Per-attempt timeout

The problem

A request that hangs — the server accepts the connection but never responds — is the worst kind of failure. It neither resolves nor rejects, so retries never even start. The whole operation is stuck on one bad attempt.

The solution

attemptTimeout gives each attempt a deadline. If it runs over, the attempt is abandoned and retried like any other failure. Where AbortController is available, fn receives a per-attempt AbortSignal that aborts on timeout (or when your outer signal aborts) — wire it into fetch so the hung request is actually cancelled:

const data = await retry(
  (attempt, signal) => fetch('/api/slow', { signal }).then((r) => r.json()),
  {
    times: 3,
    attemptTimeout: 2_000, // give up on an attempt after 2s and try again
  },
);

A timed-out attempt rejects with an AttemptTimeoutError, which flows through shouldRetry and onRetry like any other error.

Try it

Here the first attempt hangs. With attemptTimeout set, it's cut off and retried instead of blocking forever.

attempt timelineidle

• failed
• timed out
• bailed
• pending
• succeeded

Orange markers are attempts cut off by the timeout; the next one gets through.

attemptTimeoutabort an attempt after, ms (0 = off)timesretries after the first failureinitialDelayTimems before the first retryfailUntilattempts that fail before success

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