Is logging in Cloud Functions (Node.JS) asynchronous?

Question

I'm using simple runtime logging a lot in my Node.JS Cloud Functions

console.log('I am a log entry!');

Is console.log in Cloud Functions asynchronous in its nature?

Answer 1

As @slebetman stated, In the original implementation of node.js it was asynchronous. However, console.log() was made synchronous some time in version 4 (2015). The reason for it was to avoid losing logs when a node process crashes. Making it synchronous ensures that all the text of the log gets printed before the process dies.

Note: However, 3rd party logging libraries like Winston or syslog may still be asynchronous. Some may be configured to be sync or async. The built-in console.log() is synchronous.