Angular SSR

Implement server-side rendering, hydration, and prerendering in Angular v20+.

Setup

Add SSR to Existing Project

ng add @angular/ssr

This adds:

• @angular/ssr package
• server.ts - Express server
• src/main.server.ts - Server bootstrap
• src/app/app.config.server.ts - Server providers
• Updates angular.json with SSR configuration

Project Structure

src/
├── app/
│   ├── app.config.ts          # Browser config
│   ├── app.config.server.ts   # Server config
│   └── app.routes.ts
├── main.ts                     # Browser bootstrap
├── main.server.ts              # Server bootstrap
server.ts                       # Express server

Configuration

app.config.server.ts

import { ApplicationConfig, mergeApplicationConfig } from '@angular/core';
import { provideServerRendering } from '@angular/platform-server';
import { provideServerRoutesConfig } from '@angular/ssr';
import { appConfig } from './app.config';
import { serverRoutes } from './app.routes.server';

const serverConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [
    provideServerRendering(),
    provideServerRoutesConfig(serverRoutes),
  ],
};

export const config = mergeApplicationConfig(appConfig, serverConfig);

Server Routes Configuration

// app.routes.server.ts
import { RenderMode, ServerRoute } from '@angular/ssr';

export const serverRoutes: ServerRoute[] = [
  {
    path: '',
    renderMode: RenderMode.Prerender, // Static at build time
  },
  {
    path: 'products',
    renderMode: RenderMode.Prerender,
  },
  {
    path: 'products/:id',
    renderMode: RenderMode.Server, // Dynamic SSR
  },
  {
    path: 'dashboard',
    renderMode: RenderMode.Client, // Client-only (SPA)
  },
  {
    path: '**',
    renderMode: RenderMode.Server,
  },
];

Render Modes

Mode	Description	Use Case
RenderMode.Prerender	Static HTML at build time	Marketing pages, blogs
RenderMode.Server	Dynamic SSR per request	User-specific content
RenderMode.Client	Client-side only (SPA)	Authenticated dashboards

Hydration

Default Hydration

Hydration is enabled by default with provideClientHydration():

// app.config.ts
import { provideClientHydration } from '@angular/platform-browser';

export const appConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [
    provideClientHydration(),
    // ...
  ],
};

Incremental Hydration

Defer hydration of specific components:

@Component({
  template: `
    <!-- Hydrate when visible -->
    @defer (hydrate on viewport) {
      <app-comments [postId]="postId" />
    } @placeholder {
      <div class="comments-placeholder">Loading comments...</div>
    }
    
    <!-- Hydrate on interaction -->
    @defer (hydrate on interaction) {
      <app-interactive-chart [data]="chartData" />
    }
    
    <!-- Hydrate on idle -->
    @defer (hydrate on idle) {
      <app-recommendations />
    }
    
    <!-- Never hydrate (static only) -->
    @defer (hydrate never) {
      <app-static-footer />
    }
  `,
})
export class Post {
  postId = input.required<string>();
  chartData = input.required<ChartData>();
}

Hydration Triggers

Trigger	Description
hydrate on viewport	When element enters viewport
hydrate on interaction	On click, focus, or input
hydrate on idle	When browser is idle
hydrate on immediate	Immediately after load
hydrate on timer(ms)	After specified delay
hydrate when condition	When expression is true
hydrate never	Never hydrate (static)

Event Replay

Capture user events before hydration completes:

import { provideClientHydration, withEventReplay } from '@angular/platform-browser';

export const appConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [
    provideClientHydration(withEventReplay()),
  ],
};

Browser-Only Code

Platform Detection

import { PLATFORM_ID, inject } from '@angular/core';
import { isPlatformBrowser, isPlatformServer } from '@angular/common';

@Component({...})
export class My {
  private platformId = inject(PLATFORM_ID);
  
  ngOnInit() {
    if (isPlatformBrowser(this.platformId)) {
      // Browser-only code
      window.addEventListener('scroll', this.onScroll);
    }
  }
}

afterNextRender / afterRender

Run code only in browser after rendering:

import { afterNextRender, afterRender } from '@angular/core';

@Component({...})
export class Chart {
  constructor() {
    // Runs once after first render (browser only)
    afterNextRender(() => {
      this.initChart();
    });
    
    // Runs after every render (browser only)
    afterRender(() => {
      this.updateChart();
    });
  }
  
  private initChart() {
    // Safe to use DOM APIs here
    const canvas = document.getElementById('chart');
    new Chart(canvas, this.config);
  }
}

Inject Browser APIs Safely

// tokens.ts
import { InjectionToken, PLATFORM_ID, inject } from '@angular/core';
import { isPlatformBrowser } from '@angular/common';

export const WINDOW = new InjectionToken<Window | null>('Window', {
  providedIn: 'root',
  factory: () => {
    const platformId = inject(PLATFORM_ID);
    return isPlatformBrowser(platformId) ? window : null;
  },
});

export const LOCAL_STORAGE = new InjectionToken<Storage | null>('LocalStorage', {
  providedIn: 'root',
  factory: () => {
    const platformId = inject(PLATFORM_ID);
    return isPlatformBrowser(platformId) ? localStorage : null;
  },
});

// Usage
@Injectable({ providedIn: 'root' })
export class Storage {
  private storage = inject(LOCAL_STORAGE);
  
  get(key: string): string | null {
    return this.storage?.getItem(key) ?? null;
  }
  
  set(key: string, value: string): void {
    this.storage?.setItem(key, value);
  }
}

Prerendering

Static Routes

// app.routes.server.ts
export const serverRoutes: ServerRoute[] = [
  { path: '', renderMode: RenderMode.Prerender },
  { path: 'about', renderMode: RenderMode.Prerender },
  { path: 'contact', renderMode: RenderMode.Prerender },
  { path: 'blog', renderMode: RenderMode.Prerender },
];

Dynamic Routes with getPrerenderParams

// app.routes.server.ts
import { RenderMode, ServerRoute, PrerenderFallback } from '@angular/ssr';

export const serverRoutes: ServerRoute[] = [
  {
    path: 'products/:id',
    renderMode: RenderMode.Prerender,
    async getPrerenderParams() {
      // Fetch product IDs to prerender
      const response = await fetch('https://api.example.com/products');
      const products = await response.json();
      return products.map((p: Product) => ({ id: p.id }));
    },
    fallback: PrerenderFallback.Server, // SSR for non-prerendered
  },
  {
    path: 'blog/:slug',
    renderMode: RenderMode.Prerender,
    async getPrerenderParams() {
      const posts = await fetchBlogPosts();
      return posts.map(post => ({ slug: post.slug }));
    },
    fallback: PrerenderFallback.Client, // SPA for non-prerendered
  },
];

Prerender Fallback Options

Fallback	Description
PrerenderFallback.Server	SSR for non-prerendered routes
PrerenderFallback.Client	Client-side rendering
PrerenderFallback.None	404 for non-prerendered routes

HTTP Caching

TransferState

Automatically transfer HTTP responses from server to client:

import { provideClientHydration, withHttpTransferCacheOptions } from '@angular/platform-browser';

export const appConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [
    provideClientHydration(
      withHttpTransferCacheOptions({
        includePostRequests: true,
        includeRequestsWithAuthHeaders: false,
        filter: (req) => !req.url.includes('/api/realtime'),
      })
    ),
  ],
};

Manual TransferState

import { TransferState, makeStateKey } from '@angular/core';

const PRODUCTS_KEY = makeStateKey<Product[]>('products');

@Injectable({ providedIn: 'root' })
export class Product {
  private http = inject(HttpClient);
  private transferState = inject(TransferState);
  private platformId = inject(PLATFORM_ID);
  
  getProducts(): Observable<Product[]> {
    // Check if data was transferred from server
    if (this.transferState.hasKey(PRODUCTS_KEY)) {
      const products = this.transferState.get(PRODUCTS_KEY, []);
      this.transferState.remove(PRODUCTS_KEY);
      return of(products);
    }
    
    return this.http.get<Product[]>('/api/products').pipe(
      tap(products => {
        // Store for transfer on server
        if (isPlatformServer(this.platformId)) {
          this.transferState.set(PRODUCTS_KEY, products);
        }
      })
    );
  }
}

Build and Deploy

Build Commands

# Build with SSR
ng build

# Output structure
dist/
├── my-app/
│   ├── browser/      # Client assets
│   └── server/       # Server bundle

Run SSR Server

# Development
npm run serve:ssr:my-app

# Production
node dist/my-app/server/server.mjs

Deploy to Node.js Host

// server.ts (generated)
import { APP_BASE_HREF } from '@angular/common';
import { CommonEngine } from '@angular/ssr/node';
import express from 'express';
import { dirname, join, resolve } from 'node:path';
import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
import bootstrap from './src/main.server';

const serverDistFolder = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
const browserDistFolder = resolve(serverDistFolder, '../browser');
const indexHtml = join(serverDistFolder, 'index.server.html');

const app = express();
const commonEngine = new CommonEngine();

app.get('*', express.static(browserDistFolder, { maxAge: '1y', index: false }));

app.get('*', (req, res, next) => {
  commonEngine
    .render({
      bootstrap,
      documentFilePath: indexHtml,
      url: req.originalUrl,
      publicPath: browserDistFolder,
      providers: [{ provide: APP_BASE_HREF, useValue: req.baseUrl }],
    })
    .then((html) => res.send(html))
    .catch((err) => next(err));
});

app.listen(4000, () => {
  console.log('Server listening on http://localhost:4000');
});

For advanced patterns, see references/ssr-patterns.md.