Which application or package is this feature request for?

discord.js

Feature

Right now, as I understand it, the documented way to close out a Client after it's done is destroy():

const client = new Client({ intents: [/* ... */] });

await client.login(/* ... */);

// ... (use the client) ...

await client.destroy();

One gotcha is that if the ( use the client ) bit throws, the await client.destroy() won't run - unless you try/catch or try/(catch/)finally). This is a common gotcha in async code.

Explicit Resource Management is a TC39 proposal to add explicit syntax for situations where a resource should have some method called upon disposal. It's stage 3 now and supported in TypeScript >=5.2.

Ideal solution or implementation

Proposal: can the BaseClient class be given a [Symbol.asyncDispose] method that calls this.destroy()?

class BaseClient<Ready extends boolean = boolean> {
  // ... (existing class fields) ...

  async [Symbol.asyncDispose]() {
    await this.destroy();
  }
}

That way we'd be able to use clients like:

await using client = new Client({ intents: [/* ... */] });

...and be more assured that the client's .destroy() will be called and awaited when done.

Alternative solutions or implementations

For now, we can somewhat shim this in with:

class DisposableClient<Ready extends boolean = boolean> extends Client<Ready> {
	async [Symbol.asyncDispose]() {
		await this.destroy();
	}
}

await using client = new DisposableClient({
    intents: [GatewayIntentBits.Guilds],
});

Other context

I made a small standalone package containing this suggested DisposableClient: https://github.com/JoshuaKGoldberg/disposable-discord-client -> https://www.npmjs.com/package/disposable-discord-client