Introducing Serverless Container Framework

Introducing the Serverless Container Framework (SCF) – a unified solution that simplifies container deployment across serverless environments.

Our mission with this project is flexibility. SCF offers a single deployment experience across multiple serverless compute platforms, starting with AWS Lambda and Fargate ECS. Develop locally with hot-module-reloading, then seamlessly switch between compute options in production with zero downtime – all without rearchitecting your applications.

Check out the examples and the documentation to get started.

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The Problem It Solves

Many organizations start with AWS Lambda for its simplicity and cost-effectiveness at low scale. But as applications grow, they often need to transition to container-based solutions like AWS Fargate for better cost efficiency at higher loads. This transition has traditionally been complex and risky.

What SCF Delivers

SCF provides three key innovations:

Unified Container Development & Deployment

• Deploy seamlessly to AWS Lambda and ECS Fargate through a single solution
• Mix compute types within the same API architecture
• Switch between platforms instantly without code rewrites or downtime

Rich Local Development Experience

• True local emulation of both Lambda and Fargate environments
• Instant hot reloading for rapid development
• Local testing with live AWS IAM roles

Production Ready Infrastructure

• Automated VPC, networking, and ALB setup
• Smart code/config change detection only deploys what's necessary
• Built-in SSL certificate management
• Support for multiple custom domains

How It Works

SCF uses a simple YAML configuration file to define your architecture. Here's a basic example:

name: myapp

deployment:
  type: awsApi@1.0

containers:
  api:
    src: ./api
    routing:
      domain: api.example.com
      pathPattern: /api/*
    compute:
      type: awsFargateEcs
  web:
    src: ./web
    routing:
      domain: example.com
      pathPattern: /*
    compute:
      type: awsLambda

Why It's Different

Unlike traditional container orchestration tools, SCF is purpose-built for serverless architectures. It doesn't just deploy containers – it provides an entire development and deployment workflow optimized for serverless environments.

Our research shows that organizations can save up to 60% on infrastructure costs by using the right compute platform for their workload patterns. SCF makes these transitions seamless.

Getting Started

SCF is available now through the Serverless Framework CLI. Get started with:

npm install -g serverless

Looking Forward

While the initial release focuses on AWS Lambda and Fargate, support for additional cloud providers is coming soon, making SCF a truly multi-cloud solution for containerized applications.

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SCF is developed by the team at Serverless Inc., creators of the Serverless Framework.