Execution and Retries

Last updated 2026-10-02

This page explains how a worker runs one task, how panics, timeouts, and errors are reported, and how retries re-enter the queue.

Executing a Task

execute runs the task function in its own goroutine and waits on both the result and the ctx (core/new.go:118).

graph TB
    A[Pop a task] --> B[context.WithTimeout]
    B --> C[goroutine runs action + recover]
    C --> D{Outcome}
    D -->|returns nil| E[task.completed + Callback]
    D -->|error / panic / timeout| F{Retry enabled and under limit?}
    F -->|Yes| G[retryTimes++ / PriorityRetry / re-enqueue]
    F -->|No, retry enabled| H[task.exhausted]
    F -->|No, retry disabled| I[task.failed]
    G -->|re-enqueue fails| J[task.retry_failed]

Case	Result
panic	`recover` turns it into a `panic: <value>` error; the worker is unaffected
timeout	Reports `task timeout after <d>`; if the task ignores `ctx.Done()`, its goroutine keeps running until it returns
`Start` ctx cancelled	The task ctx is cancelled too; the error is `ctx.Err()`
success with callback	The callback runs with the task ID in a new goroutine; it never runs on failure

Retries

WithRetry() allows up to 3 retries and WithRetry(n) allows n; total runs are n + 1.

Behavior	Detail
Re-entry	Immediately at `PriorityRetry`, with no backoff delay
Timeout	Keeps the original timeout
Wait time	`startAt` resets, so promotion timing starts over
Re-enqueue blocked	When the heap is full or the queue is closed, the task is dropped and `task.retry_failed` is logged

Each outcome emits a fixed slog event, listed in Log Events.