async

This package is all you need to handle async requests / logic / flow effectively and predictable. You could wrap your async actions into the main primitive reatomAsync and get basic action hooks: onFulfill, onReject, onSettle and pendingAtom with count of pending requests. Or you can wrap your get requests into reatomResource and refetch data whenever some of parameters change.

included in @reatom/framework

To chose the most appropriate async primitive refer to the table below:

type	computed	mutation
sync	atom	action
async	reatomResource	reatomAsync

You could utilize extra features by piping additional operators: withDataAtom (resolve payload memoization), withErrorAtom (reject payload memoization), withStatusesAtom (isPending, isEverSettled and so on), withCache (advanced cache policies), withAbort (concurrent management), withRetry (flexible retry management).

reatomAsync

#

reatomAsync accepts effect function which returns a promise (it could be just async function) and call it in effects queue. ctx already includes controller which is a native AbortController↗. The most cool feature of this package and game changer for your DX and your code reliability is automatic linking of nested abort controllers. It means that if you have concurrent (abortable) process, like on input search with a few serial requests, when a new search starts, previous search and all generated effects cancel automatically.

Base reatomAsync weight is just 1.2KB↗ and the whole package is only 2.6KB↗!

As the main point of this package is general management of async functions, there is no built in solution for data requests in the web or other environment. Fill free to use any existing library, like tiny redaxios↗ or feature-rich axios↗.

Default request helper

#

For examples below lets define our own simple helper.

async function request<T>(...params: Parameters<typeof fetch>): Promise<T> {
  const response = await fetch(...params)
  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(response.statusText)
  return await response.json()
}

Basic usage

#

import { reatomAsync } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx, page: number) => request(`/api/list?page=${page}`, ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
)

You could handle promise states by optional hooks of the second parameter.

import { atom } from '@reatom/core'
import { reatomAsync } from '@reatom/async'

const listAtom = atom([])
const errorAtom = atom(null)
export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx, page: number) => request(`/api/list?page=${page}`, ctx.controller),
  {
    name: 'fetchList',
    onFulfill(ctx, result) {
      listAtom(ctx, result)
    },
    onReject(ctx, error) {
      errorAtom(ctx, error)
    },
    onEffect(ctx, params, promise) {
      // clear outdated data on request start
      listAtom(ctx, [])
      errorAtom(ctx, null)
    },
  },
)

Qualified usage

#

Let’s add loading state and abort strategy. To be more idiomatic with other Reatom code you could use onCall hook - it is like lazy subscription.

~/features/entities/model.ts

import { reatomAsync } from '@reatom/async'
import { atom } from '@reatom/core'

type Element = {
  id: string
  /* ... */
}

export const listAtom = atom(new Array<Element>(), 'listAtom')
export const errorAtom = atom<null | Error>(null, 'errorAtom')
// if number of pending requests are equal or more than 1 - there is a loading state
export const isLoadingAtom = atom(
  (ctx) => ctx.spy(fetchList.pendingAtom) > 0,
  'isLoadingAtom',
)
// store abort controller of last request to prevent race conditions
const abortControllerAtom = atom(new AbortController())
const ABORT = 'ABORT'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync((ctx, page: number) => {
  // cancel previous request
  ctx.get(abortControllerAtom).abort(ABORT)
  // setup controller of current request
  abortControllerAtom(ctx, ctx.controller)

  return request<Array<Element>>(`/api/list?page=${page}`, ctx.controller)
}, 'fetchList')
fetchList.onFulfill.onCall(listAtom)
fetchList.onReject.onCall((ctx, thing) => {
  if (thing !== ABORT) {
    const error = thing instanceof Error ? thing : new Error(String(thing))
    errorAtom(ctx, error)
  }
})

export const updateElement = reatomAsync(
  (ctx, id: string, slice: Partial<Element>) => {
    const { signal } = ctx.controller
    const data = JSON.stringify(slice)
    return request(`/api/list/${id}`, { method: 'POST', data, signal })
  },
  'updateElement',
)
// refresh backend data on successful update
updateElement.onFulfill.onCall((ctx) => fetchList(ctx, 1))

You could get params with onCall from the third argument: anAction.onCall((ctx, payload, params) => {/* ... */}).

Operators usage

#

The code above is a good example of well designed async code. As you could see, it is not so different from a regular code without a state manager, but it has a lot of benefits: automatic batching, perfect cause logging, easy to test, and reactivity ofcourse.

However, there is a lot of boilerplate code, which could be reduced with a couple of helpers. We could use built-in operators to extends primitive fetching to useful models without extra boilerplate in a couple lines of code.

~/features/entities/model.ts

import { reatomAsync, withAbort, withDataAtom, withErrorAtom, withStatusesAtom } from "@reatom/framework"; /* prettier-ignore */

type Element = {
  id: string
  /* ... */
}

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx, page: number) =>
    request<Array<Element>>(`/api/list?page=${page}`, ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
  // add extra handlers with full type inference
).pipe(withDataAtom([]), withErrorAtom(), withAbort(), withStatusesAtom())

export const updateElement = reatomAsync(
  (ctx, id: string, slice: Partial<Element>) => {
    const { signal } = ctx.controller
    const data = JSON.stringify(slice)
    return request(`/api/list/${id}`, { method: 'POST', data, signal })
  },
  'updateElement',
)
updateElement.onFulfill.onCall((ctx) => fetchList(ctx, 1))

Now listAtom is fetchList.dataAtom, errorAtom is fetchList.errorAtom and loading state you could get from fetchList.statusesAtom as isPending property. As in the hand written example, fetchList.errorAtom will not be updated on abort, even more, onReject will not be called too.

The amount of the list resource logic reduced dramatically. All thous features work together perfectly with most efficient batching and static types guaranties. All extra atoms and actions has obvious names, based on fetchList (second parameter of reatomAsync), which helps with debug. The overhead of thous operators is only ~1KB. And it includes a lot of useful helpers, like reset action for dataAtom, abort action on fetchList for manual abort, a few understandable statuses in statusesAtom and so on.

Want to know more - check the docs below.

withDataAtom

#

This is the most dump and useful operator to manage data from a backend. Adds property dataAtom which updates by onFulfill or manually. It is like a tiny cache level, but mostly for client purposes. reset action included already.

Let’s say we have a feature, which should be loaded from the backend, changed by a user and saved back to the backend. We could use withDataAtom to store the actual state in the atom.

import { reatomAsync, withDataAtom } from '@reatom/async'

type Feature = {
  /*...*/
}

export const fetchFeature = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request<Feature>('/api/feature', ctx.controller),
  'fetchFeature',
).pipe(withDataAtom(null))
// use subscription to `fetchFeature.dataAtom` to get the actual data

// mutate data manually in the feature form
export const changeFeature = action(
  (ctx, property: keyof Feature, value: any) => {
    fetchUser.dataAtom(ctx, (user) => ({ ...user, [property]: value }))
  },
  'changeFeature',
)

// save new feature data to backend on form submit
export const syncFeature = reatomAsync((ctx) => {
  const { signal } = ctx.controller
  const body = JSON.stringify(ctx.get(fetchFeature.dataAtom))
  return request('/api/feature', { method: 'POST', body, signal })
}, 'syncFeature')

Here we can see an important pattern for handling backend data. Many web interfaces exist solely for displaying backend DTOs and allowing users to modify them. This data is not shared between different pages of the application, so it is safe to mutate the state obtained from the backend.

Using the same state for both the backend payload and the local form is a more predictable and cleaner approach, as they have the same static type and it is impossible to encounter glitches during data synchronization. Additionally, it requires less code!

However, if you need to separate or share your backend data between different pages and want to optimize it, it is better to use the withCache feature.

Fetch data on demand

#

Here how you can fetch data declaratively and lazy only when needed. This is a super simple and useful combine of async and hooks packages, which shows the power of Reatom.

import { reatomAsync, withDataAtom } from '@reatom/async'
import { onConnect } from '@reatom/hooks'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withDataAtom([]))
onConnect(fetchList.dataAtom, fetchList)

What this code do? When you connect to fetchList.dataAtom it will automatically call fetchList action. Connection could appear in any place of your application, by ctx.subscribe(fetchList.dataAtom, cb) or by using useAtom(fetchList.dataAtom) hook from @reatom/npm-react. Even by a different atom.

export const filteredListAtom = atom(
  (ctx) => ctx.spy(fetchList.dataAtom).filter((item) => item.active),
  'filteredListAtom',
)

When filteredListAtom will be connected, fetchList will be called automatically too! And when fetchList will be fulfilled, filteredListAtom will be updated. All things just works together as expected.

Adding data you’ve fetched to data you’ve fetched before

#

import { reatomAsync, withDataAtom } from '@reatom/async'

const PAGE_SIZE = 10

export const fetchFeed = reatomAsync(async (ctx, page: number) => {
  const data = await request(
    `api/feed?page=${page}&limit?${page}`,
    ctx.controller,
  )
  return { data, page }
}, 'fetchFeed').pipe(
  withDataAtom([], (ctx, { data, page }, state) => {
    const newState = [...state]
    newState.splice((page - 1) * PAGE_SIZE, PAGE_SIZE, ...data)
    return newState
  }),
)

Optimistic update

#

You could describe optimistic async logic easily with onEffect handler, which allow you to read passed parameters by third argument.

import { reatomAsync, withDataAtom } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withDataAtom([]))

export const updateList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx, newList) => {
    const { signal } = ctx.controller
    const data = JSON.stringify(newList)
    return request('/api/list', { method: 'POST', data, signal })
  },
  {
    name: 'updateList',
    onEffect(ctx, params, promise) {
      const [newList] = params
      const newList = fetchList.dataAtom(ctx, newList)
    },
  },
)

For more details of optimistic update check the story tests in the sources↗ or in the end of this doc.

Custom dataAtom

#

If you need to persist effect result to local state and want to use some additional atom, you could describe that logic just by using fetchList.onFulfill.onCall(listAtom).

import { reatomArray } from '@reatom/primitives'
import { reatomAsync } from '@reatom/async'

export type Element = {
  id: string
  // ...
}

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request<Array<Element>>('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
)
export const listAtom = reatomArray(new Array<Element>(), 'listAtom')
fetchList.onFulfill.onCall(listAtom)

Here the interface of onFulfill update hook and listAtom update is the same and because of that we could pass listAtom just by a reference. If you have a different type of the cache atom, you could map payload just by a function.

import { reatomMap } from '@reatom/primitives'
// ....
export const mapAtom = reatomMap(new Map<string, Element>(), 'mapAtom')
fetchList.onFulfill.onCall((ctx, payload) =>
  mapAtom(ctx, new Map(payload.map((el) => [el.id, el]))),
)

withErrorAtom

#

Adds errorAtom, similar to dataAtom, which updates by onReject and clears by onFulfill by default. You could add an optional mapper function by the first parameter to ensure your error type. By the second optional object parameter you could set resetTrigger (null | 'onEffect' | 'onFulfill') or initState. The last one undefined by default and it also used in reset logic.

You could update the error atom manually as a usual atom: fetchList.errorAtom(ctx, someError). You could reset the state by yourself by additional reset action: fetchList.errorAtom.reset(ctx)

import { reatomAsync, withErrorAtom } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(
  withErrorAtom(
    // optional mapper
    (ctx, error) =>
      error instanceof Response
        ? error.status
        : error?.message || 'unknown error',
  ),
)

withStatusesAtom

#

Adds property statusesAtom with additional statuses, which updates by the effect calling, onFulfill and onReject. The state is a record with following boolean properties: isPending, isFulfilled, isRejected, isSettled, isFirstPending, isEverPending, isEverSettled.

import { reatomAsync, withStatusesAtom } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withStatusesAtom())

// ...

const initStatuses = ctx.get(fetchList.statusesAtom)

initStatuses.isPending // false
initStatuses.isFulfilled // false
initStatuses.isRejected // false
initStatuses.isSettled // false

initStatuses.isFirstPending // false
initStatuses.isEverPending // false
initStatuses.isEverSettled // false

!isEverPending is like init state, isEverSettled is like loaded state, isFirstPending is perfect match for “stale while revalidate” pattern.

statusesAtom has an additional reset action that you can use to clear all statuses. Any pending promises will be ignored in this case. For example:

onDisconnect(fetchList.dataAtom, (ctx) => {
  fetchList.dataAtom.reset(ctx)
  fetchList.statusesAtom.reset(ctx)
})

You could import special types of statuses of each effect state and use it for typesafe conditional logic.

export type AsyncStatusesPending =
  | AsyncStatusesFirstPending
  | AsyncStatusesAnotherPending

export type AsyncStatuses =
  | AsyncStatusesNeverPending
  | AsyncStatusesPending
  | AsyncStatusesFulfilled
  | AsyncStatusesRejected

withCache

#

This is the most famous feature of any resource management. You are not required to use withDataAtom, the cache worked for effect results, but if dataAtom exists - it will worked as well and you could react on data changes immediately.

This operator adds cacheAtom property which is MapAtom from @reatom/primitives and contains the cache of effect results. Do not change it manually! But you could use reset action to clear the cache. Also cacheAtom contains invalidate action which clears all existed cache and call new fetch with the last payload.

withCache adds swrPendingAtom which is relative to swr option (see above).

If the async action will called with the same params during existing fetching - the same promise will returned.

You could rule the cache behavior by set of optional parameters.

• length - maximum amount of cache records. Default is 5.
• staleTime - the amount of milliseconds after which a cache record will cleanup. Default is 5 * 60 * 1000ms which is 5 minutes.
• paramsLength - the number of excepted parameters, which will used as a cache key. Default is “all”.
• isEqual - check the equality of a cache record and passed params to find the cache. Default is isDeepEqual from @reatom/utils.
• paramsToKey - convert params to a string as a key of the cache map. Not used by default, equality check (isEqual) is used instead. This option is useful if you have a complex object as a params which equality check is too expensive, or you was set large length option and want to speed up the cache search.

  You could import and use toStringKey function from the utils package for this purposes.

• swr - enable stale while revalidate↗ pattern. Default is true. It allow to return the cached data immediately (if exist) and run extra fetch for the fresh data on the background. Success SWR fetch will call onFulfill to force new data for dataAtom, you could change this behavior by swr: { shouldFulfill: false }, in this case the SWR logic is just a background silent synchronization to speedup a next fetch. There also two additional options, which is false by default: shouldReject and shouldPending. withCache adds swrPendingAtom to passed async
• withPersist - WithPersist instance from one of the adapter of @reatom/persist. It will used with predefined optimal parameters for internal Map (de)serialization and so on.
• ignoreAbort - define if the effect should be prevented from abort. The outer abort strategy is not affected, which means that all hooks and returned promise will behave the same. But the effect execution could be continued even if abort appears, to save the result in the cache. Default is true.

import { reatomAsync, withDataAtom, withCache } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withDataAtom(), withCache())

// fetch data
await fetchList(ctx, { query: 'foo', page: 1 }) // call the effect
const firstResult = ctx.get(fetchList.dataAtom)

// fetch another data
await fetchList(ctx, { query: 'bar', page: 2 })

// request data with the equal parameters
fetchList(ctx, { page: 1, query: 'foo' })
// the cache comes to `onFulfill` and `dataAtom` as well synchronously
isEqual(firstResult, ctx.get(fetchList.dataAtom)) // true

Invalidate cache

#

You can invalidate the cache by reset action on cacheAtom. It will clear the whole cache records of the async action.

import { reatomAsync, withCache, withDataAtom } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withCache(), withDataAtom())

export const updateList = reatomAction(async () => {
  /*  */
}, 'updateList')
updateList.onFulfill.onCall(fetchList.cacheAtom.reset)

You can use withRetry to retry the effect after cache invalidation or use built-in action for that. cacheAtom.invalidate will clear the cache and call the effect immediately with the last params.

import { reatomAsync, withCache, withDataAtom } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withCache(), withDataAtom())

export const updateList = reatomAction(async () => {
  /*  */
}, 'updateList')
updateList.onFulfill.onCall(fetchList.cacheAtom.invalidate)

export const listLoadingAtom = atom(
  (ctx) => ctx.spy(fetchList.pendingAtom) + ctx.spy(updateList.pendingAtom) > 0,
)

Use listLoadingAtom to show a loader in a UI during the whole process of data updating and invalidation.

Note that cache changes (setWithParams) or clearing (reset) do not abort existing promises. If needed, you should manually cancel them.

export const resetListFetching = action((ctx) => {
  for (const [, { controller }] of ctx.get(fetchList.cacheAtom)) {
    controller.abort(toAbortError('reset'))
  }
  fetchList.cacheAtom.reset(ctx)
})

Update cache

#

You can manage the cache precisely using separate methods of the cacheAtom: setWithParams and deleteWithParams. It can be useful for implementing “optimistic update” logic.

import { reatomAsync, withCache, withDataAtom } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchElement = reatomAsync(async (ctx, id, search) => {
  return await request(`api/list/${id}?search=${search}`, ctx.controller)
}, 'fetchElement').pipe(withCache(), withDataAtom())

export const updateElement = reatomAction(async (ctx, id, data) => {
  fetchElement.cacheAtom.setWithParams(ctx, [id, ''], data)
  // call api for update...
}, 'updateElement')

Sync cache

#

You could persist the cache for a chosen time and sync it across a tabs by withLocalStorage from @reatom/persist-web-storage. You could use withSessionStorage if you need only synchronization.

import { reatomAsync, withCache } from '@reatom/async'
import { withLocalStorage } from '@reatom/persist-web-storage'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withCache({ withPersist: withLocalStorage }))

withCache applies withPersist to cacheAtom with options for optimal serialization. You could redefine the options by an inline decorator function. It is recommended to set the key explicitly, by default the async action name used.

import { reatomAsync, withCache } from '@reatom/async'
import { withLocalStorage } from '@reatom/persist-web-storage'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(
  withCache({
    withPersist: (options) =>
      withLocalStorage({ ...options, key: 'LIST_CACHE' }),
  }),
)

If you want to use persisted cache as an init state of dataAtom - just put withCache after withDataAtom!

import { reatomAsync, withDataAtom, withCache } from '@reatom/async'
import { withLocalStorage } from '@reatom/persist-web-storage'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withDataAtom([]), withCache({ withPersist }))

withRetry

#

Adds retry action and paramsAtom to store last params of the effect call.

import { reatomAsync, withCache, withDataAtom, withRetry } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withCache(), withDataAtom(), withRetry())

export const updateList = reatomAction(async () => {
  /*  */
}, 'updateList')
updateList.onFulfill.onCall(fetchList.cacheAtom.reset)
updateList.onFulfill.onCall(retry)

If you will try to call retry before first effect call, it will throw an error. To avoid this you could specify fallbackParams option.

import { reatomAsync, withRetry } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx, page) => request(`api/list?page=${page}`, ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withRetry({ fallbackParams: [1] }))

// will call fetch(`api/list?page=1`)
fetchList.retry(ctx)

Retry request on failure

#

withRetry accept optional onReject parameter which is a hook which is called with context, payload error and retries count parameters. This hook could return a number which will be used as a timer for scheduling retry action. To skip the retry scheduling return nothing or negative number.

Return 0 to retry immediately. With this pattern your loader will not blink, as pendingAtom will switch from 0 to 1 before subscribers notification.

import { reatomAsync, withRetry } from '@reatom/async'

const fetchData = export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(
  withRetry({
    onReject(ctx, error, retries) {
      if (retries < 4) return 0
    },
  }),
)

Retry request with exponential backoff

#

Progressive retry: 100 * Math.min(200, retries ** 3). Will retry after 100ms, 800ms, 2700ms, 6400ms, 1250ms, 20s, 20s and so on. To show a loader during retrying you can rely on retriesAtom with the number of retries.

import { atom, reatomAsync, withRetry } from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(
  withRetry({
    onReject: (ctx, error, retries) => 100 * Math.min(200, retries ** 3),
  }),
  withAssign((target, name) => ({
    loadingAtom: atom(
      (ctx) =>
        ctx.spy(target.pendingAtom) > 0 || ctx.spy(target.retriesAtom) > 0,
      `${name}.loadingAtom`,
    ),
  })),
)

Note that retriesAtom will drop to 0 when any promise resolves successfully or when you return undefined or a negative number. So, it is good practice to avoid calling multiple async actions in parallel. If you are using withRetry, it is recommended to always use it with withAbort (with the default ‘last-in-win’ strategy).

import {
  atom,
  reatomAsync,
  withAbort,
  withErrorAtom,
  withRetry,
} from '@reatom/async'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(
  withAbort(),
  withRetry({
    onReject: (ctx, error, retries) => {
      // try to retry the request only 7 times
      if (retries < 7) {
        return 100 * Math.min(200, retries ** 3)
      }
      // otherwise do nothing - prevent retrying and show the error
    },
  }),
  withErrorAtom(),
)
export const isFetchListLoading = atom(
  (ctx) =>
    ctx.spy(fetchList.pendingAtom) > 0 || ctx.spy(fetchList.retriesAtom) > 0,
  'isFetchListLoading',
)

Periodic refresh for used data

#

Do you need to implement a pooling pattern to stay your data fresh? Lets use onConnect from @reatom/hooks to control the neediness of this.

import {
  reatomAsync,
  withDataAtom,
  withRetry,
  onConnect,
  sleep,
} from '@reatom/framework'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx, search: string) => request(`/api/list?q=${search}`, ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withDataAtom([]), withRetry())
onConnect(fetchList.dataAtom, async (ctx) => {
  while (ctx.isConnected()) {
    await fetchList.retry(ctx).catch(() => {})
    await ctx.schedule(() => sleep(5000))
  }
})

You could use onConnect automatic abort strategy to manage the neediness of the periodic refresh automatically! In other words, if you using ctx.schedule (which is highly recommended) you don’t need ctx.isConnected(), as the schedule will throw abort automatically on disconnect.

import { reatomAsync, withAbort, withDataAtom, withRetry, sleep } from '@reatom/framework' /* prettier-ignore */

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx, search: string) => request(`/api/list?q=${search}`, ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withAbort(), withDataAtom([]), withRetry())
onConnect(fetchList.dataAtom, async (ctx) => {
  while (true) {
    await fetchList.retry(ctx).catch(() => {})
    await ctx.schedule(() => sleep(5000))
  }
})

Here we rely on the fact that onConnect will be called only when fetchList.dataAtom is connected (subscribed) to the consumer and will be aborted when fetchList.dataAtom is disconnected (unsubscribed).

To be clear, you don’t need to use retry, if you have no need to manage parameters.

import { reatomAsync, withAbort, withDataAtom, sleep } from '@reatom/framework'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx) => request('/api/list', ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withAbort(), withDataAtom([]), withRetry())
onConnect(fetchList.dataAtom, async (ctx) => {
  while (true) {
    await fetchList(ctx).catch(() => {})
    await ctx.schedule(() => sleep(5000))
  }
})

withAbort

#

This is the most powerful feature for advanced async flow management. It allows you to configure concurrency strategy of your effect. This operator allows you to use the full power of Reatom architecture by relies on a context causes and give the ability to handle concurrent requests like with AsyncLocalStorage↗ / AsyncContext (Ecma TC39 proposal slides↗) from a mature backend frameworks. Like redux-saga or rxjs it allows you to cancel concurrent requests of any depth, but unlike them, it does not require you to use generators, observables, or any additional abstraction! All needed information already stored in the context.

So, how does it work? By default, each effect in reatomAsync has its own AbortController in ctx.controller, but it isn’t managed and doesn’t do anything. To achieve the basic concurrency strategy of “last-in-win,” you need to call ctx.controller.abort() for the previous effect when the new one is called, and to do it, you need to store the previous controller somewhere. We have an example code demonstrating this logic at the beginning of this page, check abortControllerAtom usage. However, performing this manually is annoying, so we have moved this logic to a reusable operator called withAbort and added a few additional methods:

• abort action: You can manually call this action to manage the abort logic yourself.
• abortControllerAtom: An atom that stores the AbortController of the last effect call.
• onAbort action: Used for handling abort from any cause. Please do not call it manually. It is useful to hook this action (onAbort.onCall(doSome)) for additional logic.

withAbort accepts an optional parameters object with a strategy property, which can be set to either none, first-in-win, or last-in-win (default).

Note that the behavior of your effect is influenced not only by the strategy and additional actions but also by the top-level cause controllers. For instance, onConnect also produces an AbortController. It will cancel your request when the associated atom is disconnected. However, it is possible that your request was called after connection with some additional parameters, and you still want to cancel it if the dataAtom becomes disconnected. You should describe this logic additionally. Please check the example below.

import { reatomAsync, withDataAtom, withAbort } from '@reatom/async'
import { onConnect } from '@reatom/hooks'

export const fetchList = reatomAsync(
  (ctx, page = 1) => request(`api/list?page=${page}`, ctx.controller),
  'fetchList',
).pipe(withDataAtom([]), withAbort())

onConnect(fetchList.dataAtom, (ctx) => {
  fetchList(ctx)
  // abort unneeded request
  return () => fetchList.abort(ctx)
})

In this case, the fetchList could be called with parameters, and each new request will cancel the previous one. Also, when the user leaves the page and the dataAtom becomes disconnected, the last request will be canceled too.

Check the real-world example in pooling example from story tests below (src↗).

reatomResource

#

This method is the simplest solution to describe an asynchronous resource that is based on local states. Let’s delve into the problem.

For example, we need to display a list of items, and we have paging and a search field.

export const pageAtom = atom(1, 'pageAtom')
export const searchAtom = atom('', 'searchAtom')

We need to describe the fetching logic. How can we describe it using Reatom? The naive solution requires us to explicitly declare types. We also need to declare fetching triggers, which may not be obvious to the reader since it follows at the end of the code block. The problem with separate triggers is that if the dependent atoms update together (for example, on a reset button), there would be extra calls to fetching. So, to prevent race conditions in this case and for frequently used events, we need to use withAbort. Oh, and don’t forget to include onConnect for initial loading!

import { reatomAsync, withDataAtom, withAbort } from '@reatom/async'
import { onConnect } from '@reatom/hooks'

const fetchList = reatomAsync(async (ctx, page: string, search: string) => {
  return await request(`/api/list?page=${page}&q=${search}`, ctx.controller)
}, 'fetchList').pipe(withDataAtom([]), withAbort())
onConnect(fetchList.dataAtom, (ctx) => {
  // init
  fetchList(ctx, ctx.get(pageAtom), ctx.get(searchAtom))
  // cleanup
  return () => fetchList.abort(ctx)
})
// trigger
pageAtom.onChange((ctx, page) =>
  fetchSuggestion(ctx, page, ctx.get(searchAtom)),
)
searchAtom.onChange((ctx, search) =>
  fetchSuggestion(ctx, ctx.get(pageAtom), search),
)

There are a lot of boilerplates. reatomResource is a fabric method that encapsulates all this logic and allows you to use ctx.spy just like in the regular atom. It is much simpler, more intuitive, and works automatically for both caching and cancelling previous requests.

import { reatomResource, withDataAtom } from '@reatom/async'

const listResource = reatomResource(async (ctx) => {
  const page = ctx.spy(pageAtom)
  const search = ctx.spy(searchAtom)
  return await ctx.schedule(() =>
    request(`/api/list?page=${page}&q=${search}`, ctx.controller),
  )
}, 'listResource').pipe(withDataAtom([]))

That’s all. The code becomes much cleaner and simpler! The only additional change is the need for ctx.schedule for effects, as the callback in the reatomResource is called in the pure computations queue (to make spy work).

Also, listResource now has a promiseAtom that contains the last promise. You can use it with useAtomPromise in a React application, for example.

If you need to set up a default value and use it synchronously, simply use withDataAtom as you would with any other async action. All async operators work fine with reatomResource. You could use withRetry and even withCache!

But that’s not all! The most powerful feature of reatomResource is that you can use promiseAtom in another resources, which greatly simplifies dependent request descriptions and prevents complex race conditions, as the stale promises are always automatically canceled.

import { reatomResource } from '@reatom/async'

const aResource = reatomResource(async (ctx) => {
  const page = ctx.spy(pageAtom)
  return await ctx.schedule(() =>
    request(`/api/a?page=${page}`, ctx.controller),
  )
}, 'aResource')
const bResource = reatomResource(async (ctx) => {
  const a = await ctx.spy(aResource.promiseAtom)
  return await ctx.schedule(() => request(`/api/b/${b}`, ctx.controller))
}, 'bResource')

In this example, when the pageAtom updates, the entire chain of previous requests aborts, and all computed effects are called immediately.

Please note that ctx.get and ctx.spy of a promiseAtom return a promise, and you should await it to obtain the value.

reatomResource reset

#

Sometimes you don’t want to persist a result of your resource for all time and expect that it will be reinitialized on eon a new connection. For example, if a user come to a page with a resource, leave it and come again - you want to refetch the resource. It repeat the “onConnect” logic but it will be a mistake to duplicate this code (onConnect(myResource, myResource)), because it will be called twice on the first connection. The correct way to handle it is reset the resource on disconnect.

onDisconnect(myResource, myResource.reset)

reatomAsyncReaction

#

Deprecated: use reatomResource instead

Story test

#

source↗

import { describe, test, expect } from 'vitest'
import { createTestCtx } from '@reatom/testing'
import { atom } from '@reatom/core'
import { onConnect } from '@reatom/hooks'
import { isDeepEqual, jsonClone, sleep } from '@reatom/utils'

import { reatomAsync, withAbort, withDataAtom } from '@reatom/async'

describe('optimistic update', () => {
  /*
    The case: we have a list of items and we want to update one of them.
    We want to update the list immediately, but we want to rollback the update
    if the server returns an error.

    Also, we use `onConnect` to fetch the list from the server every 5 seconds
    and we don't want to call subscriptions extra times so we use `isDeepEqual`
    in `withDataAtom` to prevent new reference stream if nothing really changed.
  */

  //#region BACKEND IMITATION
  let mock = [{ id: 1, value: 1 }]
  const api = {
    getData: async () => jsonClone(mock),
    putData: async (id: number, value: number) => {
      const item = mock.find((item) => item.id === id)
      if (item) item.value = value
      await sleep()
    },
  }
  //#endregion

  // this is short for test purposes, use ~5000 in real code
  const INTERVAL = 5

  const getData = reatomAsync.from(api.getData).pipe(
    // add `dataAtom` and map the effect payload into it
    // try to prevent new reference stream if nothing really changed
    withDataAtom([], (ctx, payload, state) => (isDeepEqual(payload, state) ? state : payload)),
  )
  const putData = reatomAsync.from(api.putData)
  putData.onCall((ctx, promise, params) => {
    const [id, value] = params
    const oldList = ctx.get(getData.dataAtom)
    // optimistic update
    const newList = getData.dataAtom(ctx, (state) => state.map((item) => (item.id === id ? { ...item, value } : item)))
    // rollback on error
    promise.catch((error) => {
      if (ctx.get(getData.dataAtom) === newList) {
        getData.dataAtom(ctx, oldList)
      } else {
        // TODO looks like user changed data again
        // need to notify user about the conflict.
      }
      throw error
    })
  })

  onConnect(getData.dataAtom, async (ctx) => {
    while (ctx.isConnected()) {
      await getData(ctx)
      await sleep(INTERVAL)
    }
  })

  test('optimistic update', async () => {
    const ctx = createTestCtx()
    const effectTrack = ctx.subscribeTrack(getData.onFulfill)
    const dataTrack = ctx.subscribeTrack(getData.dataAtom)

    // every subscription calls passed callback immediately
    expect(effectTrack.calls.length).toBe(1)
    expect(dataTrack.calls.length).toBe(1)
    expect(dataTrack.lastInput()).toEqual([])

    // `onConnect` calls `fetchData`, wait it and check changes
    await sleep()
    expect(dataTrack.calls.length).toBe(2)
    expect(dataTrack.lastInput()).toEqual([{ id: 1, value: 1 }])

    // call `updateData` and check changes
    putData(ctx, 1, 2)
    expect(dataTrack.calls.length).toBe(3)
    expect(dataTrack.lastInput()).toEqual([{ id: 1, value: 2 }])

    // wait for `fetchData` and check changes
    expect(effectTrack.calls.length).toBe(2)
    await sleep(INTERVAL)
    // the effect is called again, but dataAtom is not updated
    expect(effectTrack.calls.length).toBe(3)
    expect(dataTrack.calls.length).toBe(3)

    // cleanup test
    dataTrack.unsubscribe()
  })
})

describe('concurrent pooling', () => {
  /*
    The case: we have a long-running task and we want to pool it's progress
    every 5 seconds. We want to abort the previous pooling if the new one
    was started. The problem with the most tooling for async management is that no causes tracking
    and we can't abort some step of the previous pooling if the new one was started.
    Reatom handle it perfectly, because `ctx` is immutable and could be traced when needed.
  */

  //#region BACKEND IMITATION
  const tasks = new Map<number, number>()
  const api = {
    async createTask() {
      return Math.random()
    },
    async poolTask(taskId: number) {
      await sleep(5)
      const progress = (tasks.get(taskId) ?? -10) + 10
      tasks.set(taskId, progress)

      return progress
    },
  }
  //#endregion

  const createTask = reatomAsync.from(api.createTask)
  const poolTask = reatomAsync.from(api.poolTask)

  const progressAtom = atom(0)

  const search = reatomAsync(async (ctx) => {
    const taskId = await createTask(ctx)

    while (true) {
      const progress = await poolTask(ctx, taskId)
      progressAtom(ctx, progress)

      if (progress === 100) return
    }
  }).pipe(withAbort({ strategy: 'last-in-win' }))

  test('concurrent pooling', async () => {
    const ctx = createTestCtx()
    const track = ctx.subscribeTrack(progressAtom)

    const promise1 = search(ctx)
    await sleep(15)
    const promise2 = search(ctx)

    await Promise.allSettled([promise1, promise2])

    expect(ctx.get(progressAtom)).toBe(100)

    const expectedProgress = [0, 10, /* start again */ 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100]

    // TODO time flickering
    // expect(track.inputs()).toEqual(expectedProgress)
  })
})