Hows about a module?
10 likes and I'll publish it

wait-in-line

Example usage

const Line = require('wait-in-line')

const waitInLine = Line()

// a continuable with no side efect
waitInLine(done => setTimeout(done, 500)) 

waitInLine(done => {
  process.stdout.write('IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?!')
  done()
})

// async
waitInLine(done => {
  fs.writeFile('/tmp/hello.txt', 'HELLLO?!!', (err, data) => {
    if (err) alert('failed to save')
    else alert('saved!')
    done()
  })
}

Src

const pull = require('pull-stream')
const Pushable = require('pull-pushable')
const pullParaMap = require('pull-paramap')

module.exports = function Line (width = 10) {
  const queue = Pushable()
  pull(
    queue,
    pullParaMap((continuable, done) => continuable(done), width),
    pull.drain()
  )

  return (continuable) => queue.push(continuable)
}

or without await, perhaps even nicer:

async function getPersonMinimal (_, profileId) {
  // make a Promise (so we can return some thing)
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    // set a our query *ready* to be run
    const runQuery = (done) => {
      apollo.query(getPersonMinimal(profileId))
        .then(res => {
          if (res.errors) reject(res.errors) // graphql errors
          else resolve(res.data.person)
        })
        .catch(err => reject(err)) // network errors
        .finally(done)
    }

    queue.push(runQuery)
  })
}

pull(
  queue,
  pullParaMap((continuable, done) => continuable(done), 10),
  pull.drain()
)

// My vuex action that was getting hammered
// actions here play well with Promises

async function getPersonMinimal (_, profileId) {
  // make a Promise (so we can return some thing)
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    // set a our query *ready* to be run
    const runQuery = async (done) => {
      try {
        const res = await apollo.query(getPersonMinimal(profileId))
        if (res.errors) throw res.errors

        resolve(res.data.person)
      } catch (err) {
        reject(err)
      }
      done()
    }

    // stick this in the queue of things to run,
    // along with the resolve / reject for handling the results
    queue.push(runQuery)
  })
}

oh it's exquisite now @Nico [ Perihelion ]

I knew this pattern felt familiar : https://github.com/Raynos/continuable . This is a trippy data flow to get your head around aye.

oh yeah duh, that's so obvious now you point it out.
SO MUCH CLEANER

@staltz this works... but is it gross?
I don't know enough about async iterables to make one which you can push things into like this... pull-pushable just works...

Had a tricky situation where my UI was trying to load profile info for 5000 profiles (for #ahau)... and apollo apparently just shits itself if you make that many concurrent requests.

So I made a janky queue with pull-streams:

const pull = require('pull-stream')
const Pushable = require('pull-pushable')
const pullParaMap = require('pull-paramap')

const queue = Pushable()

pull(
  queue,
  pullParaMap(
    ([runPromise, resolve, reject], cb) => {
      runPromise()
        .then(resolve)
        .catch(reject)
        .finally(() => cb(null))
    },
    10 // how many runPromise you can run concurrently
  ),
  pull.drain()
)

// My vuex action that was getting hammered
// actions here play well with Promises

async function getPersonMinimal (_, profileId) {
  // make a Promise (so we can return some thing)
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    // set a our query *ready* to be run
    const runQuery = async () => {
      try {
        const res = await apollo.query(getPersonMinimal(profileId))
        if (res.errors) throw res.errors

        return res.data.person
      } catch (err) {
        // oh no!
      }
    }

    // stick this in the queue of things to run,
    // along with the resolve / reject for handling the results
    queue.push([runQuery, resolve, reject])
  })
}