Escaping the Buffer: The Advanced Guide to Streams in Node.js & Next.js

The article explains how async/await hides a critical buffering bottleneck that causes OOM crashes and high TTFB in data-intensive applications. It contrasts Node.js Streams (node:stream) with the Web Streams API (ReadableStream), noting that mixing them is the top source of bugs when migrating Express apps to Next.js App Router. Practical streaming architectures for proxying uploads, generating large files, and rendering Server Components are discussed.