Living on the Edge, Safely: End-to-end Typesafe Edge Functions - Serverless London - March 2023

Mohammed Javad and Samuel Macleod
Living on the Edge, Safely: End-to-end Typesafe Edge Functions

Edge computing reduces latency by bringing compute closer to users, making it possible to build globally scalable and high-performing serverless applications. Cloudflare Workers is one of the most popular platforms for running edge functions.
We’ve developed a solution that provides first-class DevEx, allowing frontend applications to connect to Cloudflare Workers while maintaining type safety across the network boundary. Similar to tools like tRPC and Supabase, you can rapidly create full-stack applications that use the Edge.

[00:00:00] Introduction
[00:01:08] Background
[00:01:39] What we'll cover
[00:02:22] What is Edge Computing
[00:03:48] CloudFlare Workers
[00:05:09] Traditional Client / Server Comms
[00:06:08] Meta-Frameworks
[00:07:10] General Solutions Have a Lot of Boilerplate
[00:08:26] Good Frontend DevEx
[00:09:49] The Solution - Worker Functions
[00:11:43] Demo
[00:19:00] Let's look at the code
[00:19:57] Slight Aside: Error Handling
[00:21:40] Next Steps
[00:23:00] Summary


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The presentation explores the concept of edge computing and how it can be used to achieve end-to-end type safety in serverless environments. The speakers first introduce themselves and their backgrounds, and then provide an overview of edge computing and how Cloudflare Workers fits into this emerging field. Next, they discuss the challenges of traditional client/server communications, including the use of meta-frameworks and general solutions that still require a significant amount of boilerplate.
To address these challenges, the speakers introduce their solution: worker functions. This opinionated SDK is fully type safe and eliminates boilerplate, making it easier and faster to develop serverless applications. They demonstrate the functionality of worker functions with a live demo, where they add a new feature to an app that randomly guesses if a tweet is from Trump or not.
Overall, the presentation emphasizes the importance of type safety in serverless environments and the potential of worker functions to simplify development and improve developer experience. The speakers also highlight their commitment to community involvement and encourage others to try their solution, provide feedback, and contribute to the open-source project on GitHub.
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