Next-Forge Comparison

Turbocamp is built on top of next-forge, maintaining compatibility while making opinionated changes for specific use cases. This document outlines the key differences.

Quick Comparison

Feature	Turbocamp	next-forge
Authentication	Better Auth	Clerk
Package Structure	Combined security package	Separate rate-limit package
Package Naming	`@packages/*`	`@repo/*`
Design System	`@packages/base`	`@repo/design-system`
Tooling Location	`tooling/*`	`packages/*`

Authentication: Better Auth vs Clerk

The most significant difference is the authentication system.

Why Better Auth?

Self-hosted - Full control over user data and authentication flow
No vendor lock-in - Open source with no per-user pricing
Database-driven - Sessions stored in your PostgreSQL database
Cross-domain support - Built-in support for multi-app authentication
Customizable - Full control over auth UI and flow

Architecture Difference

next-forge (Clerk):
├── Clerk handles all auth
├── External session management
└── Webhook-based sync to database

Turbocamp (Better Auth):
├── API app is primary auth server (localhost:3002)
├── Sessions stored in PostgreSQL
├── Cross-domain cookies for multi-app auth
└── Direct database integration

Auth Package Structure

// Turbocamp auth package exports
@packages/auth/client     // Client-side auth utilities
@packages/auth/server     // Server-side session handling
@packages/auth/middleware // Auth middleware
@packages/auth/handlers   // API route handlers
@packages/auth/provider   // React context provider

See the Authentication Setup guide for detailed configuration.

Package Organization

Naming Convention

Turbocamp	next-forge	Purpose
`@packages/base`	`@repo/design-system`	shadcn/ui components
`@packages/db`	`@repo/database`	Prisma client
`@packages/auth`	Uses Clerk SDK	Authentication
`@packages/security`	`@repo/security` + `@repo/rate-limit`	Security + rate limiting
`@tooling/*`	`@repo/*`	Build tooling

Combined Security Package

Turbocamp combines security features into a single package:

// @packages/security includes:
import { securityHeaders } from '@packages/security/middleware';
import { createRateLimiter, slidingWindow } from '@packages/security/rate-limit';

next-forge separates these:

// next-forge has separate packages:
import { secure } from '@repo/security';
import { ratelimit } from '@repo/rate-limit';

Tooling Directory

Build configuration lives in tooling/ instead of packages/:

turbocamp/
├── packages/          # Runtime packages
│   ├── auth/
│   ├── db/
│   └── ...
└── tooling/           # Build-time tooling
    ├── next-config/
    └── typescript-config/

next-forge/
└── packages/          # Everything together
    ├── next-config/
    ├── typescript-config/
    └── ...

Database: Prisma 7

Turbocamp uses Prisma 7 with the new driver adapter pattern:

// packages/db/index.ts
import { PrismaNeon } from '@prisma/adapter-neon';

const adapter = new PrismaNeon({ connectionString: keys().DATABASE_URL });
export const database = new PrismaClient({ adapter });

Schema Differences

// Turbocamp schema
generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client"
  output   = "../generated"
}

datasource db {
  provider     = "postgresql"
  relationMode = "prisma"
}

Packages We Don't Have

next-forge includes some packages that Turbocamp doesn't have (yet):

Package	Purpose	Status in Turbocamp
`collaboration`	Real-time collaboration	Not included
`notifications`	Push notifications	Not included
`observability`	OpenTelemetry tracing	Uses Sentry instead
`webhooks`	Webhook handling	Not included

These packages can be added as needed. The core architecture supports them.

Version Differences

Current versions in Turbocamp:

Package	Version
Next.js	15.3.x
React	19.2.x
TypeScript	5.9.x
Prisma	7.x
Tailwind CSS	4.x

Subpath Imports

Both use subpath imports for better tree-shaking:

// Import specific modules, not barrel exports
import { auth } from '@packages/auth/server';
import { createMetadata } from '@packages/seo/metadata';
import { parseError } from '@packages/logging/error';

This pattern avoids importing unused code and improves bundle size.

Environment Variables

# Turbocamp (Better Auth)
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=""
BETTER_AUTH_URL=""
AUTH_API_URL=""
NEXT_PUBLIC_AUTH_API_URL=""

# next-forge (Clerk)
CLERK_SECRET_KEY=""
CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET=""
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=""

Rate Limiting (Same)

# Both use Upstash
UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL=""
UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN=""

Migration from next-forge

If migrating from next-forge to Turbocamp:

Update imports - Change @repo/* to @packages/*
Replace Clerk - Migrate to Better Auth (see auth setup guide)
Update Prisma - Use new v7 adapter pattern
Combine packages - Rate limiting is now in @packages/security
Move tooling - Build configs go in tooling/ directory

When to Choose Turbocamp

Choose Turbocamp if you need:

Self-hosted authentication
No per-user pricing for auth
Full control over user data
Multi-app authentication with shared sessions
PostgreSQL-based session storage

Choose next-forge if you prefer:

Managed authentication (Clerk)
Faster initial setup
Less infrastructure to manage
Clerk's built-in UI components

Contributing

Found a difference not documented here? Please open an issue or PR to help keep this comparison up to date.

Next-Forge Comparison

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