await always thows SyntaxError: await is only valid in async function in sequelize

Question

Ubuntu 20
Node 12.18.4
NPM 6.14.6
Sequelize 6.3.5

I followed the official guide and am so confused now.
After successfully configured Sequelize and connected, I tried to run (from official documentation)

await sequelize.authenticate();

It throws SyntaxError: await is only valid in async function.

Under the official get started page https://sequelize.org/master/manual/getting-started.html, it clearly states:

Most of the methods provided by Sequelize are asynchronous and therefore return Promises. They are all Promises , so you can use the Promise API (for example, using then, catch, finally) out of the box.
Of course, using async and await works normally as well.

The methods return promises, that's true but the problem is that the function *where you have the `await`* must be `async function` (or an async arrow function `async () => {}`). It literally has to have the `async` word there. — VLAZ, Sep 29 '20 at 06:38

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 29 '20 at 08:34

That means in your function if you have to await you need to declare an async outside function:

async function() {
     await sequelize.authenticate();
}

or

const nameYourFunction = async () => {
     await sequelize.authenticate();
}

Remember to declare async before await or you can use the promise if you don't want to declare async await

const nameYourFunction = () => {
  sequelize
    .authenticate()
    .then((result) => {
      console.log('nameYourFunction -> result', result);
    })
    .catch((error) => {
      console.log('nameYourFunction -> error', error);
    });
};

Thanks, that does solve my problem. – ptree Sep 29 '20 at 10:04 — ptree, Sep 29 '20 at 10:04

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 29 '20 at 08:25

You have to use async function like this

getStateById: async (req, res) => {
              ^^^^^^

    sequelize.sequelize.transaction(async (t1) => {

        let state = await sequelize.state.findOne({
            where: {
                id: req.params.id
            }
        });

        let result = error.OK;
        result.data = state;

        logger.info(result);
        return res.status(200).send(result);
    }).catch(function (err) {
        logger.error(err);
        return res.status(500).send(error.SERVER_ERROR);
    });
}

async is necessary when you want to use await in your app it will be only used in async function type

await always thows SyntaxError: await is only valid in async function in sequelize

2 Answers2