[`useAsyncData`](/docs/api/composables/use-async-data) is a composable meant to be called directly in a setup function, plugin, or route middleware. It returns reactive composables and handles adding responses to the Nuxt payload so they can be passed from server to client without re-fetching the data on client side when the page hydrates.
* **key**: a unique key to ensure that data fetching can be properly de-duplicated across requests. If you do not provide a key, then a key that is unique to the file name and line number of the instance of [`useAsyncData`](/docs/api/composables/use-async-data) will be generated for you.
* **handler**: an asynchronous function that must return a truthy value (for example, it should not be `undefined` or `null`) or the request may be duplicated on the client side
* _lazy_: whether to resolve the async function after loading the route, instead of blocking client-side navigation (defaults to `false`)
* _immediate_: when set to `false`, will prevent the request from firing immediately. (defaults to `true`)
* _default_: a factory function to set the default value of the `data`, before the async function resolves - useful with the `lazy: true` or `immediate: false` option
* _deep_: return data in a deep ref object (it is `true` by default). It can be set to `false` to return data in a shallow ref object, which can improve performance if your data does not need to be deeply reactive.
Under the hood, `lazy: false` uses `<Suspense>` to block the loading of the route before the data has been fetched. Consider using `lazy: true` and implementing a loading state instead for a snappier user experience.
If you have not fetched data on the server (for example, with `server: false`), then the data _will not_ be fetched until hydration completes. This means even if you await [`useAsyncData`](/docs/api/composables/use-async-data) on the client side, `data` will remain `null` within `<script setup>`.
[`useAsyncData`](/docs/api/composables/use-async-data) is a reserved function name transformed by the compiler, so you should not name your own function [`useAsyncData`](/docs/api/composables/use-async-data) .