# Retry Handling

FlowMate includes built-in retry logic to help ensure robust and reliable integration execution, especially when dealing with temporary errors like rate limits.

#### When Are Retries Triggered?

Retries are triggered automatically when an outgoing request from FlowMate (typically during an Action step in a Flow) receives a **`429 Too Many Requests`** response. This status code is commonly used by APIs to signal that a **rate limit has been exceeded**. Additionally, retries are also triggered when the API returns an error with a code of **`500` or greater**, as this indicates an **internal server error** that may resolve itself if given time.

The retry behavior is as follows:

* **Maximum Retries**: Up to **5 retry attempts**
* **Delay Strategy**: **Exponential Backoff**

  Each retry waits longer than the previous one before sending the next request.

After the final retry attempt, if the external system still returns `429`, the flow step is marked as **failed**, and the error is logged.

#### Client-Side Rate Limiting

By default, outgoing requests from FlowMate are throttled so that they should not exceed common rate limits. However, some APIs impose stricter rate limits that may be exceeded by this default outgoing rate. In these cases, connectors can be configured to abide by a client-side rate limiting in order to minimize server load that would be caused by repeated retries.


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