When should I use process.nextTick in Node.js?
Rarely. It runs before the next event loop phase, even before I/O, which can starve the loop if overused. Most code should use setImmediate or async/await instead. nextTick is mainly for internal library APIs that need to run before any I/O.
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More FAQs in setTimeout vs setImmediate vs process.nextTick in Node.js
setTimeout runs in the timers phase after a delay. setImmediate runs in the check phase after I/O events. process.nextTick runs before the next event loop phase, even before promise microtasks. Order: nextTick, promises, then event loop phases.
On the next event loop tick, setImmediate usually runs before setTimeout(0) when there are no pending timers, because setImmediate runs in the check phase right after poll, while setTimeout runs in the timers phase at the start of the next tick.
Because it runs before the next event loop phase, even before I/O. If you recursively call nextTick, the event loop never reaches the poll phase to process I/O, starving all connections. This is why it should be used sparingly.
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