Using the Pages Router in Next.js: Optimization with OpenTelemetry

We need to put it simply that using Next.js and the Pages Router can greatly assist developers in creating web applications with multi-page capabilities and fast, efficient SPAs. The routing system in Next.js allows you to create JavaScript files in the pages folder, turning them into accessible unique pages. This feature helps developers ensure that each page is independently rendered and at the same time communicates with rendering services on the server.

One of the main challenges in optimizing applications is monitoring and measuring their performance. The OpenTelemetry feature can play a crucial role in improving the performance and monitoring of applications by allowing developers to collect and analyze performance data over time. Using OpenTelemetry alongside Next.js provides the ability to gain insight into the real-time performance of your applications and identify weaknesses.

In order to use OpenTelemetry in Next.js projects, it is necessary to implement it correctly. Proper implementation can help you easily gather necessary data for optimization and make informed decisions in design and development.

Now let’s take a look at some code that demonstrates how to implement OpenTelemetry in a Next.js application. This code will help you conveniently add monitoring capabilities to your project.

import { trace } from '@opentelemetry/api';

export function initializeTracer() {
  const tracer = trace.getTracer('nextjs-tracer');
  return tracer;
}

export default function Page() {
  const tracer = initializeTracer();
  tracer.startSpan('render-page');
  return 
Welcome to Next.js with OpenTelemetry!
;
}

import { trace } from '@opentelemetry/api';
This line imports the trace module from the OpenTelemetry API library.

export function initializeTracer() {
This function creates a tracer for the initial usage.

const tracer = trace.getTracer('nextjs-tracer');
A new tracer instance named specifically is created.

return tracer;
This function returns the initialized tracer instance.

export default function Page() {
This defines the main page that will be displayed to the user.

const tracer = initializeTracer();
This utilizes the initialized tracer function at the beginning of the page.

tracer.startSpan('render-page');
A new span begins for the page render process which will be used in monitoring.

return <div>Welcome to Next.js with OpenTelemetry!</div>;
This displays a welcome message to the user.