The default export is a middleware function. If it receives a promise, it will dispatch the resolved value of the promise. It will not dispatch anything if the promise rejects.
If it receives an Flux Standard Action whose payload is a promise, it will either
dispatch a copy of the action with the resolved value of the promise, and set status to success.
dispatch a copy of the action with the rejected value of the promise, and set status to error.
The middleware returns a promise to the caller so that it can wait for the operation to finish before continuing. This is especially useful for server-side rendering. If you find that a promise is not being returned, ensure that all middleware before it in the chain is also returning its next() call to the caller.
Using in combination with redux-actions
Because it supports FSA actions, you can use redux-promise in combination with redux-actions.
Unlike Flummox, it will not perform a dispatch at the beginning of the operation, only at the end. We're still looking into the best way to deal with optimistic updates. If you have a suggestion, let me know.
Example: Integrating with a web API module
Say you have an API module that sends requests to a server. This is a common pattern in Flux apps. Assuming your module supports promises, it's really easy to create action creators that wrap around your API:
(You'll probably notice how this could be simplified even further using something like lodash's mapValues().)