serverless

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Translated

Serverless architecture with FaaS and BaaS. Use for cloud functions.

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NPX Install

npx skill4agent add g1joshi/agent-skills serverless

Tags

Translated version includes tags in frontmatter
serverless-architecturefaas-baascloud-functionsaws-lambdaserverless-framework

SKILL.md Content

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Serverless

Serverless is a cloud-native development model for building and running applications without managing servers. The cloud provider handles the routine work of provisioning, maintaining, and scaling the server infrastructure.

When to Use

  • Event-driven background tasks (Image processing, Cron jobs).
  • APIs with spiky or unpredictable traffic (Auto-scales instantly).
  • Startup/MVP where "Scale to Zero" (Zero cost when idle) is critical.
  • Glue code between cloud services (e.g., S3 trigger -> Lambda -> DynamoDB).

Quick Start

javascript
// AWS Lambda Handler (Node.js)
export const handler = async (event) => {
  console.log("Event received:", JSON.stringify(event));

  const name = event.queryStringParameters?.name || "World";

  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    body: JSON.stringify({ message: `Hello, ${name}!` }),
  };
};
yaml
# serverless.yml (Serverless Framework)
service: my-api
provider:
  name: aws
  runtime: nodejs20.x

functions:
  hello:
    handler: handler.hello
    events:
      - httpApi:
          path: /hello
          method: get

Core Concepts

FaaS (Function as a Service)

Upload code (Function), define triggers (HTTP, Queue, DB, Timer). Run only when triggered.

Cold Start

The latency incurred when a function is invoked after being idle (container spinning up).

Statelessness

Functions are ephemeral. Store state in external managed services (Redis, DynamoDB, S3).

Common Patterns

Fan-out

One event triggers multiple parallel functions (e.g., Upload -> [Resize, Analyze, Back up]).

Strangler Fig

Migrating a monolith by gradually replacing endpoints with serverless functions routed via API Gateway.

Best Practices

Do:
  • Use Frameworks (SST, Serverless Framework, SAM) for IaC.
  • optimize Cold Starts (keep functions small, use provisioned concurrency if needed).
  • Use Managed Services (DynamoDB, EventBridge) instead of custom code logic.
Don't:
  • Don't use Serverless for Long-Running tasks (Gateways timeout at ~30s, Lambdas at 15m). Use Fargate/Batch for that.
  • Don't ignore vendor lock-in (though often the speed creates enough value to justify it).

Troubleshooting

ErrorCauseSolution
Timeout
Function took too long.Increase timeout setting; optimize code; move to async pattern.
OOM (Out of Memory)
Processing large files.Increase RAM (allocates more CPU too); stream data instead of loading all in memory.

References