What does didRequest do in this component?

const AuthInit: FC = ({children}) => {
  const {auth, logout, setCurrentUser} = useAuth()
  const didRequest = useRef(false)
  const [showSplashScreen, setShowSplashScreen] = useState(true)
  // We should request user by authToken (IN OUR EXAMPLE IT'S API_TOKEN) before rendering the application
  useEffect(() => {
    const requestUser = async (apiToken: string) => {
      try {
        if (!didRequest.current) {
          const {data} = await getUserByToken(apiToken)
          if (data) {
            setCurrentUser(data)
          }
        }
      } catch (error) {
        console.error(error)
        if (!didRequest.current) {
          logout()
        }
      } finally {
        setShowSplashScreen(false)
      }

      return () => (didRequest.current = true)
    }

    if (auth && auth.api_token) {
      requestUser(auth.api_token)
    } else {
      logout()
      setShowSplashScreen(false)
    }
    // eslint-disable-next-line
  }, [])

  return showSplashScreen ?  : <>{children}
}

I've got two questions:

1. What does didRequest do in this component?
2. What sequences of clicks do I have to do in demo1 for didRequest to be set to true - so that it breaks here if I set a breakpoint: return () => (didRequest.current = true)?