Serverless Functions

Serverless functions run backend code on demand without managing servers, well suited to APIs, webhooks and background jobs with uneven traffic.

Where we use it

We use serverless functions (e.g., AWS Lambda, Vercel Functions) to run backend logic without managing servers. This approach is cost-effective, scales automatically, and allows us to focus on writing code rather than managing infrastructure. It's perfect for APIs, background tasks, and microservices.

Strengths

No server management required.
Pay-per-use pricing model is cost-effective.
Automatic scaling to handle traffic spikes.

Trade-offs

"Cold starts" can introduce latency.
Execution time and resource limits.
Local development and debugging can be more complex.

Questions

A cold start is the latency experienced when a serverless function is invoked for the first time or after a period of inactivity, as the cloud provider needs to initialize a new container for it.

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