How to fix Vercel serverless function timeouts by increasing memory allocation

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After deploying a Node.js serverless function to Vercel, I encountered timeouts despite the function working perfectly locally.

Setup

  • App Framework: Node.js API route with Vercel serverless functions.
  • Issue: Function executes fine locally, but times out in production on Vercel.

What I Tried

  • Increased Function Timeout: Adjusted the timeout limit in the Vercel dashboard, but the function still timed out.
  • Memory Allocation: Investigated the memory usage by logging memory consumption within the function. I found it was peaking at 200MB, but Vercel’s default memory allocation was only 128MB.

Solution

  • Increased Memory Allocation: I increased the memory allocation for the serverless function in the Vercel dashboard to 512MB.

Steps:

  1. Go to Vercel Project Dashboard.
  2. Navigate to the “Functions” settings.
  3. Increase the memory allocation to 512MB.
  • After the change, the function executed within the time limits, and the timeout issue was resolved.

Outcome

  • Improved Performance: Increasing memory allowed the function to handle the required data and complete processing within the allocated time.
  • Recommendation: If you encounter similar issues, check your serverless function’s memory usage and adjust the allocation accordingly in Vercel.
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Thanks for sharing this, @jayarbrul01-8727!

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