Syncify - Call Async Code from Sync Code¶

The same way you will probably need to use asyncify() to call sync code from async code, you will probably also need to call async code from sync code.

In those cases you can use syncify(). 🤓

asyncify(): Call sync code from async code
syncify(): Call async code from sync code

Run Async Code from Blocking Code¶

Let's say that the sync (blocking) function that you run using asyncify() (that is run in a worker thread underneath) in turn, also needs to call async code.

But async functions can only be awaited inside of other async functions, you can't use await in the blocking function.

For these cases, where you are in sync code and need to call an async function from within the sync code in a way that is sync-compatible, you can use Asyncer's syncify():

import time

import anyio
from asyncer import asyncify, syncify


async def do_async_work(name: str):
    await anyio.sleep(1)
    return f"Hello, {name}"


def do_sync_work(name: str):
    time.sleep(1)
    message = syncify(do_async_work)(name=name)
    return message


async def main():
    message = await asyncify(do_sync_work)(name="World")
    print(message)


anyio.run(main)

The way this will work, step by step, is like this:

anyio.run() will start the async main() function.
That async main() function will use asyncify() to call the regular, sync function do_sync_work() in a way compatible with async code (using await).
- asyncify() will run the function on a worker thread.
Then that regular/sync function do_sync_work() will call the async function do_async_work() using syncify(), in a way compatible with sync code (without using await).
- syncify(), that was started from a worker thread, will send that async function to be run in the main thread running all the async code. Then it will take the result back to the worker thread and make it available, to put it in the variable message.

Typing Support¶

Of course, as with the rest of Asyncer, you will get typing support for the function arguments, the return value, etc: