AsyncGenerator
BaselineWidely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since January 2020.
TheAsyncGenerator
object is returned by anasync generator function and it conforms to both theasync iterable protocol and the async iterator protocol.
Async generator methods always yieldPromise
objects.
AsyncGenerator
is a subclass of the hiddenAsyncIterator
class.
Constructor
There's no JavaScript entity that corresponds to theAsyncGenerator
constructor. Instances ofAsyncGenerator
must be returned fromasync generator functions:
async function* createAsyncGenerator() { yield Promise.resolve(1); yield await Promise.resolve(2); yield 3;}const asyncGen = createAsyncGenerator();asyncGen.next().then((res) => console.log(res.value)); // 1asyncGen.next().then((res) => console.log(res.value)); // 2asyncGen.next().then((res) => console.log(res.value)); // 3
There's only a hidden object which is the prototype object shared by all objects created by async generator functions. This object is often stylized asAsyncGenerator.prototype
to make it look like a class, but it should be more appropriately calledAsyncGeneratorFunction.prototype.prototype
, becauseAsyncGeneratorFunction
is an actual JavaScript entity. To understand the prototype chain ofAsyncGenerator
instances, seeAsyncGeneratorFunction.prototype.prototype
.
Instance properties
These properties are defined onAsyncGenerator.prototype
and shared by allAsyncGenerator
instances.
AsyncGenerator.prototype.constructor
The constructor function that created the instance object. For
AsyncGenerator
instances, the initial value isAsyncGeneratorFunction.prototype
.Note:
AsyncGenerator
objects do not store a reference to the async generator function that created them.AsyncGenerator.prototype[Symbol.toStringTag]
The initial value of the
[Symbol.toStringTag]
property is the string"AsyncGenerator"
. This property is used inObject.prototype.toString()
.
Instance methods
Also inherits instance methods from its parentAsyncIterator
.
AsyncGenerator.prototype.next()
Returns a
Promise
which will be resolved with the given value yielded by theyield
expression.AsyncGenerator.prototype.return()
Acts as if a
return
statement is inserted in the generator's body at the current suspended position, which finishes the generator and allows the generator to perform any cleanup tasks when combined with atry...finally
block.AsyncGenerator.prototype.throw()
Acts as if a
throw
statement is inserted in the generator's body at the current suspended position, which informs the generator of an error condition and allows it to handle the error, or perform cleanup and close itself.
Examples
Async generator iteration
The following example iterates over an async generator, logging values 1–6 to the console at decreasing time intervals. Notice how each time a Promise is yielded, but it's automatically resolved within thefor await...of
loop.
// An async task. Pretend it's doing something more useful// in practice.function delayedValue(time, value) { return new Promise((resolve /*, reject */) => { setTimeout(() => resolve(value), time); });}async function* generate() { yield delayedValue(2000, 1); yield delayedValue(1000, 2); yield delayedValue(500, 3); yield delayedValue(250, 4); yield delayedValue(125, 5); yield delayedValue(50, 6); console.log("All done!");}async function main() { for await (const value of generate()) { console.log("value", value); }}main().catch((e) => console.error(e));
Specifications
Specification |
---|
ECMAScript® 2026 Language Specification # sec-asyncgenerator-objects |