# Vercel Functions now support graceful shutdown

**Published:** September 8, 2025 | **Authors:** Tom Lienard

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Vercel Functions running on Node.js and Python runtimes now support graceful shutdown, giving you up to 500 milliseconds to run cleanup tasks before termination.

When a function is terminated, such as during scale-down, the runtime receives a `SIGTERM` signal. You can now use this signal to run cleanup tasks like closing database connections or flushing external logs.

```javascript
process.on('SIGTERM', () => {
  console.log('Cleanup goes here');
});

export default {
  fetch() {
    return new Response('Hi from a Vercel Function!');
  }
}
```

Learn more about the [SIGTERM signal](https://vercel.com/docs/functions/functions-api-reference#sigterm-signal).

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📚 **More updates:** [View all changelog entries](/changelog/sitemap.md) | [Blog](/blog/sitemap.md)