So far, we’ve worked with API Route , also known as Route Handlers , in the new Next.js App Router structure. These are essentially serverless functions provided by Vercel that let you build backend functionality directly within your Next.js app. We’ve already: - Created Route Handlers to implement social account creation in our database using NextAuth. - Explored how they simplify backend logic by keeping it close to the front end. The key takeaway so far is that API Routes are Versatile, which is a great choice for traditional REST-like API endpoints instead of spending ages of time building our own backend. But that isn’t the only way.