Timeouts bound how long an operation can wait. Retries repeat an operation after failures that may be temporary.

Timeout examples

• Connection timeout.
• HTTP request timeout.
• Database command timeout.
• Upstream dependency timeout.

Retry strategy

• Retry only failures likely to be transient.
• Bound the number of attempts.
• Use exponential backoff and random jitter.
• Respect service guidance and avoid retrying indefinitely.
• Use idempotency protection for operations that must not create duplicate effects.

Circuit breaker

• Temporarily blocks calls to a dependency after a failure threshold.
• May allow limited trial requests later to check whether the dependency recovered.
• Can help prevent repeated calls from overwhelming a failing service.