Returning a promise when using async/await in Firebase Cloud Functions

Question

So I've happily been using async/await since node 8 is supported on Firebase Cloud Functions. I am struggling with 1 thing though. When using callable functions, it is told that you have to return a promise in the function, otherwise it won't work correctly. When using raw promises, its clear to me how to use it:

exports.createBankAccount = functions.region('europe-west1').https.onCall((data, context) => {
    return promiseMethod().then((result) => {
        return nextPromise(result);
    }).then((result) => {
        return result;
    }).catch((err) => {
        // handle err
    })
});

But now, with async await, I'm not sure how to return this "chain of promises":

exports.createBankAccount = functions.region('europe-west1').https.onCall(async (data, context) => {
    const res1 = await promiseMethod();
    const res2 = await nextPromise(res1);
    return res2;
    // ??? Where to return the promise?
});

Does somebody know?

Answer 1

You nailed it with your example code.

Async/await is just a newer way of promise. They can be used interchangeable.

Here is an example promise and async/await of the same function.

This

exports.createBankAccount = functions.region('europe-west1').https.onCall((data, context) => {
    return promiseMethod().then((result) => {
        return nextPromise(result);
    }).catch((err) => {
        // handle error here
    })
});

is equivalent to this:

exports.createBankAccount = functions.region('europe-west1').https.onCall(async (data, context) => {
  try {
    const result = await promiseMethod();
    return nextPromise(result); // You are returning a promise here
  }catch(e) {
    // handle error here
  }
});

Note that in both cases, you are returning a promise at the end. The return value of this onCall function would be whatever nextPromise(result) is. Since you are returning nextPromsie(result), you don't need to await it.