@orkestrel/emitter

A typed, synchronous event emitter — the foundational observable primitive that stateful entities (a queue, a database table, an agent) own to expose their lifecycle transitions and observable operations. Deliberately small: no scheduler (listeners fire in the current tick, in registration order), no listener cap, no console output. What it does carry is the one invariant a fan-out primitive can't omit — a throwing listener is isolated so it can never take down its siblings or the emit loop; the throw routes to an optional error handler instead of being rethrown. Part of the @orkestrel line.

Install

npm install @orkestrel/emitter

Requirements

• Node.js >= 24
• ESM-only (no CommonJS build)

Usage

import { createEmitter } from '@orkestrel/emitter'

// The event map names each event and the argument tuple its listeners receive.
type ClockEventMap = {
	tick: readonly [at: number]
	done: readonly []
}

const clock = createEmitter<ClockEventMap>({
	on: { done: () => stop() }, // initial listeners wired at construction
	error: (cause, event) => logger.warn(`listener for "${event}" threw`, cause),
})

clock.on('tick', (at) => render(at)) // `at` is typed `number` from the map
clock.emit('tick', Date.now()) // synchronous — every `tick` listener runs now
clock.once('done', () => cleanup()) // removes itself after its first call
clock.off('tick', render) // remove a listener by its original handler
clock.count() // live listener count, total or per-event
clock.clear() // drop listeners, total or per-event; emitter stays usable
clock.destroy() // teardown — drops every listener, flips `destroyed`

createEmitter(options) (or new Emitter(options)) returns an EmitterInterface<TMap>. The reserved on option wires initial listeners at construction; the optional error option receives any listener's throw as (error, event) so emit never has to rethrow — with no error handler, a throw is swallowed silently. emit never stops on a throw: every listener runs regardless, and every throw surfaces (not just the first).

Guide

For the full surface — the Emitter class, EmitterInterface, and the listener-isolation contract — see guides/src/emitter.md.

Package

Published as a single typed entry point per the exports field in package.json.

License

MIT © Orkestrel — see LICENSE.