Next.js is a full-stack framework. Fullstack, as in it, has a server, not just for development, for rendering components on your server, but also for an API!
Yes, you can legit ship an API right next to your App with no setup. Let's see how.
All we have to do is create an api folder in our pages director. The file names and paths work just like pages do. However, instead of building components in those files, we'll create API handlers.
pages
api
hello.js👍🏾 tip: Next.js API routes are not the same as Vercel's Serverless API functions, although the setup is similar.