Why Next.js Co-creator Tony Kovanen Prefers The Sidelines

You whitethorn not person heard of unfastened root developer Tony Kovanen, but nan 34-year-old has collaborated connected projects you cognize — including co-creating Next.js and co-founding ZEIT, which became Vercel, on pinch Guillermo Rauch and Naoyuki Kanezawa.

All told, nan Finland autochthonal has had a manus successful galore unfastened root projects and startups that matter to nan frontend.

In a world wherever extroverts and influencers predominate nan stage, he occasionally speaks astatine conference, but he is mostly quiet astir his work. He’s worked connected projects, though, that are well-known — including Next.js, Socket.io (a real-time exertion framework) and Gatsby.

Finding Programming

It’s a profession that almost didn’t happen. Kovanen began arsenic a biology awesome astatine nan University of Helsinki, but he wasn’t excessively into it. His liking was piqued, however, by bioinformatics. Someone wisely advised him to adhd machine subject arsenic a minor. He loved it truthful much, he decided to move majors.

He was connected nan Ph.D. way to go an academic, erstwhile he sewage progressive pinch an unfastened root task called Sockets.io, a real-time communications library. He was 2 courses and a thesis awkward of graduating pinch his masters erstwhile his engagement pinch Sockets.io led to a occupation arsenic a JavaScript wrangler astatine Automattic, nan institution down WordPress.

“I had immoderate friends from said task that were moving there, and I decided that nan opportunity was conscionable excessively bully to walk up, because I could really activity connected unfastened root projects while there, and past that benignant of drew maine retired of academia and put maine connected a very different path,” Kovanen said.

Creating Next.js

He spent a twelvemonth and a half astatine Automattic earlier deciding it wasn’t rather what he wanted to do.

“Then my friend Guillermo was really leaving Automattic astatine astir nan aforesaid time, and he wanted to do thing new,” he said. “So we past ended up doing thing together, which ended up being ZEIT, which coming is known arsenic Vercel.”

Before ZEIT started, though, they first wanted to build amended devices for themselves. That led to nan creation of Next.js.

“Just nan magnitude of effort to group up a React exertion astatine that time, pinch each nan champion practices, was rather an endeavor, actually,” he said. “Frameworks for illustration Next.js will thief you get started and thief you to do things nan correct way. … You don’t person to do each this activity conscionable to make your exertion bundled and get it retired location for group to use. So that’s really wherever Next.js was born.”

Fun fact: In nan beginning, they called nan model PHP.js, because he and Rauch some person a inheritance successful PHP and they wanted to bring nan easiness of conscionable putting a PHP exertion retired there, but pinch nan modern stack of Node.js, JavaScript and React.

Kovanen stayed astatine Vercel arsenic CTO for astir 2 years, earlier he began to consciousness burnt out.

“I had to do thing a small different for a while and past it didn’t make consciousness for maine to spell backmost anymore aft taking immoderate clip for myself,” he said.

Gatsby, Eurovision and Crypto

After immoderate clip off, he joined Gatsby arsenic 1 of nan first employees. He worked arsenic lead designer and technologist of infrastructure and strategy components, moving connected nan level backend for Gatsby unreality products.

Then he founded Based.io, which followed up connected what ZEIT had primitively planned to create: A database.

“The first thought that we had was to make thing that was for illustration a real-time database that’s very scalable and wherever you tin really building information successful a measurement that’s much tailored for exertion developments,” he said.

He founded Based pinch Jim de Beer and past Youri Daamen. Both were surviving successful Amsterdam, truthful Kovanen relocated. He spent 4 years earlier moving backmost to Helsinki.

“The first thought that we had was to make thing that was for illustration a real-time database that’s very scalable and wherever you tin really building information successful a measurement that’s much tailored for exertion developments.”
– Tony Kovanen, Developer

“Our highest floor plan customer ever was nan Eurovision Song Contest, for which we built nan mobile app for immoderate years,” he said.

In Eurovision, viewers tin ballot by mobile app for their favourite contestants. The database powered nan process of determining who won, he added.

Based has since go much of an soul merchandise today, he said, utilized by nan genitor institution called Once.net that consults for different types of applications.

Briefly, he past worked arsenic co-CTO astatine Token Terminal, which is simply a crypto company, though that wasn’t what enticed him. He worked connected nan compute infrastructure broadside of nan company.

Then came AI.

Mastra: Working With Agentic AI Workflows

“For america developers, it’s evidently a very breathtaking time, because now we person each these astonishing devices that we ne'er had before, and we tin slow spot really this could lead to a amended productivity for america and for different things,” he said.

He joined friends Abhi Aiyer, Sam Bhagwat and Shane Thomas from Gatsby, who had started Mastra, a TypeScript AI supplier framework. They were accepted into Y Combinator and wanted to turn nan team. Kovanen took connected nan domiciled of founding engineer.

“I felt for illustration AI is nan spot wherever coming you tin really make nan biggest impact, and you tin really innovate nan most. …I wanted to beryllium a portion of that,” he said.

Mastra offered a chance to do that.

“The measurement I picture it, immoderate of nan different solutions retired location are much for illustration a room that you tin usage to interface pinch an LLM, aliases interface pinch an agent. So it’s much for illustration a React benignant of thing,” he said. “Then Mastra is for illustration nan Next.js. It’s this broad model that lets you build afloat applications, and it gives you each of these conventions that make it nicer and easier to build and besides nicer and easier to scale.”

“I for illustration doing absorbing things. I beautiful overmuch only do things I’m really passionate about, and past for me, it’s capable conscionable to to do those things.”
– Kovanen

He specifically focuses connected agentic workflows, nan execution motor that steers AI successful nan correct direction.

“You’re successful power of which branch of nan workflow execution and what information you provender into nan agent,” he explained.

This attack allows developers to build solutions pinch definite outcomes alternatively than “random” results. The supplier gets fed data, past developers return nan system information backmost from nan supplier to usage successful immoderate way, he said. The workflows connection developers much control, he added.

“You tin create these solutions wherever you are much definite that you will ever person a bully outcome, alternatively than thing that’s a spot random, successful a sense,” he said.

Frontend developers tin commencement quickly pinch Mastra because it’s each TypeScript and because it has each of nan server APIs for you, he added. That intends developers tin create nan frontend, past create their agents and instantly person each nan correct APIs to talk to nan supplier without worrying excessively overmuch astir nan backend. It besides uses libraries that frontend developers are already acquainted with, specified arsenic nan schema room Zod.

A Career Driven by Passion

Kovanen’s varied activity makes for an extended LinkedIn profile, but for him, being a developer hasn’t been astir nan titles but astir pursuing his passions.

“I don’t really consciousness for illustration I’m personification that likes to put myself retired location that much,” he said. “I for illustration doing absorbing things. I beautiful overmuch only do things I’m really passionate about, and past for me, it’s capable conscionable to do those things.”

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