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What is top-level await and what are its caveats in Node.js ESM?

Q: What is top-level await and what are its caveats in Node.js ESM?

**TL;DR.** **Top-level await** lets you use await directly in an **ES module** body (no wrapping async function). It's great for async setup — opening a DB, dynamic imports, fetching config. The caveat: it **blocks the importing module** until it resolves, so a slow top-level await delays everything downstream and can deadlock with circular imports. config.js await loadConfig() blocks until done <text class='d-text' x='34

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Awaiting at module scope and how it affects module loading.

nodejsesmasynctop-level-await

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Async initialization at module scope

// db.js (ESM) — no async wrapper needed
import { connect } from './driver.js';

export const db = await connect(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
// Any module importing { db } waits until the connection is ready.

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