What/how exactly should I use functions?

I want to make a real-time leaderboard and want to reset it daily. I wanted to know if I could handle that with Appwrite cloud's functions. If not, how could I solve this with (or maybe without?) appwrite?

I'm a bit confused on what to use functions for, is it solely to separate the backend of the website from the real backend where bigger and more fine-grained and specific processes run? Since I'm using node for the frontend, website backend (api routes) AND appwrite functions, I sometimes can't decide if something should be on appwrite functions or the api route in the backend of the website. Thank you!

Appwrite Functions are used for any sort of custom logic you need

Most people don't use node. Node typically acts as a server...but Appwrite is able to replace your server. So, people typically just focus on writing their front end app. And since they don't have a server like node, they can use Appwrite functions for any custom logic

But aren't many modern front end frameworks just running on node?

Hmm maybe I want users to submit doodles and want to check for possible inappropriate content, would it be more advisable to run the OCR / profanity check on Appwrite functions instead of the node backend?

the simplest common form is just static HTML, CSS, and JS. There are a lot of frameworks now that do server side rendering, but i think that stuff just complicates things

yes, that could be a use case for functions

I see I see, thank you