[Bug] RSC re-fetches permanently stop when <Link> prefetches a proxy-rewritten route that adds hidden search params

Link to the code that reproduces this issue

https://github.com/VeiaG/nextjs-proxy-rewrite-prefetch-rsc-bug-

To Reproduce

Clone reproduction repo

Important: must be tested with a production build. Does not reproduce in dev mode.

pnpm install
pnpm run deploy

The header has two links:

• Blue — /test — public URL that is rewritten by the proxy (buggy path)
• Green — /dynamicPages/filtered — direct URL, no rewrite (works correctly, for comparison)

Confirming the direct route works (baseline)

1. Click the green /dynamicPages/filtered link
2. Click + to set page=2 → Server searchParams updates ✅
3. Click reset → Server searchParams updates back to default ✅
4. Click + again → updates ✅ — everything works normally

Reproducing the bug on the rewritten route

The root condition: RSC re-fetches only work on /test when the page was loaded with at least one search param already in the URL. The moment the URL has no params — either because you loaded that way or navigated there — RSC re-fetches stop entirely.

Simplest reproduction:

1. Navigate directly to /test (no params)
2. Click + or any filter → URL updates but Server searchParams does not change ❌

Illustrated with contrast:

1. Navigate directly to /test?page=2 (server renders with params)
2. Click + → page goes to 3, Server searchParams updates ✅ — works because page loaded with params
3. Click reset → URL becomes /test (no params), Server shows page=1 (default)
4. Click + → URL becomes /test?page=2 but Server searchParams does not update ❌
5. Click any filter → Server searchParams does not update ❌

Open the Network tab: no _rsc requests are sent in steps 4–5.

Minimal reproduction code

src/proxy.ts — adds testParam=testValue to every rewrite of /test:

export const proxy = (request: NextRequest) => {
    if (request.nextUrl.pathname === '/test') {
        const url = new