# Call Tool With Retry

> Call one tool, retry with exponential backoff on transient errors, log every attempt.

- Skill: `jcaiagent7143-ui/call-tool-with-retry` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add jcaiagent7143-ui/call-tool-with-retry`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/jcaiagent7143-ui/call-tool-with-retry/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: jcaiagent7143-ui (https://skillmd.com/u/jcaiagent7143-ui)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/jcaiagent7143-ui/call-tool-with-retry

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# Call Tool with Retry

## Steps

1. **Record the attempt** in the tool log BEFORE calling — so a crash mid-call still leaves a trail.
2. **Call the tool** with the args.
3. On success: record `ok=true`, return.
4. On error: classify (transient vs. terminal). Backoff: `2^attempt` seconds, cap 30s.
5. Retry up to `max_retries` only if `idempotent=true` OR the error is provably terminal-safe-to-retry
   (e.g. `429` rate limit, `503` upstream).
6. On final failure: record `ok=false` with the error, return.

## Output shape

```jsonc
{
  "ok": true,
  "value": { ... },
  "attempts": 1
}
// or
{
  "ok": false,
  "error": "503 upstream timeout",
  "attempts": 3
}
```

## Failure modes

- Retrying a non-idempotent POST → duplicate side effects.
- Logging *after* the call → crash data loss.
- Treating all 4xx as terminal — `408`, `429` are transient.
- Sleeping a literal `time.sleep(30)` in a single-threaded loop → blocks the
  whole pipeline. Use async sleep / a job queue.