Next.js 11 arrived yesterday in the form of a major semantic version update dropped on a Tuesday morning, like you didn’t have anything else to work on this week at work.

The product announcement was delivered at Next.js Conf, which was less of a conference and more of a 24-minute YouTube video.

Unlike Jamstack Conf, which was a virtual conference hosted on the HopIn platform that included tons of fun networking and vendor booths, Next.js Conf was more like attending the screening of a short film followed by a hang session on Discord.

Oh, and Vercel dropped exclusive merch benefiting Women Who Code, because nothing will make you not consider switching back to Gatsby as much as spending $50 on a t-shirt.

Since the smart money was on skipping the event, watching the replay at 2x speed, and hoping the Next.js 11 breaking changes weren’t going to ruin your entire week, let me recap what you need to know.

1 — React v17.0.2 is a requirement

2 — You can migrate from Create React App

3 — Webpack 5 is now the default

4 — Automatic image size detection

5 — A new component for loading scripts

6 — Next.js is just plain faster

7 — Blurry images, no glasses required

8 — Next.js Live is “live” (as a preview release)

9 — The big deal: Conformance

10 — All the other stuff since 10.0

#nextjs