Can I use a client component in root layout in Nextjs 13.4?

Question

I have created a component, which is a client component as you can see in the code "use client", Widgets Compontent

I want to add this component to root layout, because the widgets contain tools like music player etc that should always play whatever the route it...I am not able to convert the root layout to a client component, works fine in local build, but gives an error while deploying to vercel...

here is the root layout component: enter image description here

I tried to use "use client" inside the layout, it worked fine in local environment...and build was successful locally, but build failed while deploying to vercel...saying:

enter image description here

Answer 1

You can add it as right now, be sure to "use client" in components where its needed

You have error in vercel because your RootLayout has "use client" mark and metadata can not be loaded in client components. I would suggest you remove "use client" in your RootLayout since it would mean your whole app would load without static

Answer 2

Because of metadata export your layout cannot be defined as client component.

Have you tired to remove 'use client' from layout.tsx and leave it in Widgets.tsx? It doesn't look like layout itself has any interactive parts so it should work if defined as a server component.

By the way you can pass client components to server components without issues. Here is some info about it: https://nextjs.org/docs/app/building-your-application/rendering/composition-patterns#moving-client-components-down-the-tree

Answer 3

I was using this file to export the client components...which makes their parent, this file, index.js, not a client component...so the error was that the parent is not the client component most probably.

So, I used "use client" inside index.js from where I was exporting all the components...the practice I've been following in reactjs...turns out to be a bad practice is nextjs as it makes all the components client component and the error goes away.

"use client"
import Header from "./Header";
import Footer from "./Footer";
import About from "./sections/about/About";
import Collectibles from "./sections/collectibles/Collectibles";
import Faq from "./sections/faq/Faq";
import Featured from "./sections/featured/Featured";
import Hero from "./sections/hero/Hero";
import Join from "./sections/join/Join";
import Roadmap from "./sections/roadmap/Roadmap";
import Showcase from "./sections/showcase/Showcase";
import World from "./sections/world/World";
import Gazette from "./sections/gazette/Gazette";
import Widget from "./Widget";
import AudioPlayer from "./AudioPlayer";
import Widgets from "./sections/Widgets";
import NavButtons from "./common/NavButtons";
import World1 from "./sections/world/World1";
import World2 from "./sections/world/World2";
import World3 from "./sections/world/World3";
import RoadmapItem from "./sections/roadmap/RoadmapItem";
import HowToMint from "./mint/HowToMint";
import TrendingNFT from "./mint/TrendingNFT";
import NFTCard from "./mint/NFTCard";
import ExploreNFT from "./mint/ExploreNFT";
import GazetteCard from "./gazette/GazetteCard";
import Marquee from "./gazette/Marquee";

export {
  Roadmap,
  Header,
  Footer,
  Hero,
  About,
  Collectibles,
  Faq,
  Featured,
  Join,
  Showcase,
  World,
  Gazette,
  Widget,
  AudioPlayer,
  Widgets,
  NavButtons,
  World1,
  World2,
  World3,
  RoadmapItem,
  HowToMint,
  TrendingNFT,
  NFTCard,
  ExploreNFT,
  GazetteCard,
  Marquee
};

I need to find some other design pattern to use here. cannot create two index.js files for client and server components probably.