What & why

promise-fn-retry wraps a function that returns a promise and retries it when it rejects. You decide how many times, how long to wait between attempts, and whether a given failure is even worth retrying.

The interesting part is the waiting: the delay grows exponentially, can be capped, and can be randomised so many clients don't retry in lockstep. On top of that it can bound a single hung attempt, cap the total time spent, honour a server's Retry-After, poll on a resolved value, and cancel cleanly.

import retry from 'promise-fn-retry';

// Retry up to 5 times, doubling the wait each time, with jitter.
const user = await retry(() => fetch('/api/user').then((r) => r.json()), {
  times: 5,
  backoffFactor: 2,
  jitter: 'equal',
});

Every option has a default that reproduces the simplest behaviour, so you only reach for what you need.

See it move

This timeline plots each attempt to scale, as it happens. Tune the options and press Run — the gap between attempts grows, scatters, and levels off.

attempt timelineidle

• failed
• timed out
• bailed
• pending
• succeeded

A simulated request that fails a few times, then succeeds.

timesretries after the first failureinitialDelayTimems before the first retrybackoffFactordelay multiplier per retryjitterspread each delayoffequalfullfailUntilattempts that fail before success

1. Press Run to start.

Why a dedicated library

• Just a function. No classes or builders — retry(fn, options).
• Isomorphic. Universal APIs only; runs in browsers and Node ≥ 12, shipped as ESM and CommonJS.
• Typed, zero-dependency. Declarations are bundled; nothing else comes along.
• Additive. Every capability is opt-in and defaults to current behaviour.

Head to Installation next, or jump straight to a guide in the sidebar.