LLM Proxy Error Handling Best Practices
Build resilient AI applications with comprehensive error handling strategies. Learn retry mechanisms, fallback providers, circuit breakers, and graceful degradation patterns for production-ready LLM integrations.
Network Errors
Connection & timeout
Auth Errors
API key & permissions
Rate Limits
Quota exceeded
Model Errors
Invalid requests
Error Recovery Strategies
Multi-layer approach to handling failures
Detect & Classify
Identify error type and determine if it's retryable, requires fallback, or should fail fast.
Retry with Backoff
For transient errors, retry with exponential backoff to avoid overwhelming the provider.
Fallback Provider
Route to alternative provider when primary fails, maintaining service availability.
Circuit Breaker
Open circuit after repeated failures to prevent cascading issues and allow recovery.
Graceful Degradation
Return cached responses or simplified results when all providers are unavailable.
Implementation Patterns
Proven error handling techniques
Implement intelligent retry delays that increase exponentially to avoid rate limit escalation.
retry: max_attempts: 3 initial_delay: 1s max_delay: 30s multiplier: 2.0 jitter: true # Randomize to avoid thundering herd
Configure backup providers to automatically handle failures from the primary provider.
providers: primary: openai fallbacks: - anthropic - google on_error: next_provider timeout: 30s
Stop sending requests to failing providers to allow recovery and prevent resource exhaustion.
circuit_breaker: failure_threshold: 5 reset_timeout: 60s half_open_requests: 1 success_threshold: 2
Return cached or simplified responses when all providers fail, maintaining partial functionality.
degradation: enabled: true cache_fallback: true default_response: "Service temporarily unavailable" preserve_headers: true
Critical Consideration
Never retry on authentication errors or invalid request errors. These require immediate attention and will not succeed on retry. Log these errors and alert your team.
Build Resilient AI Applications
Implement comprehensive error handling to ensure your AI-powered applications remain reliable and responsive even when providers fail.