Code Functions

Code functions are JavaScript ESM handlers served at /functions/v1/<name>, callable from supabase-js via supabase.functions.invoke().

Requirements

Functions run in Node.js worker processes, so Node.js must be installed and on PATH wherever instancez serves or builds functions. With a functions: block declared, inz dev and inz serve require node at startup; inz bundle requires it when your functions have npm dependencies, because it runs npm ci locally to vendor them before producing the archive. inz cloud deploy only uploads your sources and does not run npm ci locally (the cloud installs dependencies during the build). Each command refuses to proceed with an actionable error if node is missing. Projects without a functions: block do not need Node.js.

The supported minimum is Node.js 22. Functions get an injected @supabase/supabase-js client (ctx.supabase / ctx.serviceClient), and that client opens a realtime connection that needs a native WebSocket, which Node ships from v22 on. The minimum is documented, not enforced, so an older version may appear to work until a function touches ctx.supabase.

When your functions have npm dependencies, inz bundle requires a committed package-lock.json. It vendors dependencies with npm ci (reproducible, never npm install), which fails without a lockfile. Run npm install in functions/ once to generate it and commit the result. (inz dev is more lenient: it falls back to npm install to create the lockfile on first run.) For inz cloud deploy, no local npm step is needed: the cloud installs dependencies from your package.json and package-lock.json during the build, so a committed lockfile is still required but you do not run npm yourself.

instancez also verifies at startup that every declared function’s source file exists on disk (the file: path under each entry). A missing file fails fast with a clear error instead of surfacing later when the function is first called.

A minimal handler

functions/hello.js

export default async function handler(req, ctx) {
  return { status: 200, body: { message: "hello" } };
}

A handler receives two arguments — req (the incoming request) and ctx (runtime context) — and returns an object with status, body, and optionally headers.

Request object (req)

Property	Type	Description
method	string	HTTP method ("GET", "POST", etc.)
path	string	Request path including the function prefix (e.g. /functions/v1/todos)
query	object	URL query parameters, first value per key ({ tag: "a" }).
queryAll	object	URL query parameters with every value per key as an array ({ tag: ["a", "b"] }). Use this when a parameter can repeat; query keeps only the first value.
rawQuery	string	The unparsed query string (everything after ?, without the ?). For schemes that sign the query string verbatim. "" when there is no query.
headers	object	Lowercased request headers, first value per key.
headersAll	object	Lowercased request headers with every value per key as an array. headers keeps only the first.
body	any	Parsed request body. JSON when content-type: application/json, raw string otherwise. undefined when body is empty.
rawBody	Buffer	The unparsed request body: the exact bytes the client sent, before any JSON parsing. Reach for this instead of body when the bytes themselves matter, such as verifying a webhook signature (body has already been re-shaped and won’t hash to the same value). An empty Buffer when the request has no body.

Context object (ctx)

Property	Type	Description
ctx.supabase	SupabaseClient	A @supabase/supabase-js client carrying the caller’s JWT. RLS applies as the calling user. Lazily constructed on first access. Throws if @supabase/supabase-js is not vendored.
ctx.serviceClient	SupabaseClient	A @supabase/supabase-js client carrying a short-lived service_role JWT (bypasses RLS). Use for explicit privilege escalation.
ctx.claims	object | null	Claims extracted from the caller’s JWT. null for anonymous callers. Contains at most four keys: sub (user ID string), role (wire role string), email (if present in the JWT), and jwt (raw token string). Custom JWT fields beyond these are not available.
ctx.env	object	Secrets declared in the function’s env: YAML block, resolved from INSTANCEZ_ENV_* variables.
ctx.log	object	Structured logger with methods debug, info, warn, error. Each takes (message, fields?). Log lines appear in inz dev output.
ctx.signal	AbortSignal	Aborted when the caller disconnects or the per-request timeout fires. Honoring it is optional — the server enforces the timeout regardless.

console.log, console.warn, console.error, and related methods are patched to emit structured log lines. Prefer ctx.log for structured field support.

Checking auth before escalating privilege

ctx.serviceClient bypasses RLS, so a function that uses it is doing work the database would otherwise refuse. Two rules keep that safe:

• Set auth_required: true on any function that touches ctx.serviceClient. A public function (auth_required: false) is callable by anyone on the internet, so it must stick to ctx.supabase and let RLS decide what the caller can see or change.
• Read ctx.claims.sub and do the caller-scoped work through ctx.supabase first. Reach for ctx.serviceClient only on the specific step RLS blocks, and stamp it with the sub you already checked.

The example below records an order for the signed-in user, then writes an audit row that normal users cannot write directly:

// functions/place-order.js  (declared with auth_required: true)
export default async function handler(req, ctx) {
  // auth_required: true means anonymous callers are already rejected with 401,
  // but read sub anyway; it's the identity every step below trusts.
  const userId = ctx.claims?.sub;
  if (!userId) return { status: 401, body: { error: "sign in required" } };

  // Caller-scoped write under the caller's own RLS. The database enforces that
  // the row belongs to this user; the handler doesn't have to.
  const { data: order, error } = await ctx.supabase
    .from("orders")
    .insert({ user_id: userId, item: req.body.item })
    .select()
    .single();
  if (error) return { status: 400, body: { error: error.message } };

  // Only the audit write needs to bypass RLS, so serviceClient is scoped to it.
  // Stamp the row with the sub checked above, not with client-supplied input.
  await ctx.serviceClient
    .from("audit_log")
    .insert({ actor: userId, action: "order.placed", order_id: order.id });

  return { status: 200, body: { order } };
}

There is no role or admin concept to gate on: ctx.claims.role is "authenticated" for every signed-in user. An “admin only” endpoint is one you build yourself. Check sub against an owners table (read via ctx.serviceClient) before doing the privileged work.

Response object

A handler returns an object with status, body, and optionally headers.

Property	Type	Description
status	number	HTTP status code. Defaults to 200.
headers	object	Response headers. Defaults to { "content-type": "application/json" }.
body	string | object | Buffer	The response body. See below.

How body is written depends on its type:

• A string is sent as-is.
• A Buffer is sent as raw bytes, so a function can return a file, an image, or any binary payload. Set content-type yourself in headers for these; the JSON default won’t fit.
• Anything else is JSON-serialized.

// functions/badge.js: return a PNG generated in the handler
export default async function handler(req, ctx) {
  const png = await renderBadge(req.query.label);  // returns a Buffer
  return {
    status: 200,
    headers: { 'content-type': 'image/png' },
    body: png,
  };
}

Declaring in YAML

Functions are declared under the top-level functions: key in instancez.yaml:

functions:
  todos:
    runtime: node         # required; "node" is the only supported value
    file: functions/todos.js   # path relative to the config root
    auth_required: true   # when true, unauthenticated callers receive 401 before the handler runs
    timeout: 30s          # per-request deadline; defaults to 30s
    env:                  # secrets injected as ctx.env
      STRIPE_KEY: ${INSTANCEZ_ENV_STRIPE_KEY}
      FIXED_VALUE: "literal"

Key	Type	Description
runtime	string	Runtime identifier. Only "node" is supported.
file	string	Path to the handler file, relative to the config root.
auth_required	bool	If true, instancez returns 401 for anonymous requests before invoking the handler. Default false.
timeout	string	Go duration string (e.g. "30s", "5s"). Defaults to 30s. Exceeding the timeout returns 504.
env	map[string]string	Secrets available as ctx.env. Values are either plain literals or ${INSTANCEZ_ENV_*} references.

Creating from the dashboard

The dashboard’s Code Functions page has a New function button. Give the function a name and it is created with runtime: node, a functions/<name>.js file, and a small starter handler that returns a 200. You land in the editor to change it. This is a shortcut for the YAML above: it adds the entry to instancez.yaml and writes the file, so the result is identical to declaring it by hand. The button appears when the dashboard runs in readwrite mode (inz dev, or inz serve --dashboard readwrite).

Secrets

Set secrets as environment variables with the INSTANCEZ_ENV_ prefix:

# .env or .development.env (gitignored)
INSTANCEZ_ENV_STRIPE_KEY=sk_test_...

Reference them in YAML:

functions:
  charge:
    runtime: node
    file: functions/charge.js
    env:
      STRIPE_KEY: ${INSTANCEZ_ENV_STRIPE_KEY}

Access in the handler:

const stripe = new Stripe(ctx.env.STRIPE_KEY);

Secrets are resolved from three sources in ascending precedence order:

1. .env (base file)
2. .<mode>.env (e.g. .development.env, .production.env)
3. Process environment variables (INSTANCEZ_ENV_*)

Only keys with the INSTANCEZ_ENV_ prefix are passed to functions. Other environment variables in those files are ignored.

Function workers run with a scrubbed environment, so host secrets like AWS credentials and database URLs are not visible inside a handler. The values you declare under env: are the only secrets a worker sees. instancez injects them per request over an internal channel and never writes them to the worker’s process environment.

npm dependencies

Functions run from the functions/ subdirectory of your project. Place a package.json there to declare dependencies:

{
  "name": "functions",
  "private": true,
  "type": "module",
  "dependencies": {
    "@supabase/supabase-js": "^2.107.0"
  }
}

@supabase/supabase-js is required if any function uses ctx.supabase or ctx.serviceClient. The worker loads it lazily — functions that never access those properties work without it.

Dependencies must import as ESM, and they must not rely on native add-ons unless those are prebuilt for the platform you deploy to.

Calling a function

curl:

curl https://your-project.instancez.ai/functions/v1/todos \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <user-jwt>"

supabase-js:

const { data, error } = await supabase.functions.invoke("todos", {
  body: { title: "Buy milk" },
});

Lifecycle

Command	npm	Hot reload
inz dev	Runs npm ci on startup. Falls back to npm install when no lockfile exists yet (first run). Restart required only when adding or removing npm dependencies.	JS code changes and functions: YAML changes are picked up automatically without a restart.
inz cloud deploy	Uploads function sources; the cloud installs dependencies and builds the bundle. A committed package-lock.json is required.	N/A
inz bundle	Runs npm ci (requires a committed package-lock.json) and produces a tar archive. Use --output s3://… for self-hosted deploys.	N/A
inz serve	Never runs npm. Consumes the pre-built bundle produced by inz bundle --output s3://….	N/A

Runtime limits

Setting	Value
Default timeout	30s (configurable per-function via timeout:)
Worker pool size	min(4, GOMAXPROCS) Node processes
Max concurrent requests	pool_size × 64

Error codes:

Code	Meaning
401	auth_required: true and no valid JWT provided
504	Handler exceeded the timeout
503	All in-flight slots are occupied (runtime saturated)
502	Worker process died or no healthy worker available
500	Handler threw an unhandled exception

What’s next

• RLS — the policies ctx.supabase runs under
• Storage — upload/download from a function via ctx.serviceClient
• Deploy — inz cloud deploy ships function source alongside your schema