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Reimagine Frontend in the Serverless Era

This talk explores the architectural implications for frontend development in serverless applications. I’ll examine how the stateless, on-demand nature of serverless backends requires frontend developers to adopt new patterns and strategies. We’ll discuss how architectural decisions around distributed state management, connection handling techniques to mitigate cold starts, designing better loading experiences, implementing robust error boundaries, and adapting authentication logic impact the frontend architecture in serverless environments.

This talk has been presented at React Summit 2025, check out the latest edition of this React Conference.

FAQ

Fioromat Academy is an upskilling academy for frontend engineers, founded by Evangelia, focusing on modern frontend technologies and practices.

Serverless technologies shift more state management to the frontend and database layers. They demand enhanced caching strategies and resilient HTTP call handling, and they change how frontend interacts with backend services through smaller, stateless functions.

No, 'serverless' is misleading. It means the backend is composed of stateless, ephemeral units managed by cloud providers, rather than having no server at all.

Optimistic updates allow the frontend to update the state in the browser before receiving confirmation from the backend, providing instant UI feedback and rolling back if necessary.

In serverless architecture, caching reduces HTTP API calls and mitigates cold start delays. Tools like Tanks.Query and SWR are used to manage cache validation and prevent stale data.

Serverless architecture increases the likelihood of HTTP call failures due to network issues or cold starts, so resilient connection handling and retry strategies are essential to maintain a smooth user experience.

UI components in serverless architecture are smaller and more granular, each interacting with specific serverless functions. This requires granular loading states and error handling for individual components.

Error handling is crucial because serverless architectures experience more frequent and unpredictable errors. Granular error handling at component level ensures failures are isolated and the app remains usable.

Evangelia plans to offer a new course on properly using data structures in frontend development through practical applications.

serverless

Evangelia Mitsopoulou

8 min

17 Jun, 2025

Comments

Video Summary and Transcription

Evangelia, tech founder of Fioromat Academy, discusses the impact of serverless technologies on frontends, emphasizing a shift towards lightweight, stateless backends split into smaller units and the increased importance of API gateways and serverless functions. The discussion also highlights the significance of optimistic state updates, caching strategies to reduce API calls, resilient connection handling with retries for failed HTTP calls, granular error handling at the component level, and custom fallback UI per component. Overall, the Talk emphasizes the evolving frontend architectures and the necessity of adapting to changes in data structures and technologies.

Available in Español: Reimagine Frontend in the Serverless Era

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