Server Component
A React component that renders only on the server, returning serialised UI to the client without shipping its JavaScript to the browser.
· Reviewed by senior engineers
React Server Components (RSC) are a model in which some components render exclusively on the server and never ship their JavaScript to the client. They can read databases, hit secrets and call internal services directly, then return a serialised UI description that the client renders alongside its interactive (client) components. Next.js App Router is the production reference implementation.
The benefit is bundle size and data access. A product page composed of mostly static layout, server-rendered content and a few interactive islands ships only the JavaScript for those islands. Data fetching moves to where the data is — no client-side waterfall, no API layer needed just to expose your own database to your own front-end.
The model has a learning curve. The line between server and client components is enforced at the file level ("use client"), and crossing it has rules. State, effects and event handlers live only in client components. Streaming, Suspense and caching behave differently from the classic SPA model. Migrations from a pages-router or pure-SPA codebase need planning.
Devinsta builds new front-ends on the App Router and server components by default. The performance and developer-experience gains are large enough that we treat the older pure-client model as legacy for greenfield work.