To avoid duplicate video jobs after a timeout, persist one operation record per generation and reuse a stable idempotency key only if the exact job-creation endpoint documents support for it. A timeout leaves the outcome uncertain: the provider may have accepted the job even though your client never received the response. If the endpoint has no documented idempotency contract, reconcile the operation before sending another create request.
Why a timeout can create duplicate video jobs
A client timeout reports that the client did not receive a timely response; it does not prove the provider failed to accept the request. The first job may already be running. Sending another job-creation request blindly can therefore start a second generation, while refusing to retry indefinitely can leave a genuine failure unresolved.
Idempotency and retryability are separate properties. A provider may say that a particular error is transient and worth retrying without promising that repeating a create request returns the original job rather than creating another. Treat a retry as duplicate-safe only when the exact endpoint documents how it handles idempotency keys.
Build a repeat-safe generation workflow
- Create an application operation record first. Assign an internal operation ID and save the provider, normalized request parameters or a request-body fingerprint, creation time, and initial state before calling the provider.
- Use a key only under a documented endpoint contract. If the exact create endpoint accepts an idempotency key, generate or derive an opaque key for this operation and persist it. For retries of the unchanged operation, send the same key and same request body. A changed prompt or other changed generation parameters represent a different operation; do not silently reuse the old key.
- Save the provider’s job identifier. Persist a returned task or job ID as soon as you receive it, before polling for completion. Runway’s getting-started guide demonstrates an image-to-video task workflow: create a task, then use its returned task ID to retrieve status. This demonstrates asynchronous status tracking, not idempotency of repeated task creation. Runway image-to-video guide.
- Record ambiguous outcomes explicitly. If the request times out before you learn the result, mark the operation as unknown rather than failed. Where a documented key contract applies, retry the unchanged request with the same key. Without that contract, inspect available task/status records and operational logs, then reconcile before deciding whether to submit a new generation. A client-generated request ID can help support investigate when an API accepts and logs it, but it is not proof of idempotency.
- Make callback handling repeat-safe. Deduplicate webhook side effects by provider event or job identity and make state transitions safe to apply more than once. Replicate says webhook deliveries may be retried after network problems and asks developers to make receivers safe for repeated calls; this concerns webhook delivery, not prediction creation. Replicate webhook documentation.
When and how to retry
Retry only failures the provider identifies as transient, and bound both the number of attempts and the total time spent retrying. Evaluate the response status together with its body: a 429 can indicate rate limiting, while a 503 can indicate overload, and status alone may not explain every cause. Authentication, invalid input, billing, quota, and other actionable errors should be corrected rather than retried as though temporary.
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Honor provider timing and avoid retry storms
- Use exponential backoff with jitter for suitable transient failures. Runway’s error reference identifies 429, 502, 503, and 504 as retryable and recommends exponential backoff with jitter; its guidance allows a random delay of up to 50% of the retry timing. The page also notes that Runway SDKs handle retries automatically. Runway error reference.
- If the response includes a valid
Retry-Afterdelay, treat it as a minimum wait, then add jitter. OpenAI’s rate-limit guide also advises bounding attempts and total retry time and warns against nested retry loops. Check whether your SDK already retries before adding application-level retries. OpenAI rate-limit guide. - Keep the retry policy in one layer where possible. Combining SDK retries with a separate application retry loop can multiply attempts and delay recovery in ways that are hard to predict.
What the provider examples do—and do not—establish
Runway: task IDs and retry guidance, not a create-key promise
Runway’s guide shows a versioned image-to-video request to /v1/image_to_video and a response containing a task ID for status retrieval. Its error documentation recommends retries for specified statuses, but the reviewed pages do not state an idempotency-key policy for job creation. A task ID helps track a job once known; it does not establish that repeating the create request is safe.
OpenAI: endpoint-specific idempotency documentation
OpenAI’s rate-limit guidance explains handling 429 and 503 responses, retry timing, SDK retries, and bounded backoff. Those recommendations do not themselves guarantee duplicate-safe video job creation. Separately, OpenAI documents an Idempotency-Key header for workspace-agent triggers: callers should reuse the key only when retrying the same event, and the same trigger returns its original accepted outcome rather than adding a second event to the queue. That is a contract for the documented trigger endpoint, not a general promise for every OpenAI endpoint or video API. OpenAI workspace-agent trigger documentation.
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Replicate: webhook retry behavior
Replicate’s webhook documentation says deliveries may be retried after network problems, so webhook receivers must tolerate repeated calls. It does not establish duplicate prevention for prediction creation. Keep callback deduplication and create-request idempotency as separate safeguards.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What to verify before relying on an idempotency key
Read the documentation for the exact endpoint and SDK version you use; do not infer a contract from a provider’s general retry advice or from another endpoint. Confirm these details before making retries part of a production workflow:
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- Does the create endpoint accept an idempotency key, and what does it do if the same key is sent with a different body?
- How long does the provider retain keys, and what happens if the original request is still processing?
- Does a successful create response include a durable job ID, and can status be retrieved if the client loses the response?
- Which statuses and error-body codes are transient, and does the SDK retry them automatically?
- Does the provider send
Retry-After, and how do application limits interact with SDK retries? - Can webhook deliveries repeat, and which event or job identifier should the receiver use to deduplicate work?
There is no universal video-generation idempotency guarantee established across the provider documentation covered here. Until the specific endpoint documents its contract, treat a timed-out create request as unresolved—not as a confirmed failure—and reconcile before creating another job.
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