Next.js is MIT licensed open source, popular, recommended React framework. It has 117k stars on Github at the time of writing this article.

We all have used create-next-app but have you ever wondered what happens internally when you execute npx create-next-app?

In this article, I will explain where you can find the create-next-app related code in Vercel/Next.js

Where is create-next-app code?

create-next-app package

When you navigate to Next.js, You will see a lot of files. At first, I thought “So many files, so much code, how am I ever going to understand this?”. Well, we all have been there.

I remember, when I was getting started with programming, I would spend good 2 days to understand code inside a single .js file and I have come a long way now to make attempts to understand large, FOSS stuff. Consistency is the name of the game.

Open /packages/create-next-app in the root folder.

There it is, the mystery behind create-next-app.

Don’t forget to checkout the Readme.md for create-next-app.

Conclusion

As I keep making efforts to learn from open source, I have now chosen next.js to perform codebase analysis and I will keep writing about all my findings.

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About me:

Hey, my name is Ramu Narasinga. I study large open-source projects and create content about their codebase architecture and best practices, sharing it through articles, videos.

I am open to work on interesting projects. Send me an email at ramu.narasinga@gmail.com

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