React.js & AI

• Next.js server components can make the first render slower, but they cache well on the back end, so later requests are served much faster. Order Group uses them in a couple of projects.
• Order Group tried Gatsby and chose Next.js as easier to learn. After problems with GraphQL, the team went back to REST APIs.
• The company has a standard project structure for React and Next.js and prefers React when it can choose the stack. A few projects run on Vue and one on Angular.
• At the time of recording, every developer at the company used GitHub Copilot. It speeds up repetitive code and unit tests, but its output has to be checked.
• For larger features, split the work into smaller functions, generate those with Copilot, and build the feature around that code.

This is the first episode of Everything in Order: a conversation with Łukasz Gajownik, then Head of Front-end at Order Group, about React, Next.js and AI tools in day-to-day work.

It opens with a benchmark suggesting that server components made Next.js slower, and Łukasz argues the benchmark tells only half of the story. From there the conversation turns to meta-frameworks and to the standard front-end structure the team has used for a couple of years. Łukasz calls React a preference: the company hires React specialists, and he adds that Vue and Angular can do the same things.

The second half of the episode is about AI. Asked whether it scares him, Łukasz says he is not sure whether he is scared or curious. For now he treats AI as a tool, though he expects that could change in three or four years. In practice, Copilot completes a calendar component from a single line, writes functions from plain-language descriptions, and produces unit tests in an hour instead of a week. Test-driven development stays hard on projects where the logic changes every week.

The risks get a separate part of the talk, including a case where Copilot invented the endpoints of a service. On Devin, Łukasz points out that it was shown only as a closed demo, and that a senior developer who analyzed it on YouTube concluded it was probably faked.

Are Next.js server components slower?

The first render may be slower, but server components can be cached on the back end, so the next requests are served much faster.

Why does Order Group use Next.js and REST instead of Gatsby and GraphQL?

The team found Next.js easier to learn and more logical. GraphQL caused problems, and with REST you know exactly what goes into and comes out of each endpoint.

What are the risks of GitHub Copilot?

Developers may stop thinking and trust its output, which leads to bugs. It can suggest code with inappropriate licensing and can hallucinate, as with the non-existent endpoints the team once ran into.

When could AI replace a regular developer?

Łukasz won't guess because the field changes too fast. Generated features usually still need fixing because the logic can be wrong.