The Node.js 8 Runtime

The Node.js 8 runtime was deprecated on June 5th, 2020. To ensure that your functions are on a supported version of Node.js, migrate them to Node.js 10.

For instructions on how to prepare your local machine for Node.js development, see Setting Up a Node.js Development Environment.

To get started with Node.js on Cloud Run functions, see the Quickstart.

Selecting the runtime

You can select the Node.js 8 runtime for your function during deployment.

gcloud

If you are using the Google Cloud CLI, you can specify the runtime by using the --runtime parameter. For example:

gcloud functions deploy NAME --runtime nodejs8 --trigger-http

For more arguments that you can specify when you are deploying, see Deploy using the gcloud tool.

Console

If you are using the Google Cloud console, you can select the runtime when you create and deploy a function.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Cloud Run functions Overview page.

   Go to the Cloud Run functions Overview page

   Make sure that the project for which you enabled Cloud Run functions is selected.

2. Click Create Function.

3. Under Runtime, select Node.js 8.

Execution environment

The execution environment includes the runtime, the operating system, packages, and a library that invokes your function.

The Node.js 8 runtime uses an execution environment based on Ubuntu 18.04 with Node.js version 8.15.0. See Cloud Run functions execution environment for more information.

Source code structure

In order for Cloud Run functions to find your function's definition, each runtime has certain structuring requirements for your source code. See Writing Cloud Run functions for more information.

Specifying dependencies

You can specify dependencies for your functions by listing them in a package.json file. For more information, see Specifying dependencies in Node.js.

Note: Google Cloud's Node.js client libraries have dropped support for Node 8 in their latest releases. Historical releases are available for Node 8 runtimes; see: Supported Node.js Versions.

Async/await

Node.js 8.x is the first LTS version of Node.js to support the async and await keywords.

Using middleware to handle HTTP requests

Node.js HTTP Cloud Run functions provide request and response objects that are compatible with ExpressJS to make consuming HTTP requests simple. Cloud Run functions automatically reads the request body, so you will always receive the body of a request independent of the content type. This means that HTTP requests should be considered to have been fully read by the time your code is executed. The nesting of ExpressJS apps should be used with this caveat—specifically, middleware that expects the body of a request to be unread might not behave as expected.