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mediumSystem Design

What runtimes does Next.js support (Node.js vs Edge runtime)?

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01

Understand the problem

Full Node APIs vs lightweight global Edge.

nextjsedge-runtimenodejs-runtimedeployment
02

Attempt it yourself

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03

Study the solution

The Node.js runtime supports all Node APIs and is the default for most rendering/handlers. The Edge runtime is a lightweight, globally-distributed V8 environment with low cold starts and a limited API subset (no native Node modules) — ideal for Middleware and latency-sensitive handlers.

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04

Read the code

Opt a handler into the Edge runtime
// app/api/geo/route.ts
export const runtime = 'edge';        // globally distributed, fast cold start

export function GET(request: Request) {
  const country = request.headers.get('x-vercel-ip-country') ?? 'US';
  return Response.json({ country });
}
// Note: no 'fs', no native Node modules here — Web APIs only.
05

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