Serverless
Running code without managing a server yourself.
What is Serverless?
Serverless means your code runs in response to requests without you maintaining a server. Vercel Functions, Cloudflare Workers, and Supabase Edge Functions are all serverless. You pay only for what you use and it scales automatically.
The name is misleading — there are still servers, but someone else manages them. You just write the code and deploy it. The platform handles scaling, uptime, and infrastructure.
In Vibe Coding
Vercel Functions, Supabase Edge Functions, and Cloudflare Workers are all serverless. When your Next.js app has an API route at /api/checkout, that code runs serverlessly — spinning up on demand and shutting down when idle.
Example
For example: Your payment processing API might get 10 requests per day or 10,000 per day. With serverless, you pay only for the requests that actually happen — no server sitting idle overnight costing you money.