Improve Server Component Logging with unstable_after

[sam3d]

Current Issues

1. Manual Flush API Management

   • Developers must remember to call log.flush() explicitly
   • Poor handling of early returns/exits
   • Requires error handling in every exit path to ensure logs are saved

2. Performance Impact

   • Blocking behavior: Must wait for log flush and HTTP request completion
   • Delays server component response unnecessarily

Proposed Solution

Use Next.js's unstable_after API to handle log flushing automatically after request completion, similar to middleware's waitUntil.

Current Approach (Problematic)

import { Logger } from 'next-axiom';

export default async function ServerComponent() {
  const log = new Logger();
  log.info('User logged in', { userId: 42 });

  // Early return example - logs would be lost
  if (someCondition) {
    return <h1>Early Exit</h1>;
  }

  await log.flush(); // Blocking operation
  return <h1>Logged in</h1>;
}

Proposed Approach

import { Logger } from 'next-axiom';
import { unstable_after as after } from "next/server"

export default async function ServerComponent() {
  const log = new Logger();
  after(log.flush); // Non-blocking, executes after request lifecycle
  log.info('User logged in', { userId: 42 });

  // Early return example - logs will still be flushed
  if (someCondition) {
    return <h1>Early Exit</h1>;
  }

  return <h1>Logged in</h1>;
}

Benefits

• Graceful handling of early exits
• Non-blocking execution
• Simplified developer experience
• Consistent log flushing regardless of return path

Discussion Points

• Should this pattern be integrated into the library as a dedicated API?
• Or should it be documented as a recommended practice?
• Consider adding to documentation for server component logging best practices

[dasfmi]

hi @sam3d , looks like this is stable now in Next 15.1. I believe we could update your documentation to reflect this as a good practice for Server Components but not sure how can we wrap RSC to achieve this from within next-axiom library.