Vercel has launched Edge Runtime for Database Queries, a groundbreaking feature that brings database connections directly to the edge, eliminating the traditional serverless cold start problem.

The Problem with Traditional Serverless

Serverless functions have always struggled with database connections:

  • Cold start penalties of 2-5 seconds
  • Connection pooling complexity
  • Geographic latency issues
  • Timeout limitations for long queries

How Edge Runtime Changes Everything

The new system runs database queries at Vercel's edge locations, closer to users worldwide:

Global Distribution

Database queries now execute from 14 edge regions instead of centralized data centers.

Persistent Connections

Edge Runtime maintains warm database connections, eliminating cold start delays.

// New Edge Runtime API
import { sql } from '@vercel/postgres';

export const config = {
  runtime: 'edge',
}

export default async function handler(req) {
  // This runs at the edge with persistent connections
  const result = await sql`SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ${req.query.id}`;
  return Response.json(result.rows);
}

Supported Databases

  • PostgreSQL (Vercel Postgres, Supabase, Neon)
  • MySQL (PlanetScale, Railway)
  • Redis (Upstash, Redis Cloud)
  • MongoDB (MongoDB Atlas)
  • SQLite (Turso, LibSQL)

Performance Improvements

Early adopters report dramatic improvements:

šŸ’”
Shopify's checkout flow saw 78% faster database queries and 45% reduction in cart abandonment after migrating to Edge Runtime.

Benchmark Results

Metric

Traditional

Edge Runtime

Improvement

Cold start

3.2s

0.1s

97% faster

Query latency

180ms

35ms

80% faster

Connection time

450ms

12ms

97% faster

Real-World Use Cases

E-commerce

Product catalogs and inventory checks now load instantly, regardless of user location.

Social Apps

User feeds and notifications deliver with sub-50ms latency globally.

Analytics Dashboards

Real-time data visualization without the traditional serverless delays.

"We moved our user authentication to Edge Runtime and saw immediate improvements. Login times dropped from 2 seconds to 200ms."
- Engineering Lead at Acme Corp

Migration Guide

Upgrading existing functions is straightforward:

  1. Update your ā vercel.json configuration
  2. Change runtime from 'nodejs18.x' to 'edge'
  3. Replace database client with edge-compatible version
  4. Test queries in development environment
  5. Deploy with gradual rollout
// vercel.json
{
  "functions": {
    "api/users.js": {
      "runtime": "edge"
    }
  }
}

Limitations and Considerations

While powerful, Edge Runtime has some constraints:

  • Query complexity - Complex joins may still benefit from traditional runtime
  • Memory limits - 128MB maximum per function
  • Execution time - 30-second timeout limit
  • Package compatibility - Not all npm packages work at the edge
šŸ’”
Edge Runtime uses V8 isolates instead of Node.js containers, providing faster startup but with some API limitations.