How I Structured My Next.js 14 App Router Project — And Why It Scales

A developer building Softchic, a template marketplace, shared the project structure used for a Next.js 14 App Router application that scales. The structure includes route groups for organizing pages without affecting URLs, and separate folders for UI components, shared components, page sections, utilities, hooks, types, and site configuration. The approach enforces rules such as moving files used in more than two places to their own home and breaking up components longer than 150 lines.

Most Next.js tutorials show you how to start a project. None of them show you how to organize one that won't fall apart at scale. Here's the exact structure I'm using for Softchic — a template marketplace I'm currently building — and the reasoning behind every folder. src/ ├── app/ │ ├── auth / │ │ ├── login/ │ │ │ └── page.tsx │ │ └── register/ │ │ └── page.tsx │ ├── main / │ │ ├── browse/ │ │ │ └── page.tsx │ │ └── templates/ │ │ └── slug / │ │ └── page.tsx │ ├── layout.tsx │ ├── page.tsx │ └── globals.css ├── components/ │ ├── ui/ │ ├── shared/ │ │ ├── Navbar.tsx │ │ └── Footer.tsx │ └── sections/ │ ├── Hero.tsx │ └── BrowseSection.tsx ├── lib/ │ └── utils.ts ├── hooks/ ├── types/ └── config/ └── site.ts app/ with Route Groups Route groups folders wrapped in parentheses like auth and main let you organize pages without affecting the URL. /app/ auth /login/page.tsx still resolves to /login in the browser — the auth folder is invisible to the router. This keeps related pages grouped without polluting your URLs. components/ui/ This is where shadcn/ui drops its components when you run: npx shadcn@latest add button Never manually edit these — treat them as a local library. components/shared/ Global components used across multiple pages — Navbar, Footer, modals that appear everywhere. If it's reused on more than two pages, it lives here. components/sections/ Page-specific sections like Hero.tsx or BrowseSection.tsx . These are too large to live inside a page file but too specific to be "shared." This folder keeps your page.tsx files clean. lib/utils.ts Utility functions — shadcn auto-generates a cn helper here for merging Tailwind classes. Add your own helpers here too. hooks/ Custom React hooks. As your app grows, logic like useCart , useCurrency , or useAuth belongs here — not inside components. types/ All your TypeScript interfaces and types in one place. When your Template type is used in 6 different files, you define it once here and import it everywhere. config/site.ts Site-wide constants — your app name, description, social links, base URL. One file to update when things change. js export const siteConfig = { name: "Softchic", description: "Premium website templates for developers and businesses.", url: " ", links: { twitter: "https://x.com/ifehdelight", }, } If a file is used in more than two places — it gets its own home. If a component is longer than 150 lines — it gets broken up. That's it. Simple rules prevent messy codebases. This is the foundation Softchic is being built on. Next post I'm breaking down how Tailwind CSS v4 changes the way you write styles — and what actually surprised me. The Softchic waitlist drops soon — follow me here on Dev.to so you don't miss it. — Delight | Founder, Softchic @ifehdelight https://x.com/ifehdelight on X