Retry Utils Skill

Execute commands with intelligent retry logic including exponential backoff, jitter, and configurable retry conditions.

When to Use

✅ USE this skill when:

• "Retry this command until it succeeds"

• "Run with exponential backoff"

• "Keep trying until timeout"

• "Retry only on specific errors"

• "Run with retry and backoff"

When NOT to Use

❌ DON'T use this skill when:

• Simple one-shot commands ΓåÆ run directly

• Need to persist command ΓåÆ use systemd/PM2

• Real-time processing ΓåÆ use message queue

Commands

Basic Retry

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "curl http://api.example.com/data" {baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --max-retries 5

Exponential Backoff

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --backoff exponential {baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --backoff exponential --base-delay 2 --max-delay 60

Linear Backoff

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --backoff linear {baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --backoff linear --base-delay 5

Custom Backoff

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --delays "1,2,5,10,30" {baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --delays "1,1,1,5,5,10"

Jitter

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --jitter full {baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --jitter equal --jitter-percent 20 {baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --jitter decorrelated

Error Matching

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "curl api.example.com" --error-pattern "Connection refused" {baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install" --error-pattern "ETIMEDOUT|ENOTFOUND" {baseDir}/retry.sh --command "curl api.example.com" --exit-codes "1,7,28"

Until/While Conditions

Run until output matches pattern

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "curl -s http://api/health" --until-pattern "ok"

Run until a timeout

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "curl http://api/data" --timeout 300

Stop when pattern found (inverse of until)

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "tail -f /var/log/app.log" --stop-on "error" --max-retries 100

Options

Option Description Default

--command CMD

Command to run Required

--max-retries N

Maximum retry attempts 3

--backoff TYPE

Backoff type: none, linear, exponential none

--base-delay SECS

Initial delay between retries 1

--max-delay SECS

Maximum delay cap 60

--jitter TYPE

Jitter type: none, full, equal, decorrelated none

--jitter-percent N

Jitter percentage (0-100) 20

--delays "N,N,..."

Custom delay sequence None

--error-pattern REGEX

Only retry if error matches Match all

--exit-codes "N,..."

Exit codes to retry on All non-zero

--until-pattern REGEX

Continue until output matches None

--stop-on REGEX

Stop when output matches None

--timeout SECS

Maximum total time None

--no-exit-on-failure

Don't exit on final failure Exit 1

--quiet

Suppress output on retries Show output

--verbose

Show retry attempts Silent

Backoff Types

Type Description Formula

none

No delay between retries N/A

linear

Same delay each time delay = base_delay

exponential

Doubles each retry delay = base_delay * 2^attempt

Jitter Types

Type Description

none

No randomization

full

Random delay from 0 to calculated

equal

Random delay from delay/2 to delay

decorrelated

AWS-style decorrelated jitter

Examples

Retry curl request with exponential backoff:

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "curl https://api.example.com/data"
--backoff exponential
--base-delay 2
--max-delay 60
--max-retries 10

Retry npm install on network errors only:

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install"
--error-pattern "ETIMEDOUT|ENOTFOUND|network"
--backoff exponential
--max-retries 5

Poll for server readiness:

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "curl -s http://localhost:3000/health"
--until-pattern "healthy|ok"
--max-retries 30
--backoff linear

Run with custom delays:

{baseDir}/retry.sh --command "npm install"
--delays "1,2,5,10,30,60"

Output

On success, outputs the command result and exit 0.

On failure after all retries:

❌ Command failed after 5 attempts: npm install Last exit code: 1 Last stderr: connection refused

Exit codes:

• 0: Command succeeded

• 1: All retries exhausted

Notes

• Captures both stdout and stderr

• Preserves command exit code on success

• Environment variables passed through

• Can use shell commands with pipes

• Timeout includes all retry attempts