perf: prefetch sidebar links on hover, not in viewport - #1976
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Next prefetches every <Link> that scrolls into view. The sidebar shows dozens at once, so one page load fetched ~80 RSC payloads (377 KB on the wire, 2.4 MB decoded). NavigationLink keeps prefetch off until the user hovers or focuses the link, the pattern Next documents for large lists.
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From the docs site audit (crawl of all 502 pages). Crawl numbers for the problem this PR fixes: ~35 RSC requests ( |
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Problem
Next prefetches every
<Link>that enters the viewport. The sidebar shows dozens at once, so a single page view of/docs/batch-changes/delete-a-batch-changefetched 84 RSC payloads: 377 KB on the wire, 2.4 MB decoded, most of which the reader never clicks.Fix
New
NavigationLinkwrapsnext/linkwithprefetch={hasIntent ? null : false}, flipping to the default prefetch ononMouseEnter/onFocus. This is the hover-triggered prefetch pattern from the Next docs.Navigation.tsxswapsLinkfor it at its three link sites; nothing else changes.Tradeoffs
prefetch={false}everywhere was the simpler option but also kills hover prefetch; this keeps it.origin/enrique/sidebar-navigationtouchesNavigation.tsx; expect a small merge conflict at the import and the three<Link>tags.Verification
tsc,pnpm lint,pnpm buildclean. On the preview, open DevTools → Network, filter?_rsc=: the page load should fetch a handful, not ~80; hovering a sidebar link should fetch its payload.