Vercel unifies Edge Middleware and Edge Functions into Vercel Functions (GA)

Key update

Vercel has deprecated the old Edge Middleware and Edge Functions primitives and replaced them with Vercel Routing Middleware (runs before the cache) and Vercel Functions (runs after the cache), both powered by the unified Vercel Functions infrastructure and supporting multiple runtimes (Edge runtime and Node.js) on Fluid compute. Routing Middleware is now generally available.

Why it matters

This is more than a naming change: Vercel has consolidated two execution models into a single, framework-driven functions platform that standardizes performance, runtime choices, and pricing. Practically, that means middleware logic can run as full functions before cache with the same infrastructure guarantees you get for post-cache functions, while post-cache functions can use either the minimal Edge runtime or the fuller Node.js runtime depending on your needs. For teams this changes deployment and testing priorities — you must check where your code runs relative to the cache, validate runtime compatibility (Edge vs Node APIs), and re-run latency and cold-start tests because execution placement and billing (CPU-time on Fluid compute) are now unified. For framework and plugin authors this reduces fragmentation (one functions infra to target), but existing projects must migrate off the deprecated primitives and verify behavior (streaming, waitUntil tasks, region-preferred execution, and any assumptions about available Node APIs). In short: expect a migration and testing task, potential cost/observability differences, and an operational benefit from having one consistent functions runtime to optimize for.

Source

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