I agree it’s pretty frustrating, but I do really like the SSR capabilities
I’m divide my frontend and backend via pikku, that way I can continue using normal server side functions but optionally spin up a seperate api service if needed.
Haven’t really tested it on vercel as much, but it ignores middleware on the nextJS side unless it’s for frontend code.
https://pikku.dev/docs/runtimes/nextjs-app
Disclaimer: I’m the pikku core developer