actions in Vuex are asynchronous. The only way to let the calling function (initiator of action) to know that an action is complete - is by returning a Promise and resolving it later.
Here is an example: myAction returns a Promise, makes a http call and resolves or rejects the Promise later - all asynchronously
actions: {
myAction(context, data) {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
// Do something here... lets say, a http call using vue-resource
this.$http("/api/something").then(response => {
// http success, call the mutator and change something in state
resolve(response); // Let the calling function know that http is done. You may send some data back
}, error => {
// http failed, let the calling function know that action did not work out
reject(error);
})
})
}
}
Now, when your Vue component initiates myAction, it will get this Promise object and can know whether it succeeded or not. Here is some sample code for the Vue component:
export default {
mounted: function() {
// This component just got created. Lets fetch some data here using an action
this.$store.dispatch("myAction").then(response => {
console.log("Got some data, now lets show something in this component")
}, error => {
console.error("Got nothing from server. Prompt user to check internet connection and try again")
})
}
}
As you can see above, it is highly beneficial for actions to return a Promise. Otherwise there is no way for the action initiator to know what is happening and when things are stable enough to show something on the user interface.
And a last note regarding mutators - as you rightly pointed out, they are synchronous. They change stuff in the state, and are usually called from actions. There is no need to mix Promises with mutators, as the actions handle that part.
Edit: My views on the Vuex cycle of uni-directional data flow:
If you access data like this.$store.state["your data key"] in your components, then the data flow is uni-directional.
The promise from action is only to let the component know that action is complete.
The component may either take data from promise resolve function in the above example (not uni-directional, therefore not recommended), or directly from $store.state["your data key"] which is unidirectional and follows the vuex data lifecycle.
The above paragraph assumes your mutator uses Vue.set(state, "your data key", http_data), once the http call is completed in your action.