A timeout after an AI agent sends a state-changing request does not tell you whether the operation succeeded. Treat the result as outcome_unknown, preserve the operation’s identity and provider references, and check authoritative provider state before creating another mutation. If the provider documents idempotent retries, reuse the same key and parameters within its stated scope and retention period.
Why a timeout leaves the outcome uncertain
A client timeout means it did not receive a response before its deadline. The request may never have reached the provider, may still be processing, or may have committed while the response was lost. The timeout alone cannot distinguish these cases, so it is not evidence of rollback.
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This ambiguity applies to database commits as well as remote APIs. PostgreSQL documents that a successful COMMIT makes a transaction’s changes visible to other transactions and durable against a crash; that guarantee does not mean a client that lost its connection received confirmation. A connection failure around commit can therefore leave the client uncertain even when the database committed. See the PostgreSQL COMMIT documentation.
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Recover safely, in order
1. Record the logical operation before dispatch
Persist a durable local record for the intended action before sending it. Give the logical operation a stable ID that does not change from attempt to attempt. Record the intended action, relevant normalized request details or fingerprint, attempt metadata, and an initial state such as pending. If the provider supports idempotency keys, bind the key to this logical operation—not to each network attempt.
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The exact record schema is application-specific. The important distinction is between one intended operation and the attempts made to observe or complete it.
2. Mark a dispatched timeout as outcome unknown
If the request might have reached the provider, change the local state to outcome_unknown. Retain the original idempotency key, request parameters, and any request ID or provider operation reference. Do not mark the operation failed just because the client deadline expired.
3. Reconcile against authoritative provider evidence
Use a provider status endpoint or transaction history with the provider operation reference, if the provider documents one. Request logs can also help when you have a request ID. A request log may show that a request was attempted, but that is not necessarily proof of the final business state; prefer evidence that establishes the operation’s outcome.
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4. Act only on what the evidence establishes
- If the provider confirms success, record the operation as successful.
- If the provider confirms non-execution or rollback, record that result before deciding whether to make a new attempt.
- If the result remains inconclusive, keep it unresolved and observe again later or escalate under an application-specific policy.
- If the provider documents safe idempotent replay, resend the same operation with the same key and parameters, subject to the provider’s scope, retention, and error behavior.
Do not create a new key simply to retry the same intended mutation. A new key can identify a new operation and may duplicate the effect.
5. Make recovery safe to repeat
Reconcilers, compensating actions, and operator-triggered replays can themselves be retried. Persist their progress and ensure two workers cannot independently turn one unresolved operation into separate mutations. The locking, uniqueness, and storage strategy depends on the application; the invariant is that recovery must preserve the same logical operation identity.
What an idempotency key does—and does not—guarantee
Idempotency is a provider-specific contract, not a universal property of APIs. Check the exact endpoint and account scope, how parameters are compared, which outcomes are retained, and how long a key remains usable. The Stripe idempotent requests reference is one documented example, not a rule for other providers.
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Stripe says it saves a request’s status code and response body once endpoint execution begins, then returns the saved result for later requests using that key. This includes a 500 response. Replaying the same key may therefore return the same error rather than produce a fresh execution or resolve the underlying business outcome.
Stripe also documents two important exceptions: validation failures and concurrent execution conflicts that occur before endpoint execution begins do not save an idempotent result. Reusing a key with different parameters produces an error. These rules make preserving the original parameters essential.
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Retention limits matter
Stripe says it may prune keys once they are at least 24 hours old. After a key is pruned, reusing it can initiate a new request. That is Stripe’s retention behavior, not a general 24-hour guarantee for idempotency keys. Before relying on a replay, check the provider’s current retention terms; if the key may have expired, reconcile or escalate before retrying it.
Keep request identifiers for investigation
Stripe documents a request identifier in the response header named Request-Id and in individual request-log URLs. Save it whenever a response provides one, and preserve any provider operation reference separately. These identifiers can help locate evidence, but their existence alone does not prove whether the business operation completed. See Stripe’s Request IDs documentation.
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Evaluate recovery options before relying on them
When choosing how an agent should resolve an uncertain operation, assess the specific provider and endpoint on these dimensions:
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- Authority: Does the evidence establish the final provider state, or only that a request was attempted?
- Duplicate protection: Does deduplication cover this endpoint and the exact payload being sent?
- Retention: How long are keys or operation records kept, and what happens after expiry?
- Visibility delay: Could a completed operation be temporarily absent from a status read or replica?
- Failure semantics: Are server errors cached? Are validation failures or in-progress conflicts treated differently?
- Recovery ownership: Can an automated process act safely on the available evidence, or does an inconclusive result require an operator?
These criteria are more useful than assuming that a retry is safe because an API accepts an idempotency key. Provider behavior must be checked for the operation in question.
Keep local and remote transactions distinct
A local database commit and a remote side effect are separate systems unless an explicit coordination mechanism joins them. Recording an operation locally does not by itself make a provider call atomic with that database transaction. Design for the possibility that one side records progress while the other side’s outcome remains uncertain, and reconcile using evidence from the system that owns the state.
For a local PostgreSQL transaction, distinguish a confirmed abort from a timeout or connection loss around COMMIT. The latter may leave the client without an answer even though the database committed. Use durable application operation records and database-specific evidence; do not assume remote API idempotency rules apply to PostgreSQL transactions.
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