Error: getStaticPaths is required for dynamic SSG pages and is missing for "xxx". NextJS

Question

I am getting this error "Error: getStaticPaths is required for dynamic SSG pages and is missing for 'xxx'" when I try to create my page in NextJS.

I don't want to generate any static page on build time. So why do I need to create a 'getStaticPaths' function?

Answer 1

If you are creating a dynamic page eg: product/[slug].tsx then even if you don't want to create any page on build time you need to create a getStaticPaths method to set the fallback property and let NextJS know what to do when the page you are trying to get doesn't exist.

export const getStaticPaths: GetStaticPaths<{ slug: string }> = async () => {

    return {
        paths: [], //indicates that no page needs be created at build time
        fallback: 'blocking' //indicates the type of fallback
    }
}

getStaticPaths does mainly two things:

• Indicate which paths should be created on build time (returning a paths array)

• Indicate what to do when a certain page eg: "product/myProduct123" doesn't exist in the NextJS Cache (returning a fallback type)