How to increase timeout limit on Vercel Serverless functions – Timeout

The Problem:

A Node.js function deployed on Vercel is taking longer than 60 seconds to execute, exceeding the default timeout limit. Despite attempts to increase the timeout limit using both inline function configuration and a vercel.json configuration file, the function still times out after 60 seconds. The developer has verified that they are on a pro Vercel plan and are using the latest versions of Next.js and Node.js. What is the issue preventing the timeout limit from being successfully increased?

The Solutions:

Solution 1: Using Configuration Object

For the Pages Router, create a file named [file-name].config.js in the /pages/api/[file-name] directory. Inside this file, add the following configuration object:

export const config = {
  maxDuration: 300, // 5 minutes in seconds
};

For the App Router, create a file named [file-name].route.ts in the /app/api/[file-name] directory. Inside this file, add the following:

export const maxDuration = 300; // 5 minutes in seconds
export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic';

export function GET(request: Request) {
  return new Response('{}', { status: 200 });
}

Solution 2: Using vercel.json

Create a vercel.json file in the root directory of your project and add the following configuration:

{
  "functions": {
    "pages/api/**": {
      "maxDuration": 300
    }
  }
}

This will override the default maximum duration of 60 seconds for all API routes in your project.

Video Explanation:

The following video, titled "Build a GPT-3 AI app with Next.js and Vercel Edge Functions ...", provides additional insights and in-depth exploration related to the topics discussed in this post.

Hassan El Mghari (@HassanElMghari) Vercel Developer Advocate, explains how to build a GPT-3 powered AI application with OpenAI, Next.js, ...