Retry Policies

Steps can define retry behavior for transient failures. If a step fails and has a retry policy, the engine will automatically re-attempt execution.

Per-Step Configuration

Add a retry key to any step definition:

'process_payment' => [
    'type' => 'action',
    'handler' => 'charge_card',
    'retry' => [
        'max_attempts' => 3,
        'backoff' => 'exponential',  // 'fixed', 'linear', or 'exponential'
        'delay_seconds' => 5,        // Base delay between retries
    ],
]

Backoff Strategies

Strategy	Delay Pattern	Example (5s base)
fixed	Same delay every retry	5s, 5s, 5s
linear	Delay grows linearly	5s, 10s, 15s
exponential	Delay doubles each retry	5s, 10s, 20s

Global Default

Set a default retry policy for all steps in config/workflowable.php:

'execution' => [
    'default_retry' => [
        'max_attempts' => 3,
        'backoff' => 'exponential',
        'delay_seconds' => 5,
    ],
],

Per-step retry configuration overrides the global default. Set 'retry' => null on a step to explicitly disable retries even when a global default is set.

Events

Event	When
StepRetrying	Before each retry attempt. Properties: $execution, $attempt, $delaySeconds
StepFailed	After final failure. Properties: $execution, $exception, $willRetry

The $willRetry property on StepFailed indicates whether the step will be retried. It's false when all attempts are exhausted.

Example: Payment Processing

'steps' => [
    'charge_card' => [
        'type' => 'action',
        'handler' => 'charge_card',
        'retry' => [
            'max_attempts' => 3,
            'backoff' => 'exponential',
            'delay_seconds' => 2,
        ],
    ],
    'send_receipt' => [
        'type' => 'action',
        'handler' => 'send_receipt',
        'retry' => [
            'max_attempts' => 5,
            'backoff' => 'fixed',
            'delay_seconds' => 10,
        ],
    ],
],

Payment processing uses exponential backoff (2s, 4s, 8s) for gateway timeouts, while email sending uses fixed delays (10s each) for SMTP issues.