How can I synchronously determine a JavaScript Promise's state?

I have a pure JavaScript Promise (built-in implementation or poly-fill):

var promise = new Promise(function (resolve, reject) { /* ... */ });

From the specification, a Promise can be one of:

• 'settled' and 'resolved'
• 'settled' and 'rejected'
• 'pending'

I have a use case where I wish to interrogate the Promise synchronously and determine:

• is the Promise settled?

• if so, is the Promise resolved?

I know that I can use #then() to schedule work to be performed asynchronously after the Promise changes state. I am NOT asking how to do this.

This question is specifically about synchronous interrogation of a Promise's state. How can I achieve this?

No such synchronous inspection API exists for native JavaScript promises. It is impossible to do this with native promises. The specification does not specify such a method.

Userland libraries can do this, and if you're targeting a specific engine (like v8) and have access to platform code (that is, you can write code in core) then you can use specific tools (like private symbols) to achieve this. That's super specific though and not in userland.

Nope, no sync API, but here's my version of the async promiseState (with help from @Matthijs):

function promiseState(p) {
  const t = {};
  return Promise.race([p, t])
    .then(v => (v === t)? "pending" : "fulfilled", () => "rejected");
}

var a = Promise.resolve();
var b = Promise.reject();
var c = new Promise(() => {});

promiseState(a).then(state => console.log(state)); // fulfilled
promiseState(b).then(state => console.log(state)); // rejected
promiseState(c).then(state => console.log(state)); // pending

promise-status-async does the trick. It is async but it does not use then to wait the promise to be resolved.

const {promiseStatus} = require('promise-status-async');
// ...
if (await promiseStatus(promise) === 'pending') {
    const idle = new Promise(function(resolve) {
        // can do some IDLE job meanwhile
    });
    return idle;
}

You can make a race with Promise.resolve
It's not synchronous but happens now

function promiseState(p, isPending, isResolved, isRejected) {
  Promise.race([p, Promise.resolve('a value that p should not return')]).then(function(value) {
    if (value == 'a value that p should not return') {
      (typeof(isPending) === 'function') && isPending();
    }else {
      (typeof(isResolved) === 'function') && isResolved(value);
    }
  }, function(reason) {
    (typeof(isRejected) === 'function') && isRejected(reason);
  });
}

A little script for testing and understand their meaning of asynchronously

var startTime = Date.now() - 100000;//padding trick "100001".slice(1) => 00001
function log(msg) {
  console.log((""+(Date.now() - startTime)).slice(1) + ' ' + msg);
  return msg;//for chaining promises
};

function prefix(pref) { return function (value) { log(pref + value); return value; };}

function delay(ms) {
  return function (value) {
    var startTime = Date.now();
    while(Date.now() - startTime < ms) {}
    return value;//for chaining promises
  };
}
setTimeout(log, 0,'timeOut 0 ms');
setTimeout(log, 100,'timeOut 100 ms');
setTimeout(log, 200,'timeOut 200 ms');

var p1 = Promise.resolve('One');
var p2 = new Promise(function(resolve, reject) { setTimeout(resolve, 100, "Two"); });
var p3 = Promise.reject("Three");

p3.catch(delay(200)).then(delay(100)).then(prefix('delayed L3 : '));

promiseState(p1, prefix('p1 Is Pending '), prefix('p1 Is Resolved '), prefix('p1 Is Rejected '));
promiseState(p2, prefix('p2 Is Pending '), prefix('p2 Is Resolved '), prefix('p2 Is Rejected '));
promiseState(p3, prefix('p3 Is Pending '), prefix('p3 Is Resolved '), prefix('p3 Is Rejected '));

p1.then(prefix('Level 1 : ')).then(prefix('Level 2 : ')).then(prefix('Level 3 : '));
p2.then(prefix('Level 1 : ')).then(prefix('Level 2 : ')).then(prefix('Level 3 : '));
p3.catch(prefix('Level 1 : ')).then(prefix('Level 2 : ')).then(prefix('Level 3 : '));
log('end of promises');
delay(100)();
log('end of script');

results with delay(0) (comment the while in delay)

00001 end of promises
00001 end of script
00001 Level 1 : One
00001 Level 1 : Three
00001 p1 Is Resolved One
00001 p2 Is Pending undefined
00001 p3 Is Rejected Three
00001 Level 2 : One
00001 Level 2 : Three
00001 delayed L3 : Three
00002 Level 3 : One
00002 Level 3 : Three
00006 timeOut 0 ms
00100 timeOut 100 ms
00100 Level 1 : Two
00100 Level 2 : Two
00101 Level 3 : Two
00189 timeOut 200 ms

and the results of this test with firefox(chrome keep the order)

00000 end of promises
00100 end of script
00300 Level 1 : One
00300 Level 1 : Three
00400 p1 Is Resolved One
00400 p2 Is Pending undefined
00400 p3 Is Rejected Three
00400 Level 2 : One
00400 Level 2 : Three
00400 delayed L3 : Three
00400 Level 3 : One
00400 Level 3 : Three
00406 timeOut 0 ms
00406 timeOut 100 ms
00406 timeOut 200 ms
00406 Level 1 : Two
00407 Level 2 : Two
00407 Level 3 : Two

promiseState make .race and .then : Level 2

in node, say undocumented internal process.binding('util').getPromiseDetails(promise)

> process.binding('util').getPromiseDetails(Promise.resolve({data: [1,2,3]}));
[ 1, { data: [ 1, 2, 3 ] } ]

> process.binding('util').getPromiseDetails(Promise.reject(new Error('no')));
[ 2, Error: no ]

> process.binding('util').getPromiseDetails(new Promise((resolve) => {}));
[ 0, <1 empty item> ]