serve()

The serve() handler is an HTTP handler that enables Inngest to remotely read your functions configurations and call your functions on-demand. This handler enables you to host your function code on any platform and have Inngest call them via HTTP.

An INNGEST_SIGNING_KEY is required to securely communicate with the Inngest platform, either via environment variable (recommend) or it can be passed explicitly through the options argument.

The serve() handler uses different HTTP request methods (GET, PUT, POST) to excute it's required actions.

How to use

There are multiple serve() handlers that can be imported from the SDK depending on your applicaiton's framework (e.g. "inngest/next"), but all have the same arguments and options. The handler should be accessible on it's own HTTP route in your app. We recommend setting this up for /api/inngest.

Next.js

The Next.js handler should be set up to run as an API route (reference):

typescript
// ./pages/api/inngest.js
import { serve } from "inngest/next";
import someFunction from "../../inngest/someFunction";
import anotherFunction from "../../inngest/anotherFunction";
export default serve("My App", [someFunction, anotherFunction]);

Express.js

The Express handler should be passed to app.use() (reference) or router.use() (reference) to handle all HTTP methods:

typescript
import { serve } from "inngest/express";
import someFunction from "../../inngest/someFunction";
import anotherFunction from "../../inngest/anotherFunction";
app.use("/api/inngest", serve("My App", [someFunction, anotherFunction]));

Cloudflare Pages

The Cloudflare Pages handler should be exported with as the onRequest handler (reference):

typescript
// ./functions/api/inngest.ts
import { serve } from "inngest/cloudflare";
import someFunction from "../../inngest/someFunction";
import anotherFunction from "../../inngest/anotherFunction";
export const onRequest = serve("My App", [someFunction, anotherFunction]);

Want to see support for another framework or platform? Drop us a note

Reference

serve syntax

typescript
serve(appName, [functions]);
serve(appName, [functions], options);

serve arguments

• appName: The name of your app or microservice, used to group all functions together
• [functions]: An array of all functions to enable
• options: An optional object of options, with the type:

ts
type Options = {
  /**
   * A key used to sign requests to and from Inngest in order to prove that the
   * source is legitimate.
   *
   * You must provide a signing key to communicate securely with Inngest. If
   * your key is not provided here, we'll try to retrieve it from the
   * `INNGEST_SIGNING_KEY` environment variable.
   *
   * You can retrieve your signing key from the Inngest UI inside the "Secrets"
   * section at {@link https://app.inngest.com/secrets}. We highly recommend
   * that you add this to your platform's available environment variables as
   * `INNGEST_SIGNING_KEY`.
   *
   * If no key can be found, you will not be able to register your functions or
   * receive events from Inngest.
   */
  signingKey?: string;
  /**
   * Controls whether a landing page with introspection capabilities is shown
   * when a `GET` request is performed to this handler.
   *
   * Defaults to true if NODE_ENV !== production.
   *
   * This page is highly recommended when getting started in development,
   * testing, or staging environments.
   */
  landingPage?: boolean;
  /**
   * The URL used to register functions with Inngest.
   * Defaults to https://api.inngest.com/fn/register
   */
  inngestRegisterUrl?: string;
  /**
   * If provided, will override the used `fetch` implementation. Useful for
   * giving the library a particular implementation if accessing it is not done
   * via globals.
   *
   * By default the library will try to use the native Web API fetch, falling
   * back to a Node implementation if no global fetch can be found.
   */
  fetch?: typeof fetch;
}