[False Positive] Next.js rules recommend server-only fixes under output: "export" (static export)

[Cmoen11]

Summary

Several Next.js rules recommend a server-side fix (server redirect(), middleware, Server Actions). In a statically exported app (output: "export" in next.config) there is no server, no middleware, and no Server Actions, so the recommended fix is impossible and the finding is unactionable. react-doctor already adapts rules to project config elsewhere (e.g. static-value-rebuilt was disabled under React Compiler in #669 / #672), so detecting output: "export" and gating these rules would fit the same pattern.

Environment

• react-doctor: 0.5.8 (npx react-doctor@latest)
• next: 16.2.6, react / react-dom: 19.2.4
• next.config.ts: output: "export", trailingSlash: true (no SSR, no middleware, no server-side auth)

Affected rules

1. react-doctor/nextjs-no-client-side-redirect

The message recommends redirect() in a server component or middleware. Under static export, any redirect that depends on client-only runtime state (auth, payment result, wizard state, sessionStorage) must run client-side in an effect — a server redirect() cannot observe that state, and middleware does not run. Example:

"use client";
// redirect after auth resolves on the client — there is no server to do this
useEffect(() => {
  if (!isLoading && isLoggedIn) router.replace("/mine-billetter/");
}, [isLoading, isLoggedIn, router]);

(Unconditional aliases like / → /no can and should still use server redirect(), and the rule correctly does not flag those — so a fix should keep flagging unconditional client-side redirects while exempting client-state-dependent ones, or gate on output: "export".)

2. react-doctor/no-prevent-default

For framework=nextjs it recommends <form action={serverAction}>. Server Actions are not supported with output: "export", so a client onSubmit + preventDefault() driving a client mutation is the only option:

<form onSubmit={(e) => { e.preventDefault(); renameMutation.mutate(value); }}>

The rule already self-exempts client-only frameworks (isClientOnlyFramework), but a static-export Next.js app is not detected as client-only even though, for this purpose, it is.

Suggested fix

Detect output: "export" from next.config.* (the loader already reads the Next.js version / config for capability detection) and add a capability such as nextjs:static-export. Then:

• gate nextjs-no-client-side-redirect so it does not recommend a server redirect / middleware for client-state-dependent redirects, and
• treat static-export Next.js like a client-only framework for no-prevent-default (and any other rule that recommends Server Actions).

This mirrors the React-Compiler handling in #669 / #672.

Note

This is distinct from #83 (which was about the diagnostic message being confusing and was fixed). This report is about the rule's recommended fix being impossible under output: "export", independent of wording.

Workaround (for reference)

In doctor.config.ts, "react-doctor/nextjs-no-client-side-redirect": "off" plus a per-file ignore.overrides entry for no-prevent-default removes the noise, but a config-aware rule would be preferable.

[react-doctor-evals]

✅ Triage opened a PR: #977 — trace a41d414037d79224a6b6db31a5f88fe1