4.6 KiB
Workers Gotchas
Common Errors
"Too much CPU time used"
Cause: Worker exceeded CPU time limit (10ms standard, 30ms unbound)
Solution: Use ctx.waitUntil() for background work, offload heavy compute to Durable Objects, or consider Workers AI for ML workloads
"Module-Level State Lost"
Cause: Workers are stateless between requests; module-level variables reset unpredictably
Solution: Use KV, D1, or Durable Objects for persistent state; don't rely on module-level variables
"Body has already been used"
Cause: Attempting to read response body twice (bodies are streams)
Solution: Clone response before reading: response.clone() or read once and create new Response with the text
"Node.js module not found"
Cause: Node.js built-ins not available by default
Solution: Use Workers APIs (e.g., R2 for file storage) or enable Node.js compat with "compatibility_flags": ["nodejs_compat_v2"]
"Cannot fetch in global scope"
Cause: Attempting to use fetch during module initialization
Solution: Move fetch calls inside handler functions (fetch, scheduled, etc.) where they're allowed
"Subrequest depth limit exceeded"
Cause: Too many nested subrequests creating deep call chain
Solution: Flatten request chain or use service bindings for direct Worker-to-Worker communication
"D1 read-after-write inconsistency"
Cause: D1 is eventually consistent; reads may not reflect recent writes
Solution: Use D1 Sessions (2024+) to guarantee read-after-write consistency within a session:
const session = env.DB.withSession();
await session.prepare('INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES (?)').bind('Alice').run();
const user = await session.prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = ?').bind('Alice').first(); // Guaranteed to see Alice
When to use sessions: Write → Read patterns, transactions requiring consistency
"wrangler types not generating TypeScript definitions"
Cause: Type generation not configured or outdated
Solution: Run npx wrangler types after changing bindings in wrangler.jsonc:
npx wrangler types # Generates .wrangler/types/runtime.d.ts
Add to tsconfig.json: "include": [".wrangler/types/**/*.ts"]
Then import: import type { Env } from './.wrangler/types/runtime';
"Durable Object RPC errors with deprecated fetch pattern"
Cause: Using old stub.fetch() pattern instead of RPC (2024+)
Solution: Export methods directly, call via RPC:
// ❌ Old fetch pattern
export class MyDO {
async fetch(request: Request) {
const { method } = await request.json();
if (method === 'increment') return new Response(String(await this.increment()));
}
async increment() { return ++this.value; }
}
const stub = env.DO.get(id);
const res = await stub.fetch('http://x', { method: 'POST', body: JSON.stringify({ method: 'increment' }) });
// ✅ RPC pattern (type-safe, no serialization overhead)
export class MyDO {
async increment() { return ++this.value; }
}
const stub = env.DO.get(id);
const count = await stub.increment(); // Direct method call
"WebSocket connection closes unexpectedly"
Cause: Worker reaches CPU limit while maintaining WebSocket connection
Solution: Use WebSocket hibernation (2024+) to offload idle connections:
export class WebSocketDO {
async webSocketMessage(ws: WebSocket, message: string) {
// Handle message
}
async webSocketClose(ws: WebSocket, code: number) {
// Cleanup
}
}
Hibernation automatically suspends inactive connections, wakes on events
"Framework middleware not working with Workers"
Cause: Framework expects Node.js primitives (e.g., Express uses Node streams)
Solution: Use Workers-native frameworks (Hono, itty-router, Worktop) or adapt middleware:
// ✅ Hono (Workers-native)
import { Hono } from 'hono';
const app = new Hono();
app.use('*', async (c, next) => { /* middleware */ await next(); });
See frameworks.md for full patterns
Limits
| Limit | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Request size | 100 MB | Maximum incoming request size |
| Response size | Unlimited | Supports streaming |
| CPU time (standard) | 10ms | Standard Workers |
| CPU time (unbound) | 30ms | Unbound Workers |
| Subrequests | 1000 | Per request |
| KV reads | 1000 | Per request |
| KV write size | 25 MB | Maximum per write |
| Environment size | 5 MB | Total size of env bindings |
See Also
- Patterns - Best practices
- API - Runtime APIs
- Configuration - Setup
- Frameworks - Hono, routing, validation