docs(napi/parser): clarify when to use parseAsync vs parseSync (#18486)

Boshen · Boshen · commit 9b3165f524dd · 2026-01-24T14:54:52.000Z
## Summary - Add detailed JSDoc documentation to `parse` and `parseSync` functions explaining their performance characteristics - Clarify that `parseSync` is generally preferable since AST deserialization happens on the main thread anyway - Recommend using worker threads with `parseSync` for parallelizing multiple files Closes #15361 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
diff --git a/napi/parser/src-js/index.d.ts b/napi/parser/src-js/index.d.ts
@@ -142,9 +142,17 @@ export declare const enum ImportNameKind {
 }
 
 /**
- * Parse asynchronously.
+ * Parse JS/TS source asynchronously on a separate thread.
  *
- * Note: This function can be slower than `parseSync` due to the overhead of spawning a thread.
+ * Note that not all of the workload can happen on a separate thread.
+ * Parsing on Rust side does happen in a separate thread, but deserialization of the AST to JS objects
+ * has to happen on current thread. This synchronous deserialization work typically outweighs
+ * the asynchronous parsing by a factor of between 3 and 20.
+ *
+ * i.e. the majority of the workload cannot be parallelized by using this method.
+ *
+ * Generally `parseSync` is preferable to use as it does not have the overhead of spawning a thread.
+ * If you need to parallelize parsing multiple files, it is recommended to use worker threads.
  */
 export declare function parse(filename: string, sourceText: string, options?: ParserOptions | undefined | null): Promise<ParseResult>
 
@@ -189,7 +197,16 @@ export interface ParserOptions {
   showSemanticErrors?: boolean
 }
 
-/** Parse synchronously. */
+/**
+ * Parse JS/TS source synchronously on current thread.
+ *
+ * This is generally preferable over `parse` (async) as it does not have the overhead
+ * of spawning a thread, and the majority of the workload cannot be parallelized anyway
+ * (see `parse` documentation for details).
+ *
+ * If you need to parallelize parsing multiple files, it is recommended to use worker threads
+ * with `parseSync` rather than using `parse`.
+ */
 export declare function parseSync(filename: string, sourceText: string, options?: ParserOptions | undefined | null): ParseResult
 
 /** Returns `true` if raw transfer is supported on this platform. */
diff --git a/napi/parser/src/lib.rs b/napi/parser/src/lib.rs
@@ -135,7 +135,14 @@ fn parse_with_return(filename: &str, source_text: &str, options: &ParserOptions)
     ParseResult { program_and_fixes, module, comments, errors }
 }
 
-/// Parse synchronously.
+/// Parse JS/TS source synchronously on current thread.
+///
+/// This is generally preferable over `parse` (async) as it does not have the overhead
+/// of spawning a thread, and the majority of the workload cannot be parallelized anyway
+/// (see `parse` documentation for details).
+///
+/// If you need to parallelize parsing multiple files, it is recommended to use worker threads
+/// with `parseSync` rather than using `parse`.
 #[napi]
 #[allow(clippy::needless_pass_by_value, clippy::allow_attributes)]
 pub fn parse_sync(
@@ -168,9 +175,17 @@ impl Task for ResolveTask {
     }
 }
 
-/// Parse asynchronously.
+/// Parse JS/TS source asynchronously on a separate thread.
+///
+/// Note that not all of the workload can happen on a separate thread.
+/// Parsing on Rust side does happen in a separate thread, but deserialization of the AST to JS objects
+/// has to happen on current thread. This synchronous deserialization work typically outweighs
+/// the asynchronous parsing by a factor of between 3 and 20.
+///
+/// i.e. the majority of the workload cannot be parallelized by using this method.
 ///
-/// Note: This function can be slower than `parseSync` due to the overhead of spawning a thread.
+/// Generally `parseSync` is preferable to use as it does not have the overhead of spawning a thread.
+/// If you need to parallelize parsing multiple files, it is recommended to use worker threads.
 #[napi]
 pub fn parse(
     filename: String,
