Understanding Serverless via Tencent Cloud Functions
I’ve used Tencent Cloud Functions a few times now. They’re basically Tencent’s serverless offering. Documenting the scenarios helped me internalize what “serverless” really means.
Use case 1: lightweight middleware for a mini program
A WeChat mini program needed a small middle tier—mostly proxying calls to a larger backend and performing simple DB lookups. Spinning up my own server felt wasteful, so I deployed a cloud function instead. Zero ops overhead.
Use case 2: sandboxed AI scripting
Users can write scripts to customize AI chat behavior. Inputs/outputs are standardized, but the actual logic runs on our platform. I first considered Web Workers, but domestic AI providers often block cross-origin requests. Running scripts inside the main backend introduces security risk. Cloud Functions offered a sandboxed environment with server-side network access—perfect.
Use case 3: quick proxy service
I needed a small proxy. Buying a server means dealing with hardware specs, domains, and maintenance. With Cloud Functions I just upload the proxy code. No domain needed, scaling is automatic, and logging is configurable with minimal effort.
So…what is serverless?
Re-reading the definition after real-world use makes it click:
Serverless is a cloud-native development model that lets developers build and run applications without managing servers. Servers still exist, but the cloud provider handles maintenance, updates, scaling, and other undifferentiated heavy lifting. Developers package code, deploy it, and let the provider’s elasticity do the rest.
Final Thoughts
Buying a VPS puts you at the machine-granularity level—you manage everything. Serverless moves the abstraction down to individual functions. With Cloud Functions you focus entirely on application logic and ignore infrastructure.
