Creating Large Dynamic Sitemaps with Next.js, Drupal, and next-sitemap

Static Sitemaps (Build Time)

Static routes generated at build time are automatically picked up by next-sitemap.
 This works for both:

• Static pages
• Paths generated by getStaticPaths

It works out of the box!

You may also add other options, such as:

• exclude (paths to ignore)
• additionalPaths
• generateRobotsTxt

To automate generation after building, add it to the postbuild step in package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "next build",
    "postbuild": "next-sitemap"
  }
}

Dynamic Sitemaps (Runtime)

For user-generated URLs, pulling everything at build time means your sitemaps only update on deployment.
 Instead, you can generate them on demand at runtime.

Required Routes

You’ll need routes to render:

• A sitemap index
• Individual sitemap pages

Example URLs:

/server-sitemap.xml
/server-sitemap-0.xml
/server-sitemap-1.xml
...

Since Next.js doesn’t allow dynamic filenames like server-sitemap-[page].ts, use rewrites.

Steps to Implement

1. Create Pages

• pages/server-sitemap.xml/index.ts
• pages/server-sitemap/[page].ts

2. Add Rewrites

In next.config.js:

async rewrites() {
  return [
    {
      source: "/server-sitemap-:page.xml",
      destination: "/server-sitemap/[page].ts",
    },
  ];
}

Using next-sitemap APIs

next-sitemap provides two APIs for server-side generation:

1. getServerSideSitemapIndex – Generates the sitemap index file.
   • Fetch how many sitemap pages exist
   • Pass their URLs to getServerSideSitemapIndexLegacy
2. getServerSideSitemap – Generates a single sitemap file.
   • Fetch the corresponding page
   • Pass its URLs to getServerSideSitemapLegacy

Caching Dynamic Sitemaps

Dynamic sitemaps usually hit your API or DB for many items — avoid overloading them.

Options:

• Use the Cache-Control header (supported by Next.js SSR)
• On Vercel, caching works automatically
• For self-hosted setups, configure Redis or similar

⚠️ Keep in mind: response size cannot exceed 10 MB.

Learn More

• Vercel caching docs
  
  
• next-sitemap docs