Versions and Requirements

Versions, Release Cadence, and Requirements

Next.js 10,514 publishes a major version most Octobers, with minors in between. The table gives each major's first publish date on npm 2,036 — the date to trust when a blog post and a changelog disagree.

Recent Next.js majors and their first npm publish date
Major	Published	What it introduced
12.0.0	26 Oct 2021	Rust compiler (SWC 553,439 ), middleware
13.0.0	25 Oct 2022	App Router (beta), Server Components
14.0.0	26 Oct 2023	Server Actions stable
15.0.0	21 Oct 2024	React 19 7,897 , async request APIs
16.0.0	22 Oct 2025	Turbopack 10,514 default, Cache Components

Within the 16 line, 16.1 landed in December 2025, 16.2 in March 2026, 16.3 on 3 August 2026, and 16.3.5 on 11 September 2026. Ask npm what it offers before pinning anything:

Asking npm what the current release isShell

npm view next version dist-tags.canary engines

Output

version = '16.3.5'
dist-tags.canary = '16.4.0-canary.37'
engines = { node: '>=20.9.0' }

The canary tag is where every feature lands first; use it to confirm a fix, never in production. Next.js 16 requires Node.js 20.9 2,131 or newer — that engines field is enforced — and runs on macOS, Windows (including WSL 6 ) and Linux. TypeScript must be 5.1 or newer, and the default build targets Chrome 111 1 +, Edge 111+, Firefox 111 555 + and Safari 16.4 10 +. Release Lines and LTS explains how to pick a Node.js release line.

React is a peer dependency with the range ^18.2.0 || ^19.0.0, which understates the coupling: the App Router bundles React canary builds internally, so its features track React releases not yet stable on npm, while the Pages Router uses the version your package.json resolves.

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