diff --git a/examples/next-js/src/app/api/counter/route.ts b/examples/next-js/src/app/api/counter/route.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index d3c604797..000000000
--- a/examples/next-js/src/app/api/counter/route.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-import { counter } from "@/lib/counter";
-
-export const runtime = "nodejs"; // optional, fine for Node runtime
-
-console.log("=== LOAD ROUTE ===");
-
-export async function GET() {
-	return Response.json({ value: counter.value });
-}
-
-export async function POST(req: Request) {
-	const body = await req.json().catch(() => ({}));
-	const by = Number(body?.by ?? 1);
-	counter.value += Number.isFinite(by) ? by : 1;
-	return Response.json({ value: counter.value });
-}
diff --git a/examples/next-js/src/app/api/rivet/[...all]/route.ts b/examples/next-js/src/app/api/rivet/[...all]/route.ts
index 32663d263..6c9669741 100644
--- a/examples/next-js/src/app/api/rivet/[...all]/route.ts
+++ b/examples/next-js/src/app/api/rivet/[...all]/route.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
-import { handlers } from "@/lib/rivet-server";
+import { toNextHandler } from "@rivetkit/next-js";
+import { registry } from "@/rivet/registry";
 
-export const { GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, HEAD, OPTIONS } = handlers.value;
+export const { GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, HEAD, OPTIONS } = toNextHandler(registry);
diff --git a/examples/next-js/src/lib/counter.ts b/examples/next-js/src/lib/counter.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 17191a161..000000000
--- a/examples/next-js/src/lib/counter.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-declare global {
-	// eslint-disable-next-line no-var
-	var _counter: { value: number } | undefined;
-}
-
-// one shared object, cached on globalThis in dev
-export const counter = global._counter ?? { value: 0 };
-
-if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production") {
-	global._counter = counter;
-}
diff --git a/examples/next-js/src/lib/rivet-client.ts b/examples/next-js/src/lib/rivet-client.ts
index d01647047..5c05d4d35 100644
--- a/examples/next-js/src/lib/rivet-client.ts
+++ b/examples/next-js/src/lib/rivet-client.ts
@@ -2,16 +2,7 @@
 import { createClient, createRivetKit } from "@rivetkit/next-js/client";
 import type { registry } from "@/rivet/registry";
 
-const getOrigin = () => {
-	if (typeof window !== "undefined") {
-		return window.location.origin;
-	}
-	// Fallback for SSR or when window is not available
-	return process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL || "http://localhost:3000";
-};
+// TODO: Auto-trigger start by sending request to health endpoint
 
-const client = createClient<typeof registry>({
-	endpoint: `${getOrigin()}/api/rivet`,
-	transport: "sse",
-});
+const client = createClient<typeof registry>();
 export const { useActor } = createRivetKit(client);
diff --git a/examples/next-js/src/lib/rivet-server.ts b/examples/next-js/src/lib/rivet-server.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 463085032..000000000
--- a/examples/next-js/src/lib/rivet-server.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-import { toNextHandler } from "@rivetkit/next-js";
-import { registry } from "@/rivet/registry";
-
-declare global {
-	// eslint-disable-next-line no-var
-	var _handlers: { value: any } | undefined;
-}
-
-// one shared object, cached on globalThis in dev
-export const handlers = global._handlers ?? { value: toNextHandler(registry) };
-
-if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production") {
-	global._handlers = handlers;
-}
diff --git a/packages/next-js/src/mod.ts b/packages/next-js/src/mod.ts
index 16c3eafe0..b73be941e 100644
--- a/packages/next-js/src/mod.ts
+++ b/packages/next-js/src/mod.ts
@@ -1,44 +1,27 @@
 import type { Registry, RunConfigInput } from "rivetkit";
 
-type RegistryInstance = {
-	fetch: (request: Request) => Response | Promise<Response>;
-};
-
-const createRegistryInstance = (
+export const toNextHandler = (
 	registry: Registry<any>,
 	inputConfig: RunConfigInput = {},
-): RegistryInstance => {
-	console.log("=== CREATE NEXT HANDLER ===");
-
+) => {
 	// Don't run server locally since we're using the fetch handler directly
 	inputConfig.disableDefaultServer = true;
-	// inputConfig.disableActorDriver = true;
+
+	// Configure serverless
+	const publicUrl =
+		process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL ??
+		process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_VERCEL_URL ??
+		`http://127.0.0.1:${process.env.PORT ?? 8080}`;
+	inputConfig.runnerKind = "serverless";
+	inputConfig.runEngine = true;
+	inputConfig.autoConfigureServerless = {
+		url: `${publicUrl}/api/rivet/start`,
+	};
 
 	// Next logs this on every request
 	inputConfig.noWelcome = true;
 
 	const { fetch } = registry.start(inputConfig);
-	return { fetch };
-};
-
-declare global {
-	// eslint-disable-next-line no-var
-	var rivetRegistry: RegistryInstance | undefined;
-}
-
-export const toNextHandler = (
-	registry: Registry<any>,
-	inputConfig: RunConfigInput = {},
-) => {
-	console.log("=== CREATE REGISTRY INSTANCE ===");
-
-	// Store registry instance globally to survive Next.js hot reloads in development.
-	// Without this, the registry would reinitialize on every code change, losing actor state.
-	const registryInstance =
-		global.rivetRegistry ?? createRegistryInstance(registry, inputConfig);
-	if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production") {
-		global.rivetRegistry = registryInstance;
-	}
 
 	const fetchWrapper = async (
 		request: Request,
@@ -50,7 +33,7 @@ export const toNextHandler = (
 		newUrl.pathname = all.join("/");
 		const newReq = new Request(newUrl, request);
 
-		return await registryInstance.fetch(newReq);
+		return await fetch(newReq);
 	};
 
 	return {