partialPrefetching

partialPrefetching enables Partial Prefetching at the app level. The framework prefetches the static parts of each route by default; set prefetch={true} on individual links to use per-link prefetching and fetch more.

Usage

import type { NextConfig } from 'next'
 
const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
  cacheComponents: true,
  partialPrefetching: true,
}
 
export default nextConfig

partialPrefetching requires cacheComponents. Without it, next dev and next build throw at config validation.

Reference

How prefetches resolve

Before Partial Prefetching, Next.js prefetched per visible link: a page with N links to N routes produced ~N route prefetches as those links entered the viewport.

With partialPrefetching: true, Next.js prefetches one reusable App Shell per route instead. The App Shell contains rendered output that does not depend on a link's URL. URL-specific content, including content that depends on params or searchParams, resolves after navigation by default. App Shells are cached on the client, so links to the same route reuse one prefetch.

The pattern is similar to per-route code splitting in single-page apps: one artifact per route, shared by every link that points to it.

Good to know: Routes that read cookies() or headers() produce an App Shell that includes session data. The framework auto-detects this and caches the shell per session on the client.

A link can ask for more than the App Shell with <Link prefetch={true}>. The prefetch also resolves URL data like params, searchParams, and the full URL, and the cached content behind it. See Optimizing prefetching.

Good to know: If you use <Link prefetch={true}> to a route that hasn't opted into Partial Prefetching, a dev console error suggests enabling partialPrefetching app-wide or prefetch = 'partial' on the segment. The dev warning Insight covers each fix in detail.

Per-segment overrides

A segment that exports an explicit prefetch value overrides the app-level default for that route.

Version History