In modern web development, server-side rendering (SSR) has gained significant popularity due to its ability to improve performance and provide a better user experience. When it comes to managing application state, Redux Toolkit is a powerful library that simplifies the process. In this blog post, we will explore how to implement server-side rendering with Redux Toolkit.

Why Server-side Rendering with Redux Toolkit?

SSR allows rendering web pages on the server before sending them to the client, providing faster initial page loads and better SEO performance. Redux Toolkit, with its simplified API and built-in optimizations, makes it easier to manage the state in an SSR environment.

Prerequisites

To follow along with this tutorial, make sure you have the following tools installed:

• Node.js
• npm or Yarn
• Redux Toolkit

Setting up a Server-side Rendering Project

Let’s start by creating a new project and installing the necessary dependencies:

npx create-react-app my-app
cd my-app
npm install @reduxjs/toolkit react-redux

Once the installation is complete, open your code editor and create a new file named ssr.js under the src directory.

Implementing Server-side Rendering

In ssr.js, we need to define a function that retrieves the initial Redux state. This function will be executed on the server and client to ensure a consistent state.

// src/ssr.js

import { configureStore } from '@reduxjs/toolkit';
import { Provider } from 'react-redux';
import { renderToString } from 'react-dom/server';
import App from './App';
import rootReducer from './reducers';

export const renderAppToString = (req) => {
  const store = configureStore({ reducer: rootReducer });

  // Fetch initial data or perform any necessary side effects
  // based on the request data (req)

  const appString = renderToString(
    <Provider store={store}>
      <App />
    </Provider>
  );

  const preloadedState = store.getState();

  return { appString, preloadedState };
};

Next, let’s modify the entry point file (src/index.js) to handle server-side rendering by checking if we’re on the server or the client:

// src/index.js

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import { configureStore } from '@reduxjs/toolkit';
import { Provider } from 'react-redux';
import App from './App';
import rootReducer from './reducers';

const store = configureStore({ reducer: rootReducer });

const renderApp = () => {
  ReactDOM.render(
    <Provider store={store}>
      <App />
    </Provider>,
    document.getElementById('root')
  );
};

if (typeof window === 'undefined') {
  // Server-side rendering
  export default renderAppToString;
} else {
  // Client-side rendering
  renderApp();
}

Conclusion

In this blog post, we have learned how to implement server-side rendering with Redux Toolkit. By combining the power of Redux Toolkit and SSR, we can optimize the performance of our web applications and provide a better user experience.

Remember to run your application using the appropriate commands for server and client rendering:

• For server-side rendering: node src/index.js
• For client-side rendering: npm start

Keep exploring and experimenting with different approaches to optimize and improve your application further. Happy coding!

#redux #ssr