# Retries

Which requests are safe to send again after a timeout, and how to check before retrying the ones that aren't.

Rookery for developers · Updated October 11, 2026 · https://userookery.com/developers/retries/

Networks drop requests. When a request times out, you can't always tell whether it reached Rookery. Whether it's safe to send again depends on what it does.

## Safe to retry

Doing these twice has the same result as doing them once:

- every `GET`: reading and listing;
- [Change status](https://userookery.com/developers/reference/#set_status): setting the same status again changes nothing;
- [Tag or untag](https://userookery.com/developers/reference/#tag_conversation): a tag that's already there isn't added twice;
- [Assign](https://userookery.com/developers/reference/#assign_conversation): assigning to the same person again changes nothing.

## Check before retrying

These make something new each time, so a retry can make a second one:

- [Add an internal note](https://userookery.com/developers/reference/#add_note);
- [Reply to the customer](https://userookery.com/developers/reference/#reply);
- [Ask the customer for documents](https://userookery.com/developers/reference/#request_documents).

There's no `Idempotency-Key` header yet. After a timeout on one of these, read the conversation first, and only retry if yours isn't there:

1. Call [Read a conversation](https://userookery.com/developers/reference/#get_conversation) with the same id.
2. Look at the end of the `timeline`:
   - a note shows as `"type": "note"` with your key's name as `author`;
   - a reply shows as `"type": "message"`, `"direction": "outbound"`, with `"status": "draft"` (or `scheduled` if it was sent) and your text.
3. If it's there, the first request worked. If not, send it again.

A doubled draft is easy to fix: it waits in **Needs your yes**, and the person approving can throw one away. That's one more reason to [draft, not send](https://userookery.com/developers/draft-dont-send/).

Each operation in the [OpenAPI spec](https://userookery.com/developers/openapi.json) says whether it's safe to retry, in `x-rookery-idempotent`.

## Coming later

An `Idempotency-Key` header for requests that create things, so a retry with the same key returns the first answer instead of doing it twice. It will be optional, and calls without it will work as they do now.