Be deliberate about when to use the `async` keyword and `await` expressions. Making a function `async` changes its behavior - it will always return a Promise, even for early returns. This can break conditional logic that checks for synchronous vs asynchronous behavior. Consider these patterns: - Use `async` only when you actually need to `await` something - For functions with early returns that should be synchronous, return Promise.all() or similar constructs directly instead of using async/await - Remove unnecessary `await` keywords that don't add value Example from the codebase: ```typescript // Avoid: Always returns Promise due to async, breaks early return logic const executeHead = async () => { if (!match) { return // Still returns Promise } // ... rest of function } // Prefer: Early returns are synchronous, later returns are Promise const executeHead = () => { if (!match) { return // Returns undefined directly } return Promise.all([ // async operations here ]) } ``` This approach preserves the ability to use patterns like `if('then' in result)` to detect whether a function returned a Promise or a synchronous value.