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# includeBytes

The **`includeBytes()`** function is used embed a file as a Uint8Array.

>**Note**: Can only be used during build-time initialization, not when processing requests.

## Syntax

```js
includeBytes(path)
```

### Parameters

- `path` _: string_
  - The path to include, relative to the Fastly Compute application's top-level directory during build-time initialization.

### Return value

Returns a `Uint8Array`

## Examples

In this example we include the README.md file as a Uint8Array and use it for the body in the response we return to the client.

```js
/// <reference types="@fastly/js-compute" />
import { includeBytes } from "fastly:experimental";
const readme = includeBytes('README.md');
async function app() {
    return new Response(readme);
}
addEventListener("fetch", event => event.respondWith(app(event)));
```
