Early Return

earlyReturn creates a scope that can be exited early. The body receives an exit token — calling it immediately returns a value from the scope, skipping any remaining steps.

Basic early return

earlyReturn((exit) =>
  validate.branch({
    Invalid: exit,             // return early with the error
    Valid: processAndContinue,  // normal path
  }),
)

If validate returns Invalid, exit fires and the scope returns immediately with the error value. processAndContinue never runs.

Early return vs. tryCatch

Both can exit a scope early, but they serve different purposes:

• tryCatch is for errors — the catch handler transforms or recovers from the failure.
• earlyReturn is for short-circuiting — the exit value is the final result, with no recovery step.

// tryCatch: catch block handles the error
tryCatch(
  (throwError) => body,
  recovery, // ← runs on error
)

// earlyReturn: exit value IS the result
earlyReturn((exit) => body)
// ← no recovery, exit value passes through

How it works

earlyReturn compiles to the same RestartHandle + Branch substrate as loop and tryCatch. The Break arm runs Identity — the exit value passes through unchanged. See algebraic effect handlers for the compilation details.