Edge Computing: The Performance Win Hiding in Plain Sight
Moving compute to the edge isn't just about latency. It changes the kind of products you can build.
The conversation around the edge is usually framed as a latency story: 50ms instead of 250ms. That's true and that's nice, but it undersells what actually changed. Edge compute lets us treat personalization, A/B testing, auth, and feature flags as part of the page, not something we apply after it loads.
What we use it for in production
Personalized HTML at request time. Geo, locale, plan, and experiment variants composed into the response itself. No client-side flicker.
Auth-aware caching. Cache an entire page, but vary it on a signed cookie at the edge. You get static-site speed for logged-in users.
AI gateway. Token rate limiting, prompt logging, and provider failover all in one place, far from your origin.
What it isn't great for
Long-running work, anything needing a heavy library, or anything that touches a database in a different region. Push it back to a regional function and stop fighting the platform.