Hi everyone, I wanted to ask about your way of working when using function nodes. I usually code in function nodes, and since they're JavaScript, I use functions inside the function node. The problem I'm facing is that I don't find an easy way to reuse these functions inside the function node. To a…

Thanks guys! @omrid @E1cid I think I'll go with the context data declaration approach. Not a fan of editing settings.js, especially when Node-RED is running on Docker. :grimacing: Anyway, I'm open to hearing more suggestions and opinions on this. I'm curious how often other Node-RED programmers ru…

[image] aitor: Anyway, I'm open to hearing more suggestions and opinions on this. I'm curious how often other Node-RED programmers run into this same issue. Not that uncommon but I don't think it is common either, at least we don't really see any frequent requests in this forum. Just occasion…

[image] aitor: I might open a feature request to discuss it further. I really think it would be super helpful to have a built-in way to create and manage reusable function templates as a library. Sorry, don't think this has been covered and I should also have mentioned it. There IS already a…

[image] TotallyInformation: BTW, you should note that assigning your functions from within Node-RED itself, only works for in-memory context variables. It generally will not work with any other type of context (file for example). That's because Functions are not serializable to JSON. That is why…

[image] aitor: makes me re-think about having them in context. It is easy enough to have the variables declared at start-up with an inject node etc. I believe if you put them on the first tab, they get run first.

The way I do it to have a single Function node with all my code in and store it in a global variable. This node is called on Node-RED startup. It contains something like: const func = (function () { "use strict"; function addThousandsSeparator(number) { var regEx = /(\d+)(\d{3})/…

[image] MyRandomThoughts: It may not be the best way of doing it, but it's been working fine for me since forever. Agree that this will usually work. But noting that such a flow should go in the first tab in Node-RED which I believe gets run first. All other tabs run in added order I think. A…

I have the function node tied to an inject node that triggers at startup. [image] TotallyInformation: he first tab in Node-RED which I believe gets run first Never heard that one before :slight_smile: How is that determined? Editor order? Creation/index order? I have all my trigger nodes …

[image] MyRandomThoughts: Never heard that one before :slight_smile: How is that determined? Editor order? Creation/index order? It was talked about years ago, may not be true any more, not sure. I'm fairly sure it was whatever tab was at the left end. Anyway, I always put my startup tasks on…

Function nodes - How to reuse JS functions in my functions?

General

jbudd 21 January 2026 14:55 14

The use of global context to store javascript functions was discussed in https://discourse.nodered.org/t/first-flow-on-all-my-rpis/88878 from @juntiedt

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Function nodes - How to reuse JS functions in my functions?

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