useAsyncData Timeout Configuration Missing

Direct answer

Nuxt 3 does not ship a global timeout option for useAsyncData or useFetch, and it does not automatically pass an AbortSignal into your fetcher. Any claim that a config key such as asyncData.timeout exists is not supported by the current public API.

Likely explanation vs. confirmed facts

Confirmed: There is no built-in timeout setting for these composables in current stable Nuxt 3. useFetch may accept a timeout property because it wraps ofetch, but that is a per-request option for the underlying fetcher, not a global useAsyncData policy.

Likely explanation: The behavior you are seeing is a cancellation contract gap. Nuxt can only abort work if your handler receives a signal and your HTTP client honors it. Because the framework does not inject that signal automatically, an unmount or route change does not cancel the network request unless you wire it yourself.

Recommended pattern

Use one shared isomorphic helper instead of scattering timeout logic:

1. Create an AbortController for the timeout.
2. If your installed Nuxt version passes a signal into the handler, combine it with the timeout controller (e.g. via AbortSignal.any where supported, or manual linking for older runtimes).
3. Start a timer that calls controller.abort() after your deadline.
4. Pass the resulting signal to the HTTP client using its native option: signal for fetch, ky, ofetch, and Axios v1+; use cancelToken for Axios below v1.
5. Clear the timer in a finally block and reject with a typed TimeoutError when the abort was caused by the timeout.

Place this helper in a shared module and use the same error class and options on both server and client. Do not branch on process.client or window for the timeout decision. For SSR, also enforce an upstream timeout so that an aborted client request does not leave the server-side promise pending.

Verification

• Create a never-resolving useAsyncData fetcher, navigate away, and log whether the handler receives a signal that fires abort. If no signal is passed, your version does not forward one automatically.
• Check package.json and the exported types for your installed Nuxt and ofetch versions to confirm whether useFetch exposes timeout and whether the handler receives a signal.
• Run the same helper in a server route and a client component; assert both reject with the same TimeoutError and that no timer remains pending.

Missing detail that changes the code

The exact snippet depends on one diagnostic detail: which HTTP client and version are you using? If it is Axios below v1, you must use cancelToken instead of passing signal directly; for modern fetch-compatible clients, signal is sufficient.