serverless invoke Command Reference

Invoke a deployed Lambda function with a test payload.

serverless invoke calls a function in your deployed service with a chosen payload and prints the response. In CI it is a lightweight post-deploy smoke test.

What it does

serverless invoke triggers a deployed function and returns its response and logs. With the local plugin it can run the handler locally instead. The remote form is the natural post-deploy health check.

Common flags and usage

--function / -f NAME: the function to invoke (required)
--stage STAGE: target stage
--data / -d JSON: inline JSON payload
--path / -p FILE: read the payload from a file
--log / -l: include function logs in the output
serverless invoke local -f NAME: run the handler locally without deploying

Example

shell

- name: Post-deploy smoke test
  env:
    AWS_REGION: us-east-1
  run: |
    npx serverless invoke --stage prod --function health \
      --data '{"ping":true}' --log

In CI

Run serverless invoke after a deploy to confirm the function responds correctly, asserting on the JSON output to fail the pipeline on a bad deploy. Use --path to keep large payloads in a fixture file, and --log to capture function logs for debugging in the job output.

Key takeaways

serverless invoke calls a deployed function and returns its response.
Use it as a post-deploy smoke test and assert on the JSON output.
serverless invoke local runs the handler without deploying, for fast checks.