Implementing API Retry Logic

Introduction

In the realm of third-party integrations, APIs can fail for a variety of reasons, including network issues or service outages. Implementing retry logic is essential to ensure that your application can gracefully handle these failures and maintain a reliable user experience.

Key Concepts

Step-by-Step Implementation

To effectively implement API retry logic, follow these steps:

1. Determine the types of errors that will trigger a retry.
2. Create a retry function that can handle the API requests.
3. Implement a backoff strategy to manage the wait times between retries.
4. Log the attempts for monitoring purposes.
5. Test the implementation thoroughly.

Example Code

async function fetchWithRetry(url, options, retries = 3, backoff = 300) {
    while (retries > 0) {
        try {
            const response = await fetch(url, options);
            if (!response.ok) {
                throw new Error('Network response was not ok');
            }
            return await response.json();
        } catch (error) {
            console.error(`Attempt failed: ${error.message}`);
            retries--;
            if (retries === 0) {
                throw new Error('Max retries reached');
            }
            await new Promise(res => setTimeout(res, backoff));
            backoff *= 2; // Exponential backoff
        }
    }
}
                

Best Practices

• Use exponential backoff for retries to minimize server load.
• Limit the number of retries to prevent infinite loops.
• Implement logging to monitor the frequency and success of retries.
• Consider using a circuit breaker pattern to prevent repeated failures.

FAQ