async-plugins

Intro

🛠 A lightweight collection of TypeScript utilities for common async operation patterns. Each utility is optimized for performance and provides a clean, type-safe API.

Features:

• ⚡️ async-retry: Smart retry logic with exponential backoff for API calls and network operations
• 🗄️ async-cache: Fast LRU caching with TTL support for expensive operations
• 🎯 async-dedupe: Prevent duplicate API calls and redundant operations
• 📊 async-queue: Control concurrency and resource usage with priority queues
• 🔄 async-poll: Reliable polling with configurable intervals and backoff
• 👊 Fully typed with TypeScript
• 🎭 Comprehensive test coverage
• 📦 Tree-shakeable and lightweight
• 🚫 Zero dependencies (except tiny-lru)

Getting Started

Installing

npm install async-plugins   # npm
pnpm add async-plugins     # pnpm
bun add async-plugins      # bun
yarn add async-plugins     # yarn

Usage Examples

Example online: https://stackblitz.com/edit/js-fjsqnhfc?file=index.js

Retry

Perfect for handling flaky API calls or network operations:

import { createAsyncRetry } from 'async-plugins';

const fetchWithRetry = createAsyncRetry({
  retries: 3, // Try up to 3 times
  minTimeout: 1000, // Start with 1s delay
  maxTimeout: 10000, // Cap at 10s delay
  factor: 2, // Double the delay each time
  jitter: true, // Add randomness to prevent thundering herd
  shouldRetry: (error) => {
    // Only retry on network/5xx errors
    return error.name === 'NetworkError' || (error.status && error.status >= 500);
  },
  onRetry: (error, attempt) => {
    console.warn(`Retry attempt ${attempt} after error:`, error);
  },
});

// Example: Fetch user data with retries
const getUserData = async (userId: string) => {
  try {
    const response = await fetchWithRetry(() =>
      fetch(`/api/users/${userId}`).then((r) => r.json())
    );
    return response;
  } catch (error) {
    // All retries failed
    console.error('Failed to fetch user data:', error);
    throw error;
  }
};

Cache

Optimize expensive operations and API calls with smart caching:

import { createAsyncCache } from 'async-plugins';

const cache = createAsyncCache({
  ttl: 300000, // Cache for 5 minutes
  maxSize: 1000, // Store up to 1000 items
  staleWhileRevalidate: true, // Return stale data while refreshing
});

// Example: Cache expensive API calls
const getUserProfile = cache(
  async (userId: string) => {
    const response = await fetch(`/api/users/${userId}`);
    return response.json();
  },
  // Optional: Custom cache key generator
  (userId) => `user_profile:${userId}`
);

// First call fetches and caches
const profile1 = await getUserProfile('123');

// Subsequent calls within TTL return cached data
const profile2 = await getUserProfile('123'); // instant return

// After TTL expires, returns stale data and refreshes in background
const profile3 = await getUserProfile('123'); // instant return with stale data

Dedupe

Prevent duplicate API calls and redundant operations:

import { createAsyncDedupe } from 'async-plugins';

const dedupe = createAsyncDedupe({
  timeout: 5000, // Auto-expire after 5s
  errorSharing: true, // Share errors between duplicate calls
});

// Example: Prevent duplicate API calls
const fetchUserData = dedupe(async (userId: string) => {
  const response = await fetch(`/api/users/${userId}`);
  return response.json();
});

// Multiple simultaneous calls with same ID
const [user1, user2] = await Promise.all([
  fetchUserData('123'), // Makes API call
  fetchUserData('123'), // Uses result from first call
]);

// Check if operation is in progress
if (dedupe.isInProgress('123')) {
  console.log('Fetch in progress...');
}

Queue

Control concurrency and manage resource usage:

import { createAsyncQueue } from 'async-plugins';

const queue = createAsyncQueue({
  concurrency: 2, // Process 2 tasks at once
  autoStart: true, // Start processing immediately
});

// Example: Rate-limit API calls
const processUsers = async (userIds: string[]) => {
  const results = await queue.addAll(
    userIds.map((id) => async () => {
      const response = await fetch(`/api/users/${id}`);
      return response.json();
    })
  );
  return results;
};

// Monitor queue status
queue.onEmpty().then(() => {
  console.log('Queue is empty');
});

queue.onDrain().then(() => {
  console.log('All tasks completed');
});

// Queue stats
console.log(queue.stats());
// { pending: 0, active: 2, completed: 10, errors: 0, total: 12 }

Poll

Reliable polling with configurable intervals:

import { createAsyncPoller } from 'async-plugins';

// Example: Poll for job completion
const pollJobStatus = createAsyncPoller(
  // Function to poll
  async () => {
    const response = await fetch('/api/job/123');
    return response.json();
  },
  {
    interval: 1000, // Poll every second
    maxAttempts: 30, // Try up to 30 times
    backoff: {
      type: 'exponential',
      factor: 2,
      maxInterval: 30000,
      jitter: true,
    },
    shouldContinue: (result) => result.status === 'running',
    onProgress: (result) => {
      console.log('Job progress:', result.progress);
    },
  }
);

try {
  const finalResult = await pollJobStatus.start();
  console.log('Job completed:', finalResult);
} catch (error) {
  console.error('Polling failed:', error);
}

// Can stop polling manually if needed
pollJobStatus.stop();

FAQ

1. Why choose async-plugins?

• 🎯 Focused Purpose: Each utility solves a specific async pattern problem
• 📦 Lightweight: Minimal bundle size impact with tree-shaking support
• 💪 Type-Safe: Written in TypeScript with comprehensive type definitions
• 🔧 Customizable: Flexible configuration options for each utility
• 🚀 Production-Ready: Well-tested and actively maintained

2. Where can I get help?

If you have questions or run into issues:

1. Check the API Reference
2. Create an issue on GitHub
3. For security issues, please email me directly

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guide for details.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Star History

Acknowledgements

This project wouldn't be possible without:

• tiny-lru for LRU cache implementation
• Claude 3.7 Sonnet
• Gemini 2.5 Pro