Build serverless application in combination with Serverless

It is a framework based on the framework designed for building applications such as server-side rendering (SSR) and static site generation (SSG). Combined with the Serverless architecture, you can build highly scalable, cost-effective serverless applications.

Serverless architecture overview

Serverless architecture is a cloud computing model where cloud providers are responsible for managing server hardware and operating systems, and developers only need to focus on writing and deploying code. This eliminates the complexity of the operation and maintenance server, allowing developers to focus on business logic while automatically scaling resources based on the actual usage of the application.

Combination with Serverless

The SSG and SSR capabilities are great for Serverless environments because they allow you to statically render some parts of your application while others are rendered dynamically on demand. This way, you can take advantage of Serverless's auto-scaling features while maintaining good performance and responsiveness.

Steps to build a serverless application

Create a project

First, create a new project using the Nuxt CLI:

npm init nuxt-app my-project
cd my-project

Configuration

Edit to make sure you have the correct mode (SSR or SSG):

export default {
  mode: 'universal', // Or 'static'  // Other configurations...}

Integrated Serverless framework

Install Serverless framework and plug-ins:

npm install serverless serverless-nuxt

Create a file to configure the Serverless service:

service: my-service

provider:
  name: aws
  runtime: 
  stage: dev
  region: us-east-1

plugins:
  - serverless-nuxt

custom:
  nuxt:
    buildCommand: 'yarn build'
    generateCommand: 'yarn generate'
    generateTarget: '.output/public'

functions:
  app:
    handler: .output/server/index

Writing code

Create your page in the pages directory. For example, create a dynamic routing page:

// pages/users/[id].vue
<template>
  <div>{{ user }}</div>
</template>

<script>
export default {
  async asyncData({ params, $axios }) {
    const response = await $axios.$get(`/users/${}`);
    return { user: response };
  },
};
</script>

Deploy the application

Deploy your application using Serverless CLI:

sls deploy

Code Analysis

Let's analyze the above configuration file:

• Service name: my-service defines the name of your Serverless service.
• Provider: AWS is configured here as a cloud provider, using the 14 runtime.
• Plugins: Specifies the serverless-nuxt plugin for building and deploying applications.
• Custom: The nuxt section contains the commands and target directories required to build and generate applications.
• Functions: The app function points to the generated server code.

Advanced Usage and Optimization

SSG and Serverless Functions used

The static site generation (SSG) feature is ideal for Serverless architecture, as it can pre-generate HTML pages and then deploy them to static file storage (such as AWS S3). This not only improves the loading speed of the first screen, but also significantly reduces the number of calls to the Lambda function, thereby reducing costs.

To achieve this, you can configure the generate option in:

export default {
  generate: {
    routes: async () => {
      const res = await fetch('/posts')
      const posts = await ()
      return (post => `/posts/${}`)
    }
  }
}

This code will get the IDs of all posts from the API and then generate a static page for each post. These pages are then deployed to S3 and can be quickly accessed via CloudFront CDN.

Using Serverless Offline for local development

During development, using the serverless-offline plugin can simulate the Serverless environment locally, which is very helpful for debugging and testing. Install the plug-in and configure:

npm install --save-dev serverless-offline

Add plugins in:

 plugins:
  - serverless-nuxt
  - serverless-offline

Then, you can start the local server:

sls offline start

This will start a local HTTP server that simulates the behavior of AWS Lambda and API Gateway, allowing you to test your app in your on-premises environment.

Serverless and dynamic content processing

For pages that require dynamic content, such as user-specific data or information updated in real time, you can use Serverless Functions to handle these requests. Define a function in and call it in the page:

functions:
  getUserData:
    handler: src/functions/

Then, in the page, you can use asyncData or fetch methods to call this function:

// pages/user/[id].vue
export default {
  async asyncData({ params, $axios }) {
    const response = await $axios.$get(`/api/user/${}`);
    return { user: response };
  },
};

Here the /api/user/:id route will be mapped to the getUserData function you define in.

This is the end of this article about building serverless applications in combination with Serverless. For more related content to build serverless applications, please search for my previous articles or continue browsing the related articles below. I hope everyone will support me in the future!