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+- Start Date: 2020-03-25
+- Target Major Version: 3.x
+- Reference Issues: https://github.com/vuejs/rfcs/pull/28
+
+# Summary
+
+Introduce a dedicated API for defining async components.
+
+# Basic example
+
+```js
+import { defineAsyncComponent } from "vue"
+
+// simple usage
+const AsyncFoo = defineAsyncComponent(() => import("./Foo.vue"))
+
+// with options
+const AsyncFooWithOptions = defineAsyncComponent({
+  loader: () => import("./Foo.vue"),
+  loadingComponent: LoadingComponent,
+  errorComponent: ErrorComponent,
+  delay: 200,
+  timeout: 3000
+})
+```
+
+# Motivation
+
+Per changes introduced in [RFC-0008: Render Function API Change](https://github.com/vuejs/rfcs/blob/master/active-rfcs/0008-render-function-api-change.md), in Vue 3 plain functions are now treated as functional components. Async components must now be explicitly defined via an API method.
+
+# Detailed design
+
+## Simple Usage
+
+```js
+import { defineAsyncComponent } from "vue"
+
+// simple usage
+const AsyncFoo = defineAsyncComponent(() => import("./Foo.vue"))
+```
+
+`defineAsyncComponent` can accept a loader function that returns a Promise resolving to the actual component.
+
+- If the resolved value is an ES module, the `default` export of the module will automatically be used as the component.
+
+- **Difference from 2.x:** Note that the loader function no longer receives the `resolve` and `reject` arguments like in 2.x - a Promise must always be returned.
+
+  For code that relies on custom `resolve` and `reject` in the loader function, the conversion is straightforward:
+
+  ```js
+  // before
+  const Foo = (resolve, reject) => {
+    /* ... */
+  }
+
+  // after
+  const Foo = defineAsyncComponent(() => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    /* ... */
+  }))
+  ```
+
+## Options Usage
+
+```js
+import { defineAsyncComponent } from "vue"
+
+const AsyncFooWithOptions = defineAsyncComponent({
+  loader: () => import("./Foo.vue"),
+  loadingComponent: LoadingComponent,
+  errorComponent: ErrorComponent,
+  delay: 100, // default: 200
+  timeout: 3000, // default: Infinity
+  suspensible: false, // default: true
+  onError(error, retry, fail, attempts) {
+    if (error.message.match(/fetch/) && attempts <= 3) {
+      retry()
+    } else {
+      fail()
+    }
+  }
+})
+```
+
+- The `delay` and `timeout` options work exactly the same as 2.x.
+
+**Difference from 2.x:**
+
+- The `component` option is replaced by the new `loader` option, which accepts the same loader function as in the simple usage.
+
+  In 2.x, an async component with options is defined as
+
+  ```ts
+  () => ({
+    component: Promise<Component>
+    // ...other options
+  })
+  ```
+
+  Whereas in 3.x it is now:
+
+  ```ts
+  defineAsyncComponent({
+    loader: () => Promise<Component>
+    // ...other options
+  })
+  ```
+
+- 2.x `loading` and `error` options are renamed to `loadingComponent` and `errorComponent` respectively to be more explicit.
+
+## Retry Control
+
+The new `onError` option provides a hook to perform customized retry behavior in case of a loader error:
+
+``` js
+const Foo = defineAsyncComponent({
+  // ...
+  onError(error, retry, fail, attempts) {
+    if (error.message.match(/fetch/) && attempts <= 3) {
+      // retry on fetch errors, 3 max attempts
+      retry()
+    } else {
+      fail()
+    }
+  }
+})
+```
+
+Note that `retry/fail` are like `resolve/reject` of a promise: one of them must be called for the error handling to continue.
+
+## Using with Suspense
+
+Async component in 3.x are *suspensible* by default. This means if it has a `<Suspense>` in the parent chain, it will be treated as an async dependency of that `<Suspense>`. In this case, the loading state will be controlled by the `<Suspense>`, and the component's own `loading`, `error`, `delay` and `timeout` options will be ignored.
+
+The async component can opt-out of Suspense control and let the component always control its own loading state by specifying `suspensible: false` in its options.
+
+# Adoption strategy
+
+- The syntax conversion is mechanical and can be performed via a codemod. The challenge is in determining which plain functions should be considered async components. Some basic heuristics can be used:
+
+  - Arrow functions that returns dynamic `import` call to `.vue` files
+  - Arrow functions that returns an object with the `component` property being a dynamic `import` call.
+
+  Note this may not cover 100% of the existing usage.
+
+- In the compat build, it is possible to check the return value of functional components and warn legacy async components usage. This should cover all Promise-based use cases.
+
+- The only case that cannot be easily detected is 2.x async components using manual `resolve/reject` instead of returning promises. Manual upgrade will be required for such cases but they should be relatively rare.