Function Compute:How to use WebIDE

Refresh the function details page or quickly reset the WebIDE environment. For instructions on resetting the WebIDE environment, see How do I quickly reset the WebIDE environment variables, runtime, and layers for a function?.

Dedicated WebIDE is essentially an FC function deployed under your Alibaba Cloud account with a name that starts with _webide-server-.

With Dedicated WebIDE, instances can load your custom layers and mounted NAS or OSS resources, and access the VPC configured for your service. This ensures full consistency between your local terminal and the production runtime environment, improving development and debugging. You can also select an instance type plan—for example, increase CPU and memory—to boost WebIDE performance.

Because Dedicated WebIDE runs under your account, you incur additional costs:

• Function invocation and resource usage fees for Function Compute. For more information, see Billing overview.

• Fees for mounting a NAS file system. For more information, see General-purpose NAS billing.

WebIDE helps you quickly test code, build projects, and install dependencies. However, the WebIDE environment is not the actual execution environment used by Function Compute. You cannot directly test custom layers, mounted NAS or OSS, or VPC-based resource access in WebIDE.

To avoid this issue, use Dedicated WebIDE or, after editing your code, click Deploy and then click Test Function to run tests.

When you refresh the function details page or the WebIDE interface, the latest online environment variables, layers, and runtime are automatically updated in the WebIDE instance. Run env in the terminal to view the latest function environment variables.

By default, workspaces are retained for 48 hours. If you do not open the function in WebIDE for 48 consecutive hours, the workspace content is deleted.

Additionally, if the online code is modified via the console or SDK tools, the function’s code checksum changes. Refreshing or reopening WebIDE automatically updates the workspace to match the latest online code.

Yes. You can use the built-in VS Code debugging plugins for each supported runtime. For custom runtimes or less common languages, install an appropriate VS Code plugin.

For example, with Python 3.9, add helper code to run the handler function. The following sample code (index.py) shows how to debug a Python function in WebIDE. The if __name__ == "__main__" block serves as the local debugging entry point. Set breakpoints inside the handler function to debug:

import logging
import json
def handler(event, context):
    # evt = json.loads(event)
    logger = logging.getLogger()
    logger.info('hello world')
    logger.info('hello world2')
    return 'hello world'
if __name__=="__main__":
    event = b"hello"
    # if you use context in your code,
    # Please refer to 'https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/document_detail/422182.html' to construct context
    context = None
    handler(event, context)

No. The first time you open a function in WebIDE, it automatically runs git init to display differences between your current code and the online version. After you click Deploy Function once, WebIDE automatically creates a commit, ensuring your terminal and online code are identical (the message save function with codechecksum xxxx indicates a successful deployment). This feature improves usability.

Function Compute WebIDE isolates workspaces for RAM users under the same Alibaba Cloud account. For example, RAM User A uses WebIDE A, and RAM User B uses WebIDE B. Changes made by RAM User A in their workspace are not visible to RAM User B, so they see different code.

Both RAM users can see differences between their workspace code and the online function code. For more information, see When I modify a function, the Git plugin shows code differences. Does this mean WebIDE hosts my function code?.

Follow these steps to troubleshoot:

1. Check your network settings. Ensure your local client does not block access via proxy or disable the WebSocket protocol. WebIDE uses WebSocket for real-time communication. Disabling WebSocket prevents WebIDE from working properly.

2. Check whether you are opening a function in an outside-China region. If your local network has poor cross-border connectivity, connecting to functions in outside-China regions may be slow or fail.

3. Check whether your code package is too large. Large packages take longer to upload or deploy. Optimize your code package and retry.

If the issue persists after following these steps, contact us.