Context

Overview

Atlas Functions have access to a global context object that contains metadata for the incoming requests and provides access to components and services that you've configured in your App Services App.

The context object exposes the following interfaces:

Get App Metadata (context.app)

The context.app object contains metadata about the App that contains the Function.

{
  "id": string,
  "clientAppId": string,
  "name": string,
  "projectId": string,
  "deployment": {
    "model": string,
    "providerRegion": string,
  },
  "lastDeployed": string,
  "hostingUri": string,
}

context.app.id

The unique internal ID of the App that contains the Function.

Example

"60c8e59866b0c33d14ee634a"

context.app.clientAppId

The unique Client App ID for the App that contains the Function.

Example

"myapp-abcde"

context.app.name

The name of the App that contains the Function.

Example

"myapp"

context.app.projectId

The ID of the Atlas Project that contains the App.

Example

"5e1ec444970199272441a214"

context.app.deployment

An object that describes the App's deployment model and region.

Example

{
  "model": "LOCAL",
  "providerRegion": "aws-us-east-1"
}

context.app.lastDeployed

The date and time that the Atlas App was last deployed, formatted as an ISODate string.

Example

"2022-10-31T12:00:00.000Z"

context.app.hostingUri

If static hosting is enabled, this value is the base URL for hosted assets. (Static Hosting is deprecated. Learn more)

Example

"myapp-abcde.mongodbstitch.com"

Call a Function (context.functions)

You can call any function in your application through the context.functions interface.

context.functions.execute()

Calls a specific function and returns the result.

context.functions.execute(functionName, ...args)

Parameter	Type	Description
functionName	string	The name of the function.
args...	mixed	A variadic list of arguments to pass to the function. Each function parameter maps to a separate, comma-separated argument.

Example

// difference: subtracts b from a using the sum function
exports = function(a, b) {
    return context.functions.execute("sum", a, -1 * b);
};

Check the App Environment (context.environment)

You can access information about your App's current environment configuration and access environment-specific values through the context.environment interface.

context.environment.tag

The name of the app's current environment as a string.

Possible values:

• ""

• "development"

• "testing"

• "qa"

• "production"

Example

exports = async function() {
  switch(context.environment.tag) {
    case "": {
      return "There is no current environment"
    }
    case "development": {
      return "The current environment is development"
    }
    case "testing": {
      return "The current environment is testing"
    }
    case "qa": {
      return "The current environment is qa"
    }
    case "production": {
      return "The current environment is production"
    }
  }
};

exports = async function() {
  const baseUrl = context.environment.values.baseUrl
};

Connect to a MongoDB Data Source or Third-Party Service (context.services)

You can access a client for a linked MongoDB Atlas cluster or Federated data source through the context.services interface. You can also access third-party services, although this feature is deprecated.

context.services.get()

Gets a service client for the specified service or undefined if no such service exists.

context.services.get(serviceName)

Parameter	Type	Description
serviceName	string	The name of the linked cluster, Federated database instance, or service. Tip MongoDB Service Names Linked data sources created by your app use one of the following default names: Cluster: mongodb-atlas Federated database instance: mongodb-datafederation

Example

Read and write data in MongoDB Atlas

exports = async function() {
  // Get the cluster's data source client
  const mdb = context.services.get("mongodb-atlas");
  // Reference a specific database/collection
  const db = mdb.db("myApp");
  const collection = db.collection("myCollection");
  // Run a MongoDB query
  return await collection.find({
    name: "Rupert",
    age: { $lt: 50 },
  })
};

[Deprecated] Call third-party service actions

exports = async function() {
  // Instantiate a service client for the HTTP Service named "myHttpService"
  const http = context.services.get("myHttpService");
  // Call the HTTP service's get() action
  try {
    const response = await http.get({ url: "https://www.mongodb.com" });
    return response.body.text()
  } catch(err) {
    // You might get an error if:
    // - you passed invalid arguments
    // - the service's rules prevent the action
    console.error(err)
  }
};

Get Request Metadata (context.request)

You can access information about the incoming request with the context.request interface.

context.request

An object that contains information about the HTTP request that caused the function to execute.

{
   "remoteIPAddress": <string>,
   "requestHeaders": <object>,
   "webhookUrl": <string>,
   "httpMethod": <string>,
   "rawQueryString": <string>,
   "httpReferrer": <string>,
   "httpUserAgent": <string>,
   "service": <string>,
   "action": <string>
}

Field	Type	Description
remoteIPAddress	string	The IP address of the client that issued the Function request.
requestHeaders	object	An object where each field maps to a type of HTTP Header that was included in the request that caused the function to execute. The value of each field is an array of strings where each string maps to a header of the specified type that was included in the request. Example { "requestHeaders": { "Content-Type": ["application/json"], "Cookie": [ "someCookie=someValue", "anotherCookie=anotherValue" ] } }
webhookUrl	string	Optional. In HTTPS endpoint functions, the route of the endpoint.
httpMethod	string	Optional. In HTTPS endpoint functions, the HTTP method of the request that called the endpoint.
rawQueryString	string	The query string attached to the incoming HTTP request. All query parameters appear in the same order as they were specified. Important App Services Removes The Secret Parameter For security reasons, Atlas App Services automatically removes any query string key/value pair where the key is secret. For example, if an incoming request has the query string ?secret=hello&someParam=42 then the rawQueryString for that request is "someParam=42".
httpReferrer	string	Optional. The URL of the page from which the request was sent. This value is derived from the HTTP Referer header. If the request did not include a Referer header then this is undefined.
httpUserAgent	string	Optional. Characteristic information that identifies the source of the request, such as the software vendor, operating system, or application type. This value is derived from the HTTP User-Agent header. If the request did not include a User-Agent header then this is undefined.

Example

The following context.request document reflects a function call issued from https://myapp.example.com/ by a user browsing with Chrome 73 on macOS High Sierra:

exports = function() {
  return context.request
}

HIDE OUTPUT

{
  "remoteIPAddress": "54.173.82.137",
  "httpReferrer": "https://myapp.example.com/",
  "httpUserAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_13_6) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/73.0.3683.103 Safari/537.36",
  "rawQueryString": "?someParam=foo&anotherParam=42",
  "requestHeaders": {
    "Content-Type": ["application/json"],
    "Cookie": [
      "someCookie=someValue",
      "anotherCookie=anotherValue"
    ]
  }
}

Get User Data (context.user)

You can access information about the application or system user that called a function with the context.user interface.

context.user

The user object of the authenticated user that called the function.

{
    "id": <string>,
    "type": <string>,
    "data": <document>,
    "identities": <array>
}

Field	Type	Description
id	string	A string representation of the ObjectId that uniquely identifies the user.
type	string	The type of the user. The following types are possible: Type Description "normal" The user is an application user logged in through an authentication provider other than the API Key provider. "server" The user is a server process logged in with any type of App Services API Key. "system" The user is the system user that bypasses all rules.
data	document	A document that contains metadata that describes the user. This field combines the data for all identities associated with the user, so the exact field names and values depend on which authentication providers the user has authenticated with. Note System Functions Have No User Data In system functions, the user.data object is empty. Use context.runningAsSystem() to test if the function is running as a system user.
custom_data	document	A document from your application's custom user data collection that specifies the user's ID. You can use the custom user data collection to store arbitrary data about your application's users. If you set the name field, App Services populates the username metadata field with the return value of name. App Services automatically fetches a new copy of the data whenever a user refreshes their access token, such as when they log in. The underlying data is a regular MongoDB document, so you can use standard CRUD operations through the MongoDB Atlas service to define and modify the user's custom data. Note Avoid Storing Large Custom User Data Custom user data is limited to 16MB, the maximum size of a MongoDB document. To avoid hitting this limit, consider storing small and relatively static user data in each custom user data document, such as the user's preferred language or the URL of their avatar image. For data that is large, unbounded, or frequently updated, consider only storing a reference to the data in the custom user document or storing the data with a reference to the user's ID rather than in the custom user document.
identities	array	A list of authentication provider identities associated with the user. When a user first logs in with a specific provider, App Services associates the user with an identity object that contains a unique identifier and additional metadata about the user from the provider. For subsequent logins, App Services refreshes the existing identity data but does not create a new identity. Identity objects have the following form: { "id": "<Unique ID>", "provider_type": "<Provider Name>", "data": { "<Metadata Field>": <Value>, ... } } Field Name Description id A provider-generated string that uniquely identifies this identity provider_type The type of authentication provider associated with this identity. data Additional metadata from the authentication provider that describes the user. The exact field names and values will vary depending on which authentication providers the user has logged in with. For a provider-specific breakdown of user identity data, see User Metadata.

Example

The following context.user document reflects an email/password user that is associated with a single User API Key.

exports = function() {
  return context.user
}

HIDE OUTPUT

{
  "id": "5cbf68583025b12840664682",
  "type": "normal",
  "data": {
    "email": "someone@example.com",
    "name": "myApiKeyName"
  },
  "identities": [
    {
      "id": "5cbf68583025b12880667681",
      "provider_type": "local-userpass"
    },
    {
      "id": "5cbf6c6a922616045a388c71",
      "provider_type": "api-key"
    }
  ]
}

context.runningAsSystem()

Evaluates to a boolean that is true if the function is running as a system user and false otherwise.

exports = function() {
  const isSystemUser = context.runningAsSystem()
  if(isSystemUser) {
    // Do some work that bypasses rules
  } else {
    // Do some work in the context of the user that called the function.
  }
}

Reference a Value (context.values)

You can access your app's static values in a function with the context.values interface.

context.values.get(valueName)

Gets the data associated with the provided value name or undefined if no such value exists. This data is either a plain text JSON value or a secret exposed through a value.

Parameter	Type	Description
valueName	string	The name of the value.

Example

exports = function() {
  // Get a global value (or `undefined` if no value has the specified name)
  const theme = context.values.get("theme");
  console.log(theme.colors)     // Output: { red: "#ee1111", blue: "#1111ee" }
  console.log(theme.colors.red) // Output: "#ee1111"
};

Send an HTTP Request (context.http)

You can send HTTPS requests through a built-in client with the context.http interface.

context.http.get()

Sends an HTTP GET request to the specified URL. See http.get() for detailed reference information, including parameter definitions and return types.

exports = async function() {
  const response = await context.http.get({ url: "https://www.example.com/users" })
  // The response body is a BSON.Binary object. Parse it and return.
  return EJSON.parse(response.body.text());
};

context.http.post()

Sends an HTTP POST request to the specified URL. See http.post() for detailed reference information, including parameter definitions and return types.

exports = async function() {
  const response = await context.http.post({
    url: "https://www.example.com/messages",
    body: { msg: "This is in the body of a POST request!" },
    encodeBodyAsJSON: true
  })
  // The response body is a BSON.Binary object. Parse it and return.
  return EJSON.parse(response.body.text());
};

context.http.put()

Sends an HTTP PUT request to the specified URL. See http.put() for detailed reference information, including parameter definitions and return types.

exports = async function() {
  const response = await context.http.put({
    url: "https://www.example.com/messages",
    body: { msg: "This is in the body of a PUT request!" },
    encodeBodyAsJSON: true
  })
  // The response body is a BSON.Binary object. Parse it and return.
  return EJSON.parse(response.body.text());
};

context.http.patch()

Sends an HTTP PATCH request to the specified URL. See http.patch() for detailed reference information, including parameter definitions and return types.

exports = async function() {
  const response = await context.http.patch({
    url: "https://www.example.com/diff.txt",
    body: { msg: "This is in the body of a PATCH request!" },
    encodeBodyAsJSON: true
  })
  // The response body is a BSON.Binary object. Parse it and return.
  return EJSON.parse(response.body.text());
};

context.http.delete()

Sends an HTTP DELETE request to the specified URL. See http.delete() for detailed reference information, including parameter definitions and return types.

exports = async function() {
  const response = await context.http.delete({ url: "https://www.example.com/user/8675309" })
};

context.http.head()

Sends an HTTP HEAD request to the specified URL. See http.head() for detailed reference information, including parameter definitions and return types.

exports = async function() {
  const response = await context.http.head({ url: "https://www.example.com/users" })
  // The response body is a BSON.Binary object. Parse it and return.
  EJSON.parse(response.body.text());
};