netlify-functions

name

netlify-functions

description

Write, configure, and deploy Netlify serverless functions in TypeScript, JavaScript, or Go. Use this when adding an API endpoint or backend route, adding a contact form handler, wiring auth or Identity signup/login hooks, building streaming or AI-proxy responses, scheduling cron jobs, running long background jobs (batch processing/scraping), reacting to deploy or form events, setting up rate limiting or region/memory config, or reading environment variables and secrets inside a function. Covers file locations, the Request/Context/Response handler shape, path routing, config options, and local testing with netlify dev.

Netlify Functions

Reach for the modern default-handler API (.mts TypeScript). Export a default async handler taking a web Request and a Netlify Context, returning a web Response. Avoid the legacy AWS Lambda handler shape unless writing Go or migrating old code (see Legacy at the end).

File locations

• Default directory: netlify/functions/ (relative to base directory). Keep it outside your publish directory or source files ship as static assets.
• A function is one file or a subdirectory whose entry file is named index or matches the subdirectory name. All of these create a function hello:
  • netlify/functions/hello.mts
  • netlify/functions/hello/hello.mts
  • netlify/functions/hello/index.mts
• Use .mts (TS) / .mjs (JS) for ES modules. .cts/.cjs force CommonJS; .ts/.js follow the nearest package.json "type".

Minimal function

No config export. Serves at /.netlify/functions/hello.

import type { Context } from "@netlify/functions"

export default async (req: Request, context: Context) => {
  return new Response("Hello, world!")
}

Install types: npm install @netlify/functions (required for TS types; optional for JS).

Read env vars and secrets with Netlify.env.get():

const apiKey = Netlify.env.get("STRIPE_SECRET_KEY")

Never hardcode secrets. For the variable to exist at runtime its scope must include Functions. Variables set in netlify.toml are NOT available to functions. Values are frozen per deploy — change them and redeploy to apply.

Response headers are set in code on the returned Response. [[headers]] in netlify.toml, _headers, and redirect header rules apply ONLY to static CDN responses, not function responses. Do not add CORS headers unless explicitly requested.

Custom path routing

Set config.path to route to custom URLs. When set, the function serves ONLY at that path — not at /.netlify/functions/<name>.

import type { Config, Context } from "@netlify/functions"

export default async (req: Request, context: Context) => {
  const { city, country } = context.params
  return new Response(`You're visiting ${city} in ${country}!`)
}

export const config: Config = {
  path: "/travel-guide/:city/:country",
}

• Multiple paths: path: ["/cats", "/dogs"].
• Patterns: path supports URLPattern syntax — path: ["/sale/*", "/item/:sku"]. Named groups land on context.params. For the query string use req.url.
• excludedPath: carve exceptions, e.g. excludedPath: ["/product/*.css"] with path: "/product/*".
• preferStatic: true: let a real static file at the URL win.
• method: restrict methods, e.g. method: ["GET", "POST"].

Fetchable module shape (alternative)

Equivalent to the bare handler; carries config inline and lets you add event handlers.

import type { NetlifyFunction } from "@netlify/functions"

export default {
  fetch: (req, context) => new Response("Hello, world!"),
  config: { path: "/hello" },
} satisfies NetlifyFunction

Context object

Second handler argument (or getContext() from @netlify/functions when out of handler scope — throws outside a request; wrap in try/catch).

• context.params — named path params.
• context.geo — city, country.code/name, latitude, longitude, subdivision, timezone, postalCode.
• context.ip — client IP string.
• context.cookies — get(name) / set(options) / delete(name|options). Cross-subdomain cookies need a custom domain (netlify.app is on the Public Suffix List).
• context.site — id, name, url. context.deploy — context, id, published, skewProtectionToken. context.account.id. context.server.region. context.requestId.
• context.waitUntil(promise) — run work after the response is sent (analytics, logs) without blocking. Billing/log duration counts until the promise settles. Available for functions deployed on/after 2025-03-20.

⚠️ Under netlify dev, context.geo and context.ip are mocked — placeholder values that never change. Don't conclude geo code is broken locally. Exercise branches with netlify dev --geo=mock --country=DE and verify on a real deploy.

Config object

Export const config (or the config property of a Fetchable module):

• path / excludedPath — string | string[], must start with /.
• method — one method or array.
• preferStatic — boolean.
• background — boolean (see Background).
• schedule — cron string (see Scheduled). Mutually exclusive with path/excludedPath.
• rateLimit — { action: 'rate_limit'|'rewrite', aggregateBy: 'domain'|'ip'|[...], to?, windowSize, windowLimit }.
• memory / vcpu — see below; mutually exclusive.
• region — airport code; see below.

Integrations

import type { Config } from "@netlify/functions"
import { getDatabase } from "@netlify/database"

const db = getDatabase()

export default async (req: Request) => {
  const users = await db.sql`SELECT id, email FROM users LIMIT 10`
  return Response.json({ users })
}

export const config: Config = { path: "/users" }

Blobs: import { getStore } from "@netlify/blobs"; getStore("uploads").set(key, await req.blob()).

purgeCache() from @netlify/functions invalidates the edge cache from inside a function:

import { purgeCache } from "@netlify/functions"

export default async () => {
  await purgeCache({ tags: ["products"] }) // omit tags to purge all
  return new Response("Purged!", { status: 202 })
}

Streaming responses

Return a ReadableStream as the Response body. Limits: 60s execution, 20 MB response.

export default async (req: Request) => {
  const res = await fetch("https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      Authorization: `Bearer ${Netlify.env.get("OPENAI_API_KEY")}`,
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ model: "gpt-4o-mini", stream: true, messages: [/* ... */] }),
  })
  return new Response(res.body, { headers: { "content-type": "text/event-stream" } })
}

To build a stream manually, new ReadableStream({ start(controller) { controller.enqueue(...); controller.close() } }).

Background functions (long-running)

config.background: true. Client gets an immediate 202; the return value is discarded; runs up to 15 minutes. No streaming. Retries: on invocation error, retry after 1 min, then again 2 min later. Send results somewhere other than the client.

import type { Config } from "@netlify/functions"

export default async (req: Request) => {
  // Long-running work. Client already has its 202.
}

export const config: Config = { background: true, path: "/process" }

Limits: background payload 256 KB. Legacy -background filename suffix still works but prefer config.background.

Scheduled functions (cron)

config.schedule with a cron expression, executed in UTC. The request body is JSON with next_run (ISO-8601). Inline config is TS/JS only — Go must use netlify.toml.

Always compute the UTC time for the target local hour. E.g. 9 AM ET → "0 13 * * *" UTC (note this shifts by an hour across DST; pick the UTC offset you need). Prefer explicit cron over @daily/@hourly shortcuts, which can't target a specific local hour.

import type { Config } from "@netlify/functions"

export default async (req: Request) => {
  const { next_run } = await req.json()
  console.log("Next invocation at:", next_run)
}

export const config: Config = {
  schedule: "0 13 * * *", // 9 AM ET (EST); UTC
}

Via netlify.toml (all languages):

[functions."daily-digest"]
  schedule = "0 13 * * *"

Constraints: 30s limit (use background for longer); only fire on published deploys (not Deploy Previews/branch deploys — invoke manually with Run now); no URL invocation; no streaming; no request payloads/POST data; incompatible with Split Testing. All extensions supported except @reboot and @annually.

Platform-event functions

Export a default object with handlers named after events. They always run in the background — no response to a client. Combine with fetch in the same function. Every handler is fully typed; import event types from @netlify/functions.

import type { DeploySucceededEvent, DeployFailedEvent } from "@netlify/functions"

export default {
  deploySucceeded(event: DeploySucceededEvent) {
    console.log(`Deploy ${event.deploy.id} succeeded for ${event.site.name}`)
  },
  deployFailed(event: DeployFailedEvent) {
    console.log(`Deploy ${event.deploy.id} failed: ${event.deploy.errorMessage}`)
  },
}

Deploy events (event.deploy, event.site; return void): deployBuilding, deploySucceeded, deployFailed, deployDeleted, deployLocked, deployUnlocked.

Identity events (event.user, only id guaranteed):

Handler	Can deny?	Can mutate?
userValidate	Yes	Yes
userSignup	Yes	Yes
userLogin	Yes	Yes
userModified	Yes	Yes
userDeleted	No	No

• Deny: call event.deny() inside the handler → end user gets 401. First function to deny aborts the chain.
• Mutate: return { user: {...} } to persist changes; return undefined to pass through.

Form events: formSubmitted → event.data (object keyed by field name). Return void.

Multiple functions can handle the same event (all run). Netlify signs each event (JWS) and verifies before invoking, blocking external requests. Legacy filename convention (file named after the event, payload via await req.json() → payload) still works but prefer typed handlers.

Region

⚠️ Do NOT override config.region unless the user states a specific reason (co-located DB/backend, data residency, regional audience). The default cmh (US East, Ohio) is deliberate.

When justified — e.g. an EU-resident database:

export const config: Config = { path: "/eu-data", region: "dub" }

Airport codes (self-serve): cmh, dub, fra, gru, iad, lhr, nrt, pdx, sfo, sin, syd, yul. Support-assisted: cdg, mxp. Each function runs in exactly one region (no multi-region geo-routing). Region selection needs Pro/Enterprise. Framework-adapter-generated functions can't take export const config — set region at project level in the UI. After changing region, redeploy. Function-level region beats the site-level UI setting.

Memory / vCPU

⚠️ Do NOT set config.memory or config.vcpu speculatively — billing scales linearly with size. Raise them only for known memory/compute-intensive work (AI inference, image/PDF, large JSON/CSV) or observed OOM/timeouts caused by the function's own work.

When justified (e.g. observed OOM processing large PDFs):

export const config: Config = { path: "/heavy", memory: "2gb" } // or memory: 2048

• memory: 1024–4096 MB. vcpu: 0.5–2.0 (0.5 → 1024 MB, 2.0 → 4096 MB). Mutually exclusive; Netlify sizes the other automatically. Needs Credit-based Pro/Enterprise. Via netlify.toml: [functions.heavy]\n memory = "2gb".

Bundling & files on disk

⚠️ Files read from disk at runtime (fs.readFile on templates, JSON, WASM) are not bundled: works under netlify dev, ENOENT in production. Prefer importing static data as a module. Otherwise declare it in netlify.toml:

[functions]
  included_files = ["files/*.md"]
  external_node_modules = ["package-1"]

⚠️ The combined env-var limit is ~4 KB for ALL functions (they run on AWS Lambda) — no Netlify setting raises it. Keep large payloads (service-account JSON, PEM keys) out of env vars; use a bundled file, Blobs, or a runtime fetch.

JS-only esbuild: [functions]\n node_bundler = "esbuild".

Limits (not configurable)

• Synchronous execution: 60s. Scheduled: 30s. Background: 15 min.
• Buffered request/response payload: 6 MB (binary is Base64-encoded, ~30% overhead → effective 4.5 MB binary limit).
• Streamed response: 20 MB. Background payload: 256 KB.

Local testing & deploy

• Most frameworks emulate functions in their dev server. Vite frameworks (Astro, Nuxt, TanStack Start, React Router): install @netlify/vite-plugin and run the dev server. Next.js and anything else: use the Netlify CLI (netlify dev).
• Scheduled functions don't fire on a schedule locally — invoke once with netlify functions:invoke <name>.
• Deploy: push to Git for continuous deployment, or use the Netlify CLI/API.
• Logs & metrics live in the Netlify UI; stream with the CLI.

Node runtime version

Runtime follows the build's Node.js version (fallback: Node.js 24). Override by setting env var AWS_LAMBDA_JS_RUNTIME (e.g. nodejs24.x) via UI/CLI/API — not netlify.toml — then redeploy. ES modules: __dirname/__filename unavailable, use import.meta.url; named imports of CommonJS packages fail, use a default import.

Legacy / Go (avoid unless needed)

Go must use the Lambda-compatible API; Go routing/region/memory are set in netlify.toml. For migrating Lambda-style JS/TS, @netlify/aws-lambda-compat wraps an AWS handler:

import { withLambda } from "@netlify/aws-lambda-compat"
import type { HandlerContext, HandlerEvent, HandlerResponse } from "@netlify/aws-lambda-compat"

export default withLambda(async (event: HandlerEvent, context: HandlerContext): Promise<HandlerResponse> => {
  const name = event.queryStringParameters?.name ?? "World"
  return { statusCode: 200, headers: { "content-type": "application/json" }, body: JSON.stringify({ name }) }
})

Lambda-compat mode enforces the 4 KB env-var limit; upgrade to modern functions to remove it.

Netlify house rules (functions)

These are org conventions, not docs facts — they are merged into the rendered skill by ctx-gen and are never generated. Extracted from the previous hand-written netlify-functions skill; owned by the skills maintainer.

1. Use TypeScript (.mts) when possible.
2. Access environment variables via Netlify.env.get() (prefer it over process.env for consistency).
3. Never add CORS headers unless explicitly requested.
4. Store secrets in environment variables, never in code.
5. context.geo and context.ip are mocked under netlify dev — placeholder values, not the real location or client IP. Don't conclude geo code is broken because local values never change; exercise branches with netlify dev --geo=mock --country=DE and verify on a deploy.
6. Do NOT set config.memory or config.vcpu speculatively. Raise them only for known memory/compute-intensive work or observed OOM/timeouts caused by the function's own work — billing scales linearly with size.
7. Do NOT override config.region unless the user has stated a specific reason (co-located database/backend, data residency, regional audience). The cmh default is a deliberate choice.
8. Files read from disk at runtime (fs.readFile on templates, JSON, WASM) are not bundled: works under netlify dev, ENOENT in production. Prefer importing static data as a module; otherwise declare the file with a scoped included_files entry in netlify.toml.
9. The ~4 KB combined environment-variable limit applies to ALL functions (they run on AWS Lambda), not just Lambda-compat mode. Keep large payloads (service-account JSON, PEM keys) out of env vars — use a bundled file, Blobs, or a runtime fetch. No Netlify setting raises this cap.
10. The body's FIRST function example must be the minimal default: no config export at all, stating the function serves at /.netlify/functions/<name>. Custom path routing appears only in a later example — agents imitate the first example they see.
11. Never demonstrate memory, vcpu, or region in a generic example — show them only attached to an explicit stated reason (observed OOM, co-located backend, data residency).
12. Scheduled-function examples use a real cron expression with the UTC conversion spelled out (e.g. 9 AM ET → "0 13 * * *" UTC, noting DST) — never only @hourly/@daily shortcuts, which can't target a specific local hour.
13. The body must state that [[headers]] in netlify.toml, , and redirect header rules apply ONLY to static CDN responses — response headers for a function are set in code on the returned .