feat(flags): Add retry support for feature flag requests #392
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Use urllib3's built-in Retry mechanism for feature flag POST requests instead of application-level retry logic. This is simpler and leverages well-tested library code. Key changes: - Add `RETRY_STATUS_FORCELIST` = [408, 500, 502, 503, 504] - Add `_build_flags_session()` with POST retries and `status_forcelist` - Update `flags()` to use dedicated flags session - Add tests for retry configuration and session usage The flags session retries on: - Network failures (connect/read errors) - Transient server errors (408, 500, 502, 503, 504) It does NOT retry on: - 429 (rate limit) - need to wait, not hammer - 402 (quota limit) - won't resolve with retries
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dustinbyrne
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Dec 16, 2025
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Looks good - one comment about the network failures 👍
Add tests that verify actual retry behavior, not just configuration: - test_retries_on_503_then_succeeds: Spins up a local HTTP server that returns 503 twice then 200, verifying 3 requests are made - test_connection_errors_are_retried: Verifies connection errors trigger retries by measuring elapsed time with backoff Both tests use dynamically allocated ports for CI safety.
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Problem
Feature flag requests can fail due to transient issues like read timeouts, connection errors, or temporary server problems. Currently these failures bubble up immediately without any retry attempt.
Example error:
Solution
Create a dedicated HTTP session for feature flag requests configured with urllib3's
Retry:This leverages urllib3's battle-tested retry logic rather than adding application-level retry code.
Why not retry 429?
Rate limits indicate the client should back off, not immediately retry. Retrying would make the problem worse.
Related
enable_keep_alive()) which addresses idle connection dropsExamples
I also updated example.py so it can run without a personal api key set. This allows testing the sdk against /flags.