This post is written by Pascal Vogel, Solutions Architect, and Andrea Amorosi, Senior Solutions Architect.

You can now develop AWS Lambda functions using the Node.js 20 runtime. This Node.js version is in active LTS status and ready for general use. To use this new version, specify a runtime parameter value of nodejs20.x when creating or updating functions or by using the appropriate container base image.

You can use Node.js 20 with Powertools for AWS Lambda (TypeScript), a developer toolkit to implement serverless best practices and increase developer velocity. Powertools for AWS Lambda includes proven libraries to support common patterns such as observability, Parameter Store integration, idempotency, batch processing, and more.

You can also use Node.js 20 with Lambda@Edge, allowing you to customize low-latency content delivered through Amazon CloudFront.

This blog post highlights important changes to the Node.js runtime, notable Node.js language updates, and how you can use the new Node.js 20 runtime in your serverless applications.

Node.js 20 runtime updates

Changes to Root CA certificate loading

By default, Node.js includes root certificate authority (CA) certificates from well-known certificate providers. Earlier Lambda Node.js runtimes up to Node.js 18 augmented these certificates with Amazon-specific CA certificates, making it easier to create functions accessing other AWS services. For example, it included the Amazon RDS certificates necessary for validating the server identity certificate installed on your Amazon RDS database.

However, loading these additional certificates has a performance impact during cold start. Starting with Node.js 20, Lambda no longer loads these additional CA certificates by default. The Node.js 20 runtime contains a certificate file with all Amazon CA certificates located at /var/runtime/ca-cert.pem. By setting the NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS environment variable to /var/runtime/ca-cert.pem, you can restore the behavior from Node.js 18 and earlier runtimes.

This causes Node.js to validate and load all Amazon CA certificates during a cold start. It can take longer compared to loading only specific certificates. For the best performance, we recommend bundling only the certificates that you need with your deployment package and loading them via NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS. The certificates file should consist of one or more trusted root or intermediate CA certificates in PEM format.

For example, for RDS, include the required certificates alongside your code as certificates/rds.pem and then load it as follows:

See Using Lambda environment variables in the AWS Lambda Developer Guide for detailed instructions for setting environment variables.

Amazon Linux 2023

The Node.js 20 runtime is based on the provided.al2023 runtime. The provided.al2023 runtime in turn is based on the Amazon Linux 2023 minimal container image release and brings several improvements over Amazon Linux 2 (AL2).

provided.al2023 contains only the essential components necessary to install other packages and offers a smaller deployment footprint with a compressed image size of less than 40MB compared to the over 100MB AL2-based base image.

With glibc version 2.34, customers have access to a more recent version of glibc, updated from version 2.26 in AL2-based images.

The Amazon Linux 2023 minimal image uses microdnf as package manager, symlinked as dnf, replacing yum in AL2-based images. Additionally, curl and gnupg2 are also included as their minimal versions curl-minimal and gnupg2-minimal.

Learn more about the provided.al2023 runtime in the blog post Introducing the Amazon Linux 2023 runtime for AWS Lambda and the Amazon Linux 2023 launch blog post.

Runtime Interface Client

The Node.js 20 runtime uses the open source AWS Lambda NodeJS Runtime Interface Client (RIC). You can now use the same RIC version in your Open Container Initiative (OCI) Lambda container images as the one used by the managed Node.js 20 runtime.

The Node.js 20 runtime supports Lambda response streaming which enables you to send response payload data to callers as it becomes available. Response streaming can improve application performance by reducing time-to-first-byte, can indicate progress during long-running tasks, and allows you to build functions that return payloads larger than 6MB, which is the Lambda limit for buffered responses.

Setting Node.js heap memory size

Node.js allows you to configure the heap size of the v8 engine via the --max-old-space-size and --max-semi-space-size options. By default, Lambda overrides the Node.js default values with values derived from the memory size configured for the function. If you need control over your runtime’s memory allocation, you can now set both of these options using the NODE_OPTIONS environment variable, without needing an exec wrapper script. See Using Lambda environment variables in the AWS Lambda Developer Guide for details.

Use the --max-old-space-size option to set the max memory size of V8’s old memory section, and the --max-semi-space-size option to set the maximum semispace size for V8’s garbage collector. See the Node.js documentation for more details on these options.

Node.js 20 language updates

Language features

With this release, Lambda customers can take advantage of new Node.js 20 language features, including:

• HTTP(S)/1.1 default keepAlive: Node.js now sets keepAlive to true by default. Any outgoing HTTPs connections use HTTP 1.1 keep-alive with a default waiting window of 5 seconds. This can deliver improved throughput as connections are reused by default.
• Fetch API is enabled by default: The global Node.js Fetch API is enabled by default. However, it is still an experimental module.
• Faster URL parsing: Node.js 20 comes with the Ada 2.0 URL parser which brings performance improvements to URL parsing. This has also been back-ported to Node.js 18.7.0.
• Web Crypto API now stable: The Node.js implementation of the standard Web Crypto API has been marked as stable. You can access the provided cryptographic primitives through globalThis.crypto.
• Web assembly support: Node.js 20 enables the experimental WebAssembly System Interface (WASI) API by default without the need to set an experimental flag.

For a detailed overview of Node.js 20 language features, see the Node.js 20 release blog post and the Node.js 20 changelog.

Performance considerations

Node.js 19.3 introduced a change that impacts how non-essential modules are lazy-loaded during the Node.js process startup. In terms of the impact to your Lambda functions, this reduces the work during initialization of each execution environment, then if used, the modules will instead be loaded during the first function invoke. This change remains in Node.js 20.

Builders should continue to measure and test function performance and optimize function code and configuration for any impact. To learn more about how to optimize Node.js performance in Lambda, see Performance optimization in the Lambda Operator Guide, and our blog post Optimizing Node.js dependencies in AWS Lambda.

Migration from earlier Node.js runtimes

Migration from Node.js 16

Lambda occasionally delays deprecation of a Lambda runtime for a limited period beyond the end of support date of the language version that the runtime supports. During this period, Lambda only applies security patches to the runtime OS. Lambda doesn’t apply security patches to programming language runtimes after they reach their end of support date.

In the case of Node.js 16, we have delayed deprecation from the community end of support date on September 11, 2023, to June 12, 2024. This gives customers the opportunity to migrate directly from Node.js 16 to Node.js 20, skipping Node.js 18.

AWS SDK for JavaScript

Up until Node.js 16, Lambda’s Node.js runtimes included the AWS SDK for JavaScript version 2. This has since been superseded by the AWS SDK for JavaScript version 3, which was released in December 2020. Starting with Node.js 18, and continuing with Node.js 20, the Lambda Node.js runtimes have upgraded the version of the AWS SDK for JavaScript included in the runtime from v2 to v3. Customers upgrading from Node.js 16 or earlier runtimes who are using the included AWS SDK for JavaScript v2 should upgrade their code to use the v3 SDK.

For optimal performance, and to have full control over your code dependencies, we recommend bundling and minifying the AWS SDK in your deployment package, rather than using the SDK included in the runtime. For more information, see Optimizing Node.js dependencies in AWS Lambda.

Using the Node.js 20 runtime in AWS Lambda

AWS Management Console

To use the Node.js 20 runtime to develop your Lambda functions, specify a runtime parameter value Node.js 20.x when creating or updating a function. The Node.js 20 runtime version is now available in the Runtime dropdown on the Create function page in the AWS Lambda console:

To update an existing Lambda function to Node.js 20, navigate to the function in the Lambda console, then choose Edit in the Runtime settings panel. The new version of Node.js is available in the Runtime dropdown:

AWS Lambda – Container Image

Change the Node.js base image version by modifying the FROM statement in your Dockerfile:

FROM public.ecr.aws/lambda/nodejs:20 # Copy function code COPY lambda_handler.xx ${LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT}

Customers running Node.js 20 Docker images locally, including customers using AWS SAM, will need to upgrade their Docker install to version 20.10.10 or later.

AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM)

In AWS SAM, set the Runtime attribute to node20.x to use this version:

AWSTemplateFormatVersion: "2010-09-09" Transform: AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31 Resources: MyFunction: Type: AWS::Serverless::Function Properties: Handler: lambda_function.lambda_handler Runtime: nodejs20.x CodeUri: my_function/. Description: My Node.js Lambda Function

AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK)

In the AWS CDK, set the runtime attribute to Runtime.NODEJS_20_X to use this version:

import * as cdk from "aws-cdk-lib"; import * as lambda from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-lambda"; import * as path from "path"; import { Construct } from "constructs"; export class CdkStack extends cdk.Stack { constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props?: cdk.StackProps) { super(scope, id, props); // The code that defines your stack goes here // The Node.js 20 enabled Lambda Function const lambdaFunction = new lambda.Function(this, "node20LambdaFunction", { runtime: lambda.Runtime.NODEJS_20_X, code: lambda.Code.fromAsset(path.join(__dirname, "/../lambda")), handler: "index.handler", }); } }

Conclusion

Lambda now supports Node.js 20. This release uses the Amazon Linux 2023 OS, supports configurable CA certificate loading for faster cold starts, as well as other improvements detailed in this blog post.

You can build and deploy functions using the Node.js 20 runtime using the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, AWS SDK, AWS SAM, AWS CDK, or your choice of Infrastructure as Code (IaC). You can also use the Node.js 20 container base image if you prefer to build and deploy your functions using container images.

The Node.js 20 runtime empowers developers to build more efficient, powerful, and scalable serverless applications. Try the Node.js runtime in Lambda today and read about the Node.js programming model in the Lambda documentation to learn more about writing functions in Node.js 20.

For more serverless learning resources, visit Serverless Land.