Attempt limit
A loop guard limits the tries for one task, and a budget turns that limit into money. 5 tries at 0.10 USD each cap a stuck task at 0.50 USD. With 100 tries, 40 stuck tasks spend about 400 USD.
See it on the board
The same traffic runs on two boards. The simulator measured both when this page was built.
| Measure | Goal | Up to 100 tries for each task | 5 tries, then a dead-letter queue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completion time | under 120 s | 600 s Fail | 43.41 s Pass |
| Lost writes | none | 0 Pass | 0 Pass |
| Monthly cost | 16 USD/mo | 16 USD/mo | |
| Error rate | 0% | 0% | |
| Level rules | none broken | Board is not complete Fail | Pass |
Key numbers
| Number | Value |
|---|---|
| Default delivery tries | 5 tries |
| Large model, input tokens | 3 USD/M tokens |
| Large model, output tokens | 12 USD/M tokens |
Timeout 10.0 s · 64 of 64 workers wait in a fault · 0% of normal calls stop
How it works
An agent that fails will try again, and each try calls a model. If a task is stuck, for example it asks for something that does not exist, every try fails in the same way. A system that retries without a limit keeps paying for the same failure.
In the mini board a nightly batch runs 400 agent tasks from a work queue. Each try costs about 0.10 USD in model calls. About 1 task in 10 fails on every try. With a limit of 100 tries, each stuck task burns up to 10 USD, and the 40 stuck tasks spend about 400 USD. The batch also does not finish in 2 minutes.
An attempt limit of 5 caps a stuck task at 0.50 USD. After the fifth failed try, the queue moves the task to a dead-letter queue, where a person can look at it. The 360 healthy tasks finish, and the batch stays under 70 USD.
The limit is a deadline measured in tries. You can also set a limit in time, in tokens or in money. Use the one that matches the cost that you fear. Count tries for each task, not only for the whole batch, so one bad task cannot spend the budget of the rest.
In the levels you set the limit and the dead-letter queue and check the time and the money.