server-parallel-fetching

title: Parallel Data Fetching with Component Composition
impact: CRITICAL
impactDescription: eliminates server-side waterfalls
tags: server, rsc, parallel-fetching, composition

Parallel Data Fetching with Component Composition

React Server Components execute sequentially within a tree. Restructure with composition to parallelize data fetching.

**Incorrect (Sidebar waits for Page's fetch to complete):**

export default async function Page() {
  const header = await fetchHeader()
  return (
    <div>
      <div>{header}</div>
      <Sidebar />
    </div>
  )
}

async function Sidebar() {
  const items = await fetchSidebarItems()
  return <nav>{items.map(renderItem)}</nav>
}

**Correct (both fetch simultaneously):**

async function Header() {
  const data = await fetchHeader()
  return <div>{data}</div>
}

async function Sidebar() {
  const items = await fetchSidebarItems()
  return <nav>{items.map(renderItem)}</nav>
}

export default function Page() {
  return (
    <div>
      <Header />
      <Sidebar />
    </div>
  )
}

**Alternative with children prop:**

async function Layout({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
  const header = await fetchHeader()
  return (
    <div>
      <div>{header}</div>
      {children}
    </div>
  )
}

async function Sidebar() {
  const items = await fetchSidebarItems()
  return <nav>{items.map(renderItem)}</nav>
}

export default function Page() {
  return (
    <Layout>
      <Sidebar />
    </Layout>
  )
}