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Retry Flaky Strategy

Retry Flaky Strategy governs flaky test handling, shaping system behavior under specific failure modes and workloads.

testing

Definition

Retry Flaky Strategy is a design property concerning flaky test handling. It defines how the system behaves under specific conditions — what guarantees hold, what trade-offs apply, and how the mechanism interacts with related techniques. The property is only meaningful when its preconditions are met; outside those conditions it provides no benefit and may add cost.

Context and scope

Apply Retry Flaky Strategy when designing systems where flaky test handling matters. It is most useful under partial failure, high load, or correctness requirements. Pair it with observability to verify the claimed behavior in production. Do not assume the property holds without testing the specific configuration and workload.

Common misconceptions

  • Retry Flaky Strategy eliminates all problems in its domain — it only bounds or shapes specific failure modes, not all pathologies.
  • Retry Flaky Strategy is free once you adopt the right tool — the property depends on configuration, workload, and failure pattern, not the product label alone.

Anti-patterns

  • Enabling Retry Flaky Strategy without measuring its cost in latency, availability, or operational complexity under production-like conditions.
  • Assuming Retry Flaky Strategy composes safely with other guarantees — combining mechanisms can introduce new failure modes or negate benefits.

Related concepts

Authoritative source

https://martinfowler.com/articles/practicalTestPyramid.html

What it is

Retry Flaky Strategy is a design property concerning flaky test handling. It defines how the system behaves under specific conditions — what guarantees hold, what trade-offs apply, and how the mechanism interacts with related techniques. The property is only meaningful when its preconditions are met; outside those conditions it provides no benefit and may add cost.

When to use

Apply Retry Flaky Strategy when designing systems where flaky test handling matters. It is most useful under partial failure, high load, or correctness requirements. Pair it with observability to verify the claimed behavior in production. Do not assume the property holds without testing the specific configuration and workload.

Common misconceptions

  • Retry Flaky Strategy eliminates all problems in its domain — it only bounds or shapes specific failure modes, not all pathologies.
  • Retry Flaky Strategy is free once you adopt the right tool — the property depends on configuration, workload, and failure pattern, not the product label alone.

Anti-patterns to avoid

  • Enabling Retry Flaky Strategy without measuring its cost in latency, availability, or operational complexity under production-like conditions.
  • Assuming Retry Flaky Strategy composes safely with other guarantees — combining mechanisms can introduce new failure modes or negate benefits.
  • Flaky Tests (flaky-tests)
  • Test Quarantine (test-quarantine)