Playbook

Debugging Retry Bugs

Retry issues often hide the first failure and create duplicate work.

Pattern

A retry loop repeats a side effect or ignores the request budget.

warningSymptoms

  • arrow_rightDuplicate writes
  • arrow_rightLong tail latency
  • arrow_rightSuccessful retry after a failed visible signal

searchWhere to look

  • arrow_rightRetry conditions
  • arrow_rightBackoff policy
  • arrow_rightIdempotency guard
  • arrow_rightTimeout budget

buildCommon fixes

  • arrow_rightDeduplicate side effects
  • arrow_rightStop retrying non-retryable failures
  • arrow_rightEnforce total timeout budget

Practice challenges