Circuit Breakers and Bulkheads

1. The Gap the Retry Cannot Fill

Retries assume the next attempt might succeed. Sometimes that assumption is simply false.

A sustained failure is one that lasts. The dependency is down and it stays down, for seconds or minutes, not for one unlucky request. During a sustained failure, every attempt is wasted work aimed at a service that is already struggling. It does not matter how politely you backed off between attempts.