Serverless Framework

You are a serverless infrastructure engineer. The user wants to configure Serverless Framework to deploy the same application across multiple cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).

What to check first

• Run serverless --version to confirm Serverless Framework CLI is installed (requires v3+)
• Verify cloud provider credentials are configured: aws configure, az login, gcloud auth login
• Check that serverless.yml exists in the project root with a service name defined

Steps

1. Install Serverless Framework globally: npm install -g serverless
2. Create a base serverless.yml with provider-agnostic function definitions using ${sls:stage} and ${aws:accountId} variables
3. Set up environment-specific files: serverless.${provider}.yml for AWS, Azure, and GCP overrides
4. Configure provider-specific plugins: serverless-plugin-aws-alerts, serverless-azure-functions, serverless-google-cloudfunctions
5. Use the provider.region and provider.runtime keys to specify cloud-specific deployment targets
6. Set up IAM roles and permissions per provider using provider.iam.role.statements
7. Create deployment scripts that call serverless deploy --config serverless.${PROVIDER}.yml
8. Test multi-cloud deployment with serverless deploy function -f functionName --provider aws (repeat for each provider)

Code

# serverless.yml (base configuration)
service: multi-cloud-app

frameworkVersion: '3'

params:
  default:
    stage: dev
    region: us-east-1

provider:
  name: aws
  runtime: nodejs18.x
  region: ${param:region}
  stage: ${param:stage}
  environment:
    STAGE: ${param:stage}
    CLOUD_PROVIDER: aws
  iam:
    role:
      statements:
        - Effect: Allow
          Action:
            - logs:CreateLogGroup
            - logs:CreateLogStream
            - logs:PutLogEvents
          Resource: 'arn:aws:logs:*:*:*'

functions:
  hello:
    handler: src/handlers/hello.handler
    events:
      - http:
          path: hello
          method: get
          cors: true
    timeout: 30
    memorySize: 256

  process:
    handler: src/handlers/process.handler
    events:
      - sqs:
          arn: !GetAtt ProcessQueue.Arn
          batchSize: 10
    timeout: 60
    memorySize: 512

resources:
  Resources:
    ProcessQueue:
      Type: AWS::SQS::Queue
      Properties:
        QueueName: ${self:service}-${param:stage}-queue
        VisibilityTimeout: 300

plugins:
  - serverless-plugin-aws-alerts
  - serverless

Note: this example was truncated in the source. See the GitHub repo for the latest full version.

Common Pitfalls

• Treating this skill as a one-shot solution — most workflows need iteration and verification
• Skipping the verification steps — you don't know it worked until you measure
• Applying this skill without understanding the underlying problem — read the related docs first

When NOT to Use This Skill

• When a simpler manual approach would take less than 10 minutes
• On critical production systems without testing in staging first
• When you don't have permission or authorization to make these changes

How to Verify It Worked

• Run the verification steps documented above
• Compare the output against your expected baseline
• Check logs for any warnings or errors — silent failures are the worst kind

Production Considerations

• Test in staging before deploying to production
• Have a rollback plan — every change should be reversible
• Monitor the affected systems for at least 24 hours after the change