Auto-defer

Auto-defer removes the footgun: spearkit arms a timer when your handler starts and, if you haven't responded in time, calls deferReply() for you. The timer is cancelled the instant your handler replies or defers itself.

Per command

import { command, option } from "spearkit";

export const weather = command({
  name: "weather",
  description: "Look up the weather",
  autoDefer: true, // defers automatically if the handler takes too long
  options: { city: option.string({ description: "City", required: true }) },
  run: async (ctx) => {
    const report = await fetchWeather(ctx.options.city); // slow
    await ctx.send(`Weather in ${ctx.options.city}: ${report}`);
  },
});

With auto-defer on, respond via ctx.send(...) or ctx.editReply(...), not ctx.reply(...) — the initial reply slot may already be taken by the auto-defer. ctx.send is state-aware and always does the right thing.

Options

autoDefer accepts true (defaults) or an object:

command({
  name: "report",
  description: "Generate a report",
  autoDefer: { ephemeral: true, delayMs: 1500 },
  run: async (ctx) => ctx.send("…"),
});

Client-wide default

Apply auto-defer to every slash command and context menu; each handler can still override with its own autoDefer.

import { SpearClient } from "spearkit";

const client = new SpearClient({ autoDefer: true });

Scope

Auto-defer covers slash commands and context menus (answered with deferReply). Component handlers (buttons/selects) usually respond instantly with update, so they're not auto-deferred — call ctx.deferUpdate() yourself if a component handler does slow work.

Lower-level helpers

normalizeAutoDefer(input) resolves true/object/undefined into an AutoDeferConfig; armAutoDefer(interaction, config) arms the timer and returns a cancel function. Both are exported for custom dispatch.