ActionLab Analytics for Next.js
Add privacy-first, AI-powered analytics to your Next.js site in under 60 seconds. No cookies, no consent banners, no complex setup.
Setup at a Glance
Add ActionLab to Next.js in 5 simple steps. Copy one script tag, paste it into your project, and start collecting privacy-friendly analytics immediately.
About Next.js
Next.js is the leading React framework for production applications, used by companies from startups to enterprises for marketing sites, dashboards, and full-stack applications. Its App Router, Server Components, and hybrid rendering capabilities make it the most versatile React framework available. Developers building with Next.js prioritize performance, developer experience, and production reliability — and their analytics should match those standards. ActionLab integrates through the next/script component, which handles optimal loading automatically, and tracks both server-rendered page loads and client-side navigation transitions.
Why Add Analytics to Next.js
Next.js developers build performance-conscious applications and expect their tooling to meet the same standard. ActionLab sub-2KB script and async loading align with Next.js performance philosophy. The automatic client-side navigation tracking is particularly important for Next.js applications where page transitions happen client-side without full page reloads — many analytics tools miss these transitions or require manual tracking configuration. ActionLab detects route changes via the History API and records them automatically. For Next.js projects deployed on Vercel, ActionLab provides analytics that are portable to any hosting platform, unlike Vercel Analytics which only works on Vercel. The REST API enables developers to pull analytics data into internal dashboards and admin panels alongside their application data.
Installation Code
// app/layout.tsx
import Script from 'next/script';
export default function RootLayout({ children }) {
return (
<html>
<body>
{children}
<Script
src="https://cdn.actionlabanalytics.com/actionlab.js"
data-site="YOUR_SITE_ID"
strategy="afterInteractive"
/>
</body>
</html>
);
}Step-by-Step Setup
- 1
Open your root layout file — app/layout.tsx for App Router projects or pages/_app.tsx for Pages Router projects.
- 2
Import the Script component from next/script at the top of the file. This component provides optimized script loading strategies.
- 3
Add the ActionLab Script component with strategy="afterInteractive" inside your layout body. This strategy loads the script after the page becomes interactive, giving you accurate data without blocking the initial render.
- 4
Replace YOUR_SITE_ID with your actual site ID from the ActionLab dashboard.
- 5
Deploy your Next.js application. ActionLab works with both App Router and Pages Router, and with all rendering modes: SSR, SSG, ISR, and client-side rendering.
Why Use ActionLab with Next.js
- Works seamlessly with both App Router and Pages Router, supporting all Next.js rendering strategies including Static Generation, Server-Side Rendering, and Incremental Static Regeneration.
- The next/script component with afterInteractive strategy optimizes loading automatically, ensuring the analytics script never interferes with your application critical rendering path.
- Automatically tracks client-side navigation — when users navigate between pages using Next.js Link component or router.push(), each transition is recorded as a pageview without any additional configuration.
- Zero additional configuration needed — no middleware, no API routes, no environment variables, and no build-time setup required beyond the Script component.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does ActionLab track Next.js client-side navigation?
Yes. ActionLab automatically detects client-side route changes in Next.js, both App Router and Pages Router, and records them as pageviews. When a user clicks a Link component or triggers programmatic navigation via router.push(), ActionLab captures the navigation via the History API pushState events. This works identically to how a full page load would be tracked, ensuring your analytics data is complete for SPA-style navigation. No additional hooks, middleware, or manual tracking calls are needed.
Should I use afterInteractive or lazyOnload?
Use afterInteractive for analytics. This next/script strategy loads the script after the page becomes interactive, which is the optimal balance for analytics: early enough to capture pageview data accurately, late enough to not interfere with your application initial render and interactivity. The lazyOnload strategy delays loading until the browser is idle, which could miss early pageview events and user interactions. For analytics, afterInteractive is the standard recommendation.
Does ActionLab work with Next.js Middleware?
ActionLab is a client-side script and does not interact with Next.js Middleware at all. Middleware runs on the server or edge, while ActionLab runs in the browser. They operate in completely separate environments with no conflicts. Your authentication middleware, redirects, and request rewriting continue to work identically with ActionLab installed.
Can I use environment variables for the site ID?
Yes. Use a NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefixed environment variable so it is available in the browser: data-site={process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_ACTIONLAB_SITE_ID}. This lets you use different site IDs for development, staging, and production environments. The NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefix is required because ActionLab runs on the client side.
Does ActionLab work with Next.js ISR and static pages?
Yes. ActionLab works with all Next.js rendering modes. For statically generated pages (SSG/ISR), the script tag is included in the generated HTML and loads when the page is served. For server-rendered pages (SSR), the script is included in the response HTML. For client-side rendered content, the script is already loaded and tracks navigation automatically. The rendering mode is transparent to ActionLab because the script operates in the browser regardless of how the page was generated.