June 2019 Summaries

With the release of Node.js 10, features like BigInt, a stable API for native addons, and several performance improvements are now available in production. To enable support for Node.js 10 in new serverless functions and Next.js applications on Vercel, simply add an engines field to your package.json file with `node: 10.x`. This allows you to take advantage of security updates and features released to Node.js 10 LTS without pinning a specific version. The most noticeable improvement is the performance boost in serverless functions, thanks to V8 6.6, which makes tasks like Array.reduce faster even for regular Promises. To upgrade your existing deployments, follow the instructions on how to do so and keep an eye out for future Node.js updates via Twitter.

To address the limitations of previous tools and frameworks for serverless Node.js functions on Vercel, a new set of default helper methods has been introduced, providing direct access to request and response payload properties, improving performance compared to basic Express.js applications. The helpers include request.query, request.cookies, request.body, response.status(), response.json(), and response.send(). These enhancements enable developers to parse GET parameters and cookies with ease, automatically parse request bodies regardless of format, and define response status codes and send outgoing responses with a single method call. With these updates, users can streamline their code without requiring changes on their side, and the list of available helpers is expected to grow in the future.

The Vercel Hackathon was a highly successful event that brought together over 250 participants from around the world to create integrations that improve their workflow. The first-place winner, George Karagkiaouris, created an integration with Storyblok that allows users to register or login, gain insights into their spaces and deployments, and deploy starter projects for Next.js or Nuxt.js in just 3 easy steps. Other notable winners include Mike Coutermarsh, who won second place for his Image Optimizer integration, and Faraz Patankar and Ratik Sharma, who took third place for their UptimeRobot integration. The event was a huge success, with participants from all over the world collaborating and sharing ideas in real-time through a dedicated Slack workspace. The Vercel team is grateful to the judges, sponsors, and partners who made this event possible, and they are already planning a second hackathon.