CODEWITHSUNDEEP
firebasegoogle-cloud-functions
Papa Kojo
Papa Kojo

Reputation: 813

Are Firebase 'Request' cloud functions affected by 'cold starts' too?

I tried a couple of my trigger functions as https.onCall and called them after promise return and so far they work really well and faster than the triggers.

What's the catch? Are they also affected by the cold starts too?

If not, then unless it's cron job or lack of support of app language, why should anyone use use a trigger function at all?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 167

Answers (1)

Doug Stevenson
Doug Stevenson

Reputation: 317352

All Cloud Functions are affected by cold starts. This is how all serverless function architectures work. In order to scale down to zero (so you pay nothing if you use nothing), all server instances must be able to be decommissioned. Cold start up cost is paid when a new server instance is allocated, so going from zero to one will cost you one cold start.

You haven't defined what a "trigger function" is, so I'll assume you mean a "background function" which triggers in response to events that occur within your project.

Background functions are absolutely required when you want to have some work performed in response to those changes when you can't trust the client to perform that work directly. This is important to maintain data consistency, and also to prevent having to duplicate logic among all your different clients that are all doing the same thing. This also allows you to ship new features and bug fixes without having to ship new client code, which can be difficult and time-consuming.

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions