Val Town Has a Free API That Lets You Run Code in the Cloud With Zero Setup

#valtown #typescript #serverless #api

Val Town is a social website to write and deploy TypeScript functions. Every function gets an API endpoint — instantly. No servers, no Docker, no config files.

What Is Val Town?

Val Town lets you write small TypeScript functions (called vals) that run in the cloud. Every val automatically gets an HTTP endpoint, cron schedule, or email trigger.

How It Works

Create a Val (API endpoint)

// @username/myApi
export default function(req: Request): Response {
  const url = new URL(req.url)
  const name = url.searchParams.get('name') || 'World'
  return Response.json({ message: `Hello, ${name}!`, timestamp: Date.now() })
}

Instantly available at: https://username-myApi.web.val.run?name=Alice

Cron Jobs

// Runs every hour
export default async function() {
  const resp = await fetch('https://api.github.com/repos/denoland/deno/releases/latest')
  const data = await resp.json()
  console.log(`Latest Deno: ${data.tag_name}`)
}

Email Handler

// Receives emails at username.myEmailHandler@valtown.email
export default async function(email: Email) {
  console.log(`From: ${email.from}, Subject: ${email.subject}`)
  // Process and forward
  await fetch('https://hooks.slack.com/services/...', {
    method: 'POST',
    body: JSON.stringify({ text: `New email from ${email.from}: ${email.subject}` })
  })
}

Built-in Storage (SQLite)

import { sqlite } from 'https://esm.town/v/std/sqlite'

// Create table
await sqlite.execute('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS visits (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, url TEXT, ts TEXT)')

// Insert
await sqlite.execute('INSERT INTO visits (url, ts) VALUES (?, ?)', ['/api', new Date().toISOString()])

// Query
const result = await sqlite.execute('SELECT COUNT(*) as total FROM visits')
console.log(`Total visits: ${result.rows[0].total}`)

The Val Town API

# List your vals
curl -s 'https://api.val.town/v1/me/vals' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN' | jq '.data[].name'

# Create a val
curl -s -X POST 'https://api.val.town/v1/vals' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"name": "myNewVal", "code": "export default () => Response.json({ok: true})", "type": "http"}'

# Run a val
curl -s 'https://api.val.town/v1/run/username.valName' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN'

Real Use Cases

Webhook receivers: GitHub, Stripe, Slack webhooks
Cron monitors: Check uptime, prices, stock every N minutes
Micro APIs: JSON endpoints without a server
Email automation: Parse and route incoming emails
Data pipelines: Fetch, transform, store data on schedule

Val Town vs Alternatives

Feature	Val Town	Cloudflare Workers	AWS Lambda
Setup time	0	Minutes	Hours
Built-in DB	SQLite	D1	DynamoDB
Social/sharing	Yes	No	No
Free tier	Generous	100K req/day	1M req/mo
Email trigger	Yes	No	Via SES

Need to scrape web data for your vals? Scrapfly handles proxies and anti-bot. Email spinov001@gmail.com for custom data pipelines.

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