Debug Tricks

Debug Tricks

Tricks to speed up debugging Next.js applications.

MCP Endpoint (Dev Server)

Next.js exposes a /_next/mcp endpoint in development for AI-assisted debugging via MCP (Model Context Protocol).

• Next.js 16+: Enabled by default, use next-devtools-mcp
• Next.js < 16: Requires experimental.mcpServer: true in next.config.js

Reference: https://nextjs.org/docs/app/guides/mcp

Important: Find the actual port of the running Next.js dev server (check terminal output or package.json scripts). Don't assume port 3000.

Request Format

The endpoint uses JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTP POST:

curl -X POST http://localhost:<port>/_next/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": "1",
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": {
      "name": "<tool-name>",
      "arguments": {}
    }
  }'

Available Tools

get_errors

Get current errors from dev server (build errors, runtime errors with source-mapped stacks):

{ "name": "get_errors", "arguments": {} }

get_routes

Discover all routes by scanning filesystem:

{ "name": "get_routes", "arguments": {} }
// Optional: { "name": "get_routes", "arguments": { "routerType": "app" } }

Returns: { "appRouter": ["/", "/api/users/[id]", ...], "pagesRouter": [...] }

get_project_metadata

Get project path and dev server URL:

{ "name": "get_project_metadata", "arguments": {} }

Returns: { "projectPath": "/path/to/project", "devServerUrl": "http://localhost:3000" }

get_page_metadata

Get runtime metadata about current page render (requires active browser session):

{ "name": "get_page_metadata", "arguments": {} }

Returns segment trie data showing layouts, boundaries, and page components.

get_logs

Get path to Next.js development log file:

{ "name": "get_logs", "arguments": {} }

Returns path to <distDir>/logs/next-development.log

get_server_action_by_id

Locate a Server Action by ID:

{ "name": "get_server_action_by_id", "arguments": { "actionId": "<action-id>" } }

Example: Get Errors

curl -X POST http://localhost:<port>/_next/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":"1","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_errors","arguments":{}}}'

Rebuild Specific Routes (Next.js 16+)

Use --debug-build-paths to rebuild only specific routes instead of the entire app:

# Rebuild a specific route
next build --debug-build-paths "/dashboard"

# Rebuild routes matching a glob
next build --debug-build-paths "/api/*"

# Dynamic routes
next build --debug-build-paths "/blog/[slug]"

Use this to:

• Quickly verify a build fix without full rebuild
• Debug static generation issues for specific pages
• Iterate faster on build errors