> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help-center-starter.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Retry policies

> Configure exponential backoff, max attempts, and dead-letter handling.

Retries turn transient failures into success stories—when configured carefully. Backoff spreads load; max attempts bound damage; dead-letter queues preserve poison messages for inspection instead of infinite loops.

## Backoff

Exponential backoff reduces thundering herds. Add jitter to desynchronize clients so retries do not align on the same second.

### Caps

Put an upper bound on delay so a permanently broken endpoint does not stall workers for hours between attempts—pair backoff with a max attempts ceiling.

## Max attempts

Stop after N tries and surface to operators with context. Include the last error code, truncated body, and correlation ID so the first responder does not reproduce the whole incident from scratch.

### Idempotency

Retries assume idempotent handlers. If a step is not idempotent, disable blind retries or scope them to safe sub-operations.

## Dead letters

Send poison messages to a dead-letter queue for manual inspection. Monitor DLQ depth: a flat line at zero might mean alerts are misconfigured; a rising line means systemic failure.

### Replay

Document a safe replay procedure after fixing root cause—sometimes replay requires a new idempotency key or compensating cleanup first.