Should a function be async if it does not use await

Question

Consider a javascript function that is essentially a wrapper for another async function. Should that wrapping function necessarily be async itself, even if it does need need to await the underlying promise?

Here's a simple example:

function myWrapperFunction() {
    console.log('Calling myAsyncFunction')
    return myAsyncFunction();
}

async function myAsyncFunction() {
    const url = 'URL'
    const data = await fetch(url)
    return JSON.parse(data)
}

Should myWrapperFunction be async ? I would guess it doesn't need to be given that it just returns the promise from myAsyncFunction . However the first example in the correct code section of es-lint's no-return-await rule hints otherwise: https://eslint.org/docs/rules/no-return-await

Thanks!

Answer 1

I'd write it like that:

function myWrapperFunction() {
    console.log('Calling myAsyncFunction')
    const promise = myAsyncFunction();
    return promise;
}

to improve maintainability of the code. Eg to ensure other people wouldn't need to ask themselves whether returning a Promise is intentional or not.