API Design · Middle · Question 21 of 75
Why are retries dangerous for non-idempotent operations without protection?
- ✓Correct answer: If the response was lost after the server did the work, a retry repeats it: double charges, duplicate orders
- 2Retries make responses smaller
- 3Retries are always safe in HTTP
Explanation
Timeouts don't tell the client whether the work happened. Idempotency keys or natural unique constraints make retries safe.