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Performance.gov

Performance.gov is a digital product from the U.S. government that helps the American public–especially civil society professionals–track the progress of U.S. strategic goals and find opportunities to contribute. Performance.gov fulfills the legal requirement established by the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 that Federal performance information must be consolidated and presented on a single website, such that it provides “a coherent picture of . . . the performance of the federal government and individual agencies.

Technical overview​

Performance.gov is built using a decoupled architecture. Drupal is used as the back-end content management system, while Next.js is used for the site's front end.

Drupal​

Drupal is a free and open-source content management system (CMS). It's built to be flexible and adaptable, letting you manage content for different uses beyond just regular websites.

Drupal's modular design means you can customize it to fit your needs, from simple sites to complex apps that handle lots of data. Drupal has powerful content management features, user management, editorial workflows, and reliable content architectures.

This site uses uses Next.js as a separate, decoupled front end framework, which it can be updated and managed separately.

Learn more about the Drupal implementation

Next.js​

Next.js is a popular open-source React framework for building fast and modern web applications. It's known for features like server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), and built-in routing, which contribute to improved performance, SEO, and a better user experience. Next.js handles a lot of the complex setup typically required for React projects, making it easier to focus on building the application itself.

When used as the front end for a decoupled Drupal site, Next.js becomes the presentation layer, responsible for fetching content from Drupal and displaying it to the user. Next.js can communicate with Drupal's API endpoints, including those provided by JSON:API or a GraphQL endpoint.

Combining Next.js with a decoupled Drupal back end provides a powerful and flexible architecture. Drupal handles content creation, management, and storage, while Next.js focuses on delivering a performant and engaging user experience. This separation of concerns allows developers to leverage the strengths of both technologies, resulting in a scalable and maintainable web application.

Learn more about the Next.js Front end

Next.js for Drupal​

This site utilizes the Next.js for Drupal project. Next.js for Drupal is a powerful toolkit designed to streamline the development of decoupled Drupal websites using Next.js as the front end. It provides a set of pre-built components, functions, and utilities that simplify common tasks like fetching Drupal content, handling authentication, and managing routing. By abstracting away much of the boilerplate code typically associated with decoupled Drupal development, Next.js for Drupal allows developers to focus on building unique features and delivering exceptional user experiences. It offers a well-defined structure and best practices, making it easier to create performant, scalable, and maintainable decoupled Drupal applications with Next.js.