app.js

var vertx = require('vertx');

var timeoutProxy = function(callback, delay) {
  vertx.setTimer(delay, callback, Array.prototype.slice.call(2, arguments));
}

// Make the setTimeout function global if it doesn't exist already
setTimeout = (typeof setTimeout === 'function') ? setTimeout : timeoutProxy;

var thing = require('thing');

thing.doAsyncThing(function() {
  print("Doing async thing");
}, 10000);

shell.txt

~/t/myapp ❯❯❯ vertx run app.js
Succeeded in deploying verticle
Doing async thing

thing.js

module.exports.doAsyncThing = function(callback, delay) {
  setTimeout(callback, delay);
};