HTTP Functions

You use HTTP functions when you want to invoke your function via an HTTP(s) request. To allow for HTTP semantics, HTTP function signatures accept HTTP-specific arguments.

Sample usage

The example below shows how to process an HTTP POST request containing a name parameter:

Node.js

functions/helloworld/index.js 
const escapeHtml = require('escape-html');

/**
 * HTTP Cloud Function.
 *
 * @param {Object} req Cloud Function request context.
 *                     More info: https://expressjs.com/en/api.html#req
 * @param {Object} res Cloud Function response context.
 *                     More info: https://expressjs.com/en/api.html#res
 */
exports.helloHttp = (req, res) => {
  res.send(`Hello ${escapeHtml(req.query.name || req.body.name || 'World')}!`);
};

Python

functions/helloworld/main.py 
from flask import escape

def hello_http(request):
    """HTTP Cloud Function.
    Args:
        request (flask.Request): The request object.
        <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Request>
    Returns:
        The response text, or any set of values that can be turned into a
        Response object using `make_response`
        <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Flask.make_response>.
    """
    request_json = request.get_json(silent=True)
    request_args = request.args

    if request_json and 'name' in request_json:
        name = request_json['name']
    elif request_args and 'name' in request_args:
        name = request_args['name']
    else:
        name = 'World'
    return 'Hello {}!'.format(escape(name))

Go

functions/helloworld/hello_http.go 

// Package helloworld provides a set of Cloud Functions samples.
package helloworld

import (
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"html"
	"net/http"
)

// HelloHTTP is an HTTP Cloud Function with a request parameter.
func HelloHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	var d struct {
		Name string `json:"name"`
	}
	if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&d); err != nil {
		fmt.Fprint(w, "Hello, World!")
		return
	}
	if d.Name == "" {
		fmt.Fprint(w, "Hello, World!")
		return
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Hello, %s!", html.EscapeString(d.Name))
}

The following command shows how to call the function and pass it a parameter using curl:

curl -X POST HTTP_TRIGGER_ENDPOINT -H "Content-Type:application/json"  -d '{"name":"Jane"}'

where HTTP_TRIGGER_ENDPOINT is the URL for the function, obtained when the function is deployed. For more information, see HTTP Triggers.

HTTP frameworks

To handle HTTP, Cloud Functions uses a particular HTTP framework in each runtime:

Runtime HTTP framework
Node.js (6, 8, & 10) Express 4.17.1
Python Flask 1.0.2
Go Standard http.HandlerFunc interface

Parsing HTTP requests

The example below shows how to read HTTP requests in various formats:

Node.js

In Node.js, the body of the request is automatically parsed based on the content-type header and made available via your HTTP function's arguments.

functions/http/index.js 
const escapeHtml = require('escape-html');

/**
 * Responds to an HTTP request using data from the request body parsed according
 * to the "content-type" header.
 *
 * @param {Object} req Cloud Function request context.
 * @param {Object} res Cloud Function response context.
 */
exports.helloContent = (req, res) => {
  let name;

  switch (req.get('content-type')) {
    // '{"name":"John"}'
    case 'application/json':
      ({name} = req.body);
      break;

    // 'John', stored in a Buffer
    case 'application/octet-stream':
      name = req.body.toString(); // Convert buffer to a string
      break;

    // 'John'
    case 'text/plain':
      name = req.body;
      break;

    // 'name=John' in the body of a POST request (not the URL)
    case 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded':
      ({name} = req.body);
      break;
  }

  res.status(200).send(`Hello ${escapeHtml(name || 'World')}!`);
};

Python

functions/helloworld/main.py 
from flask import escape

def hello_content(request):
    """ Responds to an HTTP request using data from the request body parsed
    according to the "content-type" header.
    Args:
        request (flask.Request): The request object.
        <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Request>
    Returns:
        The response text, or any set of values that can be turned into a
        Response object using `make_response`
        <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Flask.make_response>.
    """
    content_type = request.headers['content-type']
    if content_type == 'application/json':
        request_json = request.get_json(silent=True)
        if request_json and 'name' in request_json:
            name = request_json['name']
        else:
            raise ValueError("JSON is invalid, or missing a 'name' property")
    elif content_type == 'application/octet-stream':
        name = request.data
    elif content_type == 'text/plain':
        name = request.data
    elif content_type == 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded':
        name = request.form.get('name')
    else:
        raise ValueError("Unknown content type: {}".format(content_type))
    return 'Hello {}!'.format(escape(name))

Go

functions/http/http_content_type.go 

// Package http provides a set of HTTP Cloud Functions samples.
package http

import (
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"html"
	"io/ioutil"
	"log"
	"net/http"
)

// HelloContentType is an HTTP Cloud function.
// It uses the Content-Type header to identify the request payload format.
func HelloContentType(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	var name string

	switch r.Header.Get("Content-Type") {
	case "application/json":
		var d struct {
			Name string `json:"name"`
		}
		err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&d)
		if err != nil {
			log.Printf("error parsing application/json: %v", err)
		} else {
			name = d.Name
		}
	case "application/octet-stream":
		body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r.Body)
		if err != nil {
			log.Printf("error parsing application/octet-stream: %v", err)
		} else {
			name = string(body)
		}
	case "text/plain":
		body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r.Body)
		if err != nil {
			log.Printf("error parsing text/plain: %v", err)
		} else {
			name = string(body)
		}
	case "application/x-www-form-urlencoded":
		if err := r.ParseForm(); err != nil {
			log.Printf("error parsing application/x-www-form-urlencoded: %v", err)
		} else {
			name = r.FormValue("name")
		}
	}

	if name == "" {
		name = "World"
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Hello, %s!", html.EscapeString(name))
}

Handling CORS requests

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) is a way to let applications running on one domain access content from another domain, for example, letting yourdomain.com make requests to region-project.cloudfunctions.net/yourfunction.

If CORS isn't set up properly, you're likely to get errors that look like this: 

XMLHttpRequest cannot load https://region-project.cloudfunctions.net/function.
No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource.
Origin 'http://yourdomain.com' is therefore not allowed access.

CORS consists of two requests:

  • A preflight OPTIONS request.
  • A main request that follows the OPTIONS request.

The preflight request contains headers indicating which method (Access-Control-Request-Method) and which additional headers (Access-Control-Request-Headers) will be sent in the main request, as well as the origin of the main request (Origin).

To handle a preflight request, you must set the appropriate Access-Control-Allow-* headers to match the requests you want to accept:

Node.js

functions/http/index.js 
/**
 * HTTP function that supports CORS requests.
 *
 * @param {Object} req Cloud Function request context.
 * @param {Object} res Cloud Function response context.
 */
exports.corsEnabledFunction = (req, res) => {
  // Set CORS headers for preflight requests
  // Allows GETs from any origin with the Content-Type header
  // and caches preflight response for 3600s

  res.set('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', '*');

  if (req.method === 'OPTIONS') {
    // Send response to OPTIONS requests
    res.set('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'GET');
    res.set('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', 'Content-Type');
    res.set('Access-Control-Max-Age', '3600');
    res.status(204).send('');
  } else {
    res.send('Hello World!');
  }
};

Python

functions/http/main.py 
def cors_enabled_function(request):
    # For more information about CORS and CORS preflight requests, see
    # https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Preflight_request
    # for more information.

    # Set CORS headers for the preflight request
    if request.method == 'OPTIONS':
        # Allows GET requests from any origin with the Content-Type
        # header and caches preflight response for an 3600s
        headers = {
            'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*',
            'Access-Control-Allow-Methods': 'GET',
            'Access-Control-Allow-Headers': 'Content-Type',
            'Access-Control-Max-Age': '3600'
        }

        return ('', 204, headers)

    # Set CORS headers for the main request
    headers = {
        'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*'
    }

    return ('Hello World!', 200, headers)

Go

functions/http/cors.go 

// Package http provides a set of HTTP Cloud Functions samples.
package http

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
)

// CORSEnabledFunction is an example of setting CORS headers.
// For more information about CORS and CORS preflight requests, see
// https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Preflight_request.
func CORSEnabledFunction(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	// Set CORS headers for the preflight request
	if r.Method == http.MethodOptions {
		w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*")
		w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Methods", "POST")
		w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Headers", "Content-Type")
		w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Max-Age", "3600")
		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusNoContent)
		return
	}
	// Set CORS headers for the main request.
	w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*")
	fmt.Fprint(w, "Hello, World!")
}

Alternatively, you can use a third-party library to handle CORS for you.

Authentication and CORS

If you plan to send a request with an Authorization header, you must:

  1. Add the Authorization header to Access-Control-Allow-Headers.
  2. Set the Access-Control-Allow-Credentials header to true.
  3. Set a specific origin in Access-Control-Allow-Origin (wildcards are not accepted).

Node.js

functions/http/index.js 
/**
 * HTTP function that supports CORS requests with credentials.
 *
 * @param {Object} req Cloud Function request context.
 * @param {Object} res Cloud Function response context.
 */
exports.corsEnabledFunctionAuth = (req, res) => {
  // Set CORS headers for preflight requests
  // Allows GETs from origin https://mydomain.com with Authorization header

  res.set('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', 'https://mydomain.com');
  res.set('Access-Control-Allow-Credentials', 'true');

  if (req.method === 'OPTIONS') {
    // Send response to OPTIONS requests
    res.set('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'GET');
    res.set('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', 'Authorization');
    res.set('Access-Control-Max-Age', '3600');
    res.status(204).send('');
  } else {
    res.send('Hello World!');
  }
};

Python

functions/http/main.py 
def cors_enabled_function_auth(request):
    # For more information about CORS and CORS preflight requests, see
    # https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Preflight_request
    # for more information.

    # Set CORS headers for preflight requests
    if request.method == 'OPTIONS':
        # Allows GET requests from origin https://mydomain.com with
        # Authorization header
        headers = {
            'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': 'https://mydomain.com',
            'Access-Control-Allow-Methods': 'GET',
            'Access-Control-Allow-Headers': 'Authorization',
            'Access-Control-Max-Age': '3600',
            'Access-Control-Allow-Credentials': 'true'
        }
        return ('', 204, headers)

    # Set CORS headers for main requests
    headers = {
        'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': 'https://mydomain.com',
        'Access-Control-Allow-Credentials': 'true'
    }

    return ('Hello World!', 200, headers)

Go

functions/http/cors_auth.go 

// Package http provides a set of HTTP Cloud Functions samples.
package http

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
)

// CORSEnabledFunctionAuth is an example of setting CORS headers with
// authentication enabled.
// For more information about CORS and CORS preflight requests, see
// https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Preflight_request.
func CORSEnabledFunctionAuth(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	// Set CORS headers for the preflight request
	if r.Method == http.MethodOptions {
		w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Credentials", "true")
		w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Headers", "Authorization")
		w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Methods", "POST")
		w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "https://example.com")
		w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Max-Age", "3600")
		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusNoContent)
		return
	}
	// Set CORS headers for the main request.
	w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Credentials", "true")
	w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "https://example.com")
	fmt.Fprint(w, "Hello World!")
}

Hosting on the same domain

Instead of implementing CORS, you could instead host your website and your functions on the same domain. Since requests would now come from the same origin, CORS won't be enforced. This simplifies your code considerably.

The easiest way to do this is to integrate Firebase Hosting with Google Cloud Functions.

Using Cloud Endpoints to handle CORS

You can deploy a Cloud Endpoints proxy and enable CORS.

If you want authentication capabilities, you can also enable Google ID token validation, which will validate authentication tokens.

Handling HTTP methods

HTTP functions accept all HTTP methods. The following sample shows how to perform different actions based on the HTTP method received (for example, GET and PUT):

Node.js

functions/http/index.js 
/**
 * Responds to a GET request with "Hello World!". Forbids a PUT request.
 *
 * @example
 * gcloud functions call helloHttp
 *
 * @param {Object} req Cloud Function request context.
 * @param {Object} res Cloud Function response context.
 */
exports.helloHttp = (req, res) => {
  switch (req.method) {
    case 'GET':
      res.status(200).send('Hello World!');
      break;
    case 'PUT':
      res.status(403).send('Forbidden!');
      break;
    default:
      res.status(405).send({error: 'Something blew up!'});
      break;
  }
};

Python

functions/helloworld/main.py 
def hello_method(request):
    """ Responds to a GET request with "Hello world!". Forbids a PUT request.
    Args:
        request (flask.Request): The request object.
        <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Request>
    Returns:
        The response text, or any set of values that can be turned into a
         Response object using `make_response`
        <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Flask.make_response>.
    """
    from flask import abort

    if request.method == 'GET':
        return 'Hello World!'
    elif request.method == 'PUT':
        return abort(403)
    else:
        return abort(405)

Go

functions/http/http_request_method.go 

// Package http provides a set of HTTP Cloud Functions samples.
package http

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
)

// HelloHTTPMethod is an HTTP Cloud function.
// It uses the request method to differentiate the response.
func HelloHTTPMethod(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	switch r.Method {
	case http.MethodGet:
		fmt.Fprint(w, "Hello World!")
	case http.MethodPut:
		http.Error(w, "403 - Forbidden", http.StatusForbidden)
	default:
		http.Error(w, "405 - Method Not Allowed", http.StatusMethodNotAllowed)
	}
}

Handling Content Types

For Node.js, Cloud Functions parses request body content types of application/json and application/x-www-form-urlencoded as shown above. Plain text content types (text/plain) are passed through as strings using UTF-8 as a default encoding (or a custom encoding provided in the content-type header).

Other content types can be accessed by inspecting your HTTP function's argument. Methods for doing this vary by language.

The example below handles a request with a content type of text/xml:

Node.js

The rawBody property contains the unparsed bytes of the request body.

functions/http/index.js 
/**
 * Parses a document of type 'text/xml'
 *
 * @param {Object} req Cloud Function request context.
 * @param {Object} res Cloud Function response context.
 */
exports.parseXML = (req, res) => {
  // Convert the request to a Buffer and a string
  // Use whichever one is accepted by your XML parser
  const data = req.rawBody;
  const xmlData = data.toString();

  const {parseString} = require('xml2js');

  parseString(xmlData, (err, result) => {
    if (err) {
      console.error(err);
      res.status(500).end();
      return;
    }
    res.send(result);
  });
};

Python

functions/http/main.py 
import json
import xmltodict

def parse_xml(request):
    """ Parses a document of type 'text/xml'
    Args:
        request (flask.Request): The request object.
    Returns:
        The response text, or any set of values that can be turned into a
         Response object using `make_response`
        <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Flask.make_response>.
    """
    data = xmltodict.parse(request.data)
    return json.dumps(data, indent=2)

Go

functions/http/xml.go 

// Package http provides a set of HTTP Cloud Functions samples.
package http

import (
	"encoding/xml"
	"fmt"
	"html"
	"io/ioutil"
	"net/http"
)

// ParseXML is an example of parsing a text/xml request.
func ParseXML(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	var d struct {
		Name string
	}
	b, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r.Body)
	if err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Could not read request", http.StatusBadRequest)
	}
	if err := xml.Unmarshal(b, &d); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Could not parse request", http.StatusBadRequest)
	}
	if d.Name == "" {
		d.Name = "World"
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Hello, %v!", html.EscapeString(d.Name))
}

Multipart Data

The following example shows how to process data with a multipart/form-data content type. Depending on your chosen language, you may need to use a parsing library.

Node.js

functions/http/index.js 
/**
 * Parses a 'multipart/form-data' upload request
 *
 * @param {Object} req Cloud Function request context.
 * @param {Object} res Cloud Function response context.
 */
const path = require('path');
const os = require('os');
const fs = require('fs');

// Node.js doesn't have a built-in multipart/form-data parsing library.
// Instead, we can use the 'busboy' library from NPM to parse these requests.
const Busboy = require('busboy');

exports.uploadFile = (req, res) => {
  if (req.method !== 'POST') {
    // Return a "method not allowed" error
    return res.status(405).end();
  }
  const busboy = new Busboy({headers: req.headers});
  const tmpdir = os.tmpdir();

  // This object will accumulate all the fields, keyed by their name
  const fields = {};

  // This object will accumulate all the uploaded files, keyed by their name.
  const uploads = {};

  // This code will process each non-file field in the form.
  busboy.on('field', (fieldname, val) => {
    // TODO(developer): Process submitted field values here
    console.log(`Processed field ${fieldname}: ${val}.`);
    fields[fieldname] = val;
  });

  const fileWrites = [];

  // This code will process each file uploaded.
  busboy.on('file', (fieldname, file, filename) => {
    // Note: os.tmpdir() points to an in-memory file system on GCF
    // Thus, any files in it must fit in the instance's memory.
    console.log(`Processed file ${filename}`);
    const filepath = path.join(tmpdir, filename);
    uploads[fieldname] = filepath;

    const writeStream = fs.createWriteStream(filepath);
    file.pipe(writeStream);

    // File was processed by Busboy; wait for it to be written to disk.
    const promise = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      file.on('end', () => {
        writeStream.end();
      });
      writeStream.on('finish', resolve);
      writeStream.on('error', reject);
    });
    fileWrites.push(promise);
  });

  // Triggered once all uploaded files are processed by Busboy.
  // We still need to wait for the disk writes (saves) to complete.
  busboy.on('finish', async () => {
    await Promise.all(fileWrites);

    // TODO(developer): Process saved files here
    for (const file of uploads) {
      fs.unlinkSync(file);
    }
    res.send();
  });

  busboy.end(req.rawBody);
};

Python

functions/http/main.py 
import os
import tempfile
from werkzeug.utils import secure_filename

# Helper function that computes the filepath to save files to
def get_file_path(filename):
    # Note: tempfile.gettempdir() points to an in-memory file system
    # on GCF. Thus, any files in it must fit in the instance's memory.
    file_name = secure_filename(filename)
    return os.path.join(tempfile.gettempdir(), file_name)


def parse_multipart(request):
    """ Parses a 'multipart/form-data' upload request
    Args:
        request (flask.Request): The request object.
    Returns:
        The response text, or any set of values that can be turned into a
         Response object using `make_response`
        <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Flask.make_response>.
    """

    # This code will process each non-file field in the form
    fields = {}
    data = request.form.to_dict()
    for field in data:
        fields[field] = data[field]
        print('Processed field: %s' % field)

    # This code will process each file uploaded
    files = request.files.to_dict()
    for file_name, file in files.items():
        file.save(get_file_path(file_name))
        print('Processed file: %s' % file_name)

    # Clear temporary directory
    for file_name in files:
        file_path = get_file_path(file_name)
        os.remove(file_path)

    return "Done!"

Go

functions/http/form.go 

// Package http provides a set of HTTP Cloud Functions samples.
package http

import (
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"net/http"
)

// UploadFile processes a 'multipart/form-data' upload request.
func UploadFile(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	const maxMemory = 2 * 1024 * 1024 // 2 megabytes.

	// ParseMultipartForm parses a request body as multipart/form-data.
	// The whole request body is parsed and up to a total of maxMemory bytes of
	// its file parts are stored in memory, with the remainder stored on
	// disk in temporary files.
	if err := r.ParseMultipartForm(maxMemory); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Unable to parse form", http.StatusBadRequest)
		log.Printf("Error parsing form: %v", err)
		return
	}

	// Be sure to remove all temporary files after your function is finished.
	defer func() {
		if err := r.MultipartForm.RemoveAll(); err != nil {
			http.Error(w, "Error cleaning up form files", http.StatusInternalServerError)
			log.Printf("Error cleaning up form files: %v", err)
		}
	}()

	// r.MultipartForm.File contains *multipart.FileHeader values for every
	// file in the form. You can access the file contents using
	// *multipart.FileHeader's Open method.
	for _, headers := range r.MultipartForm.File {
		for _, h := range headers {
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "File uploaded: %q (%v bytes)", h.Filename, h.Size)
			// Use h.Open() to read the contents of the file.
		}
	}

}

Uploading Files via Cloud Storage

A common use case for Cloud Functions is file processing. For larger files or those that require persistent storage beyond the scope of a single request, you can use Cloud Storage as an entry point for your file uploads. To accomplish this, you must generate a Signed URL, which provides temporary write access to a Cloud Storage bucket.

If you're using Cloud Functions directly, generate a signed URL using the appropriate Cloud Storage client library.

Uploading files to a Cloud Function using Cloud Storage is a three step process:

  1. Clients call a Cloud Function directly to retrieve a signed URL.

  2. Clients then send file data to the signed URL via an HTTP PUT request.

  3. A second Cloud Function is triggered by the mutation in the storage bucket to further process the file.

You can see an example below of using the Cloud Storage client library to generate a signed URL.

Cloud Functions have a "default application credential" which typically does not include the iam.serviceAccounts.signBlob permission. To allow this, you'll need to first make sure that your function's service account has the appropriate role. You can achieve this using either the Cloud Console or the gcloud command-line tool:

console

To make sure that your function's service account has the appropriate role, you can directly modify the IAM roles for an account:

  1. Go to the Google Cloud Console:

    Go to Google Cloud Console

  2. Select the appropriate account, and choose Editor > Service Accounts > Service Account Token Creator.

gcloud

To make sure that your function's service account has the appropriate role, run the following command. The pre-defined serviceAccountTokenCreator role has the iam.serviceAccounts.signBlob permission you need:

gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding YOUR_PROJECT \
--member serviceAccount:YOUR_SERVICE_ACCOUNT --role roles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator

You can determine the service account used by your functions using either the Cloud Console or the gcloud command-line tool:

console

To determine the service account used by your functions using Cloud Console:

  1. Go to the Google Cloud Console:

    Go to Google Cloud Console

  2. Select the function you want to inspect from the list.

You can see the service account on the details page for the function.

gcloud

To determine the service account used by your functions, run the following command and look for the serviceAccountEmail property:

gcloud beta functions describe YOUR_FUNCTION_NAME

Here's an example of generating a signed URL that assumes the client will send the desired bucket and filename in the request body:

Node.js

functions/http/index.js 
const {Storage} = require('@google-cloud/storage');
const storage = new Storage();

/**
 * HTTP function that generates a signed URL
 * The signed URL can be used to upload files to Google Cloud Storage (GCS)
 *
 * @param {Object} req Cloud Function request context.
 * @param {Object} res Cloud Function response context.
 */
exports.getSignedUrl = (req, res) => {
  if (req.method !== 'POST') {
    // Return a "method not allowed" error
    return res.status(405).end();
  }
  // TODO(developer) check that the user is authorized to upload

  // Get a reference to the destination file in GCS
  const file = storage.bucket(req.body.bucket).file(req.body.filename);

  // Create a temporary upload URL
  const expiresAtMs = Date.now() + 300000; // Link expires in 5 minutes
  const config = {
    action: 'write',
    expires: expiresAtMs,
    contentType: req.body.contentType,
  };

  file.getSignedUrl(config, (err, url) => {
    if (err) {
      console.error(err);
      res.status(500).end();
      return;
    }
    res.send(url);
  });
};

Python

functions/http/main.py 
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from flask import abort
from google.cloud import storage
storage_client = storage.Client()


def get_signed_url(request):
    if request.method != 'POST':
        return abort(405)

    request_json = request.get_json()

    # Get a reference to the destination file in GCS
    bucket_name = request_json['bucket']
    file_name = request_json['filename']
    file = storage_client.bucket(bucket_name).blob(file_name)

    # Create a temporary upload URL
    expires_at_ms = datetime.now() + timedelta(seconds=30)
    url = file.generate_signed_url(expires_at_ms,
                                   content_type=request_json['contentType'])

    return url

When the client uploads a file to the signed URL, you can trigger a second function from this mutation if you want to take further action on the upload. See the Cloud Storage Tutorial for more information on triggering a Cloud Function upon changes to a Cloud Storage bucket.

Next steps