An opinion and methodologies on how to modernize an outdated and unmaintained codebase while at the same time delivering features. We will also explore how AI can support modernizing a legacy codebase.

Next.js is a great framework - until you want to deploy it somewhere that isn't Vercel. vinext is a Vite plugin from Cloudflare that reimplements the Next.js API surface from scratch, so your existing app runs everywhere with a single command. In this talk, we'll look at why this exists, how Cloudflare built it in a week using AI, and how close to "drop-in replacement" it actually gets.

In this interactive session we will:

• Go through requirements we had for Breadcrumbs in our web apps at Ahold Delhaize.
• Build a generic breadcrumbs component in the layout.tsx mechanism of Next.js so they are automatically added to all your pages.
• Decide what to put in server components, what to put in client components and demonstrate the problems you get when making wrong choices.
• Build a mechanism that lets a page override the generic breadcrumbs.
• Test your knowledge on React during the session with mentimeter questions.

The JavaScript ecosystem is longing for a standardized tooling. No more plumbing work, no more choice fatigue and no more analysis paralysis. But how would such a tool look like? Together, we have a look at the newly released Vite+ Alpha and see if the new open source CLI can hold up to its promises, covering developer's tooling needs and let them focus on shipping, especially in an agentic age.