’ll take you through my project’s folder structure, explaining the rationale behind it. Particularly, I’ll focus on how I broke down components in the components folder for reusability and clarity.

Section 6: A Real-World Example

Let’s put theory into practice. I’ll guide you through a practical example from my project, combining all these technologies. This section will include detailed code snippets and explanations from various parts of my project repository.

Public repo template: https://github.com/Dinuda/next.js-14-postgres-prisma-shadcn-template

Conclusion

Navigating the complexities of modern web development can be challenging, but with the right tools and practices, it becomes an enriching experience. I hope my journey and insights help you in your future projects.

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