0×/retry

Retry any command with exponential backoff. One tool, one job.

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Why

Shell retry loops suck. You rewrite them constantly, get the backoff wrong, and forget 2>&1. retry handles it so you don't have to.

# Instead of this:
for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do
  curl https://api.com && break
  sleep $((2**i))
done

# Do this:
retry -t 5 -b exp -- curl https://api.com

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Install

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/0xProgress/retry/main/install.sh | sh

This clones the repo, builds it with make, and installs the binary to /usr/local/bin (or $PREFIX if set). Requires git, make, and Go on your PATH to build — the resulting binary itself is a single static executable with zero runtime dependencies.

Prefer to build manually?

git clone https://github.com/0xProgress/retry.git
cd retry
make build
cp retry /usr/local/bin/retry   # or wherever you keep binaries

Or, if you just want it on your $GOPATH/bin:

go install github.com/0xProgress/retry@latest

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Usage

# Retry up to 3 times
retry --times 3 -- ping google.com

# Exponential backoff (1s → 2s → 4s → 8s)
retry -t 5 -b exp -- curl -s https://flaky-api.com

# Fixed interval (every 5 seconds)
retry -t 10 -d 5 -- npm publish

# Only retry on specific errors
retry -t 3 --retry-if "Connection refused|timeout" -- ./my-script

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Options

Flag	Description	Default
-t, --times N	Max attempts	5
-d, --delay N	Base delay in seconds	1
-b, --backoff TYPE	linear, exp, or fixed	linear
--retry-if RE	Only retry if stderr matches regex	(all failures)
-v, --verbose	Show attempt timing	off
--no-color	Disable color output	auto-detected
--version	Print version	—
-h, --help	Show help	—

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Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Command succeeded
1	Failed after all retries
2	Invalid arguments
3	Command not found
128+N	Command was terminated by signal N (e.g. 130 = SIGINT)

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Real-world examples

CI pipeline

- name: Deploy
  run: retry -t 3 -b exp -- eb deploy

Database migrations

retry -t 10 --retry-if "deadlock|timeout" -- \
  psql -c "ALTER TABLE users ADD COLUMN email_verified BOOLEAN;"

Flaky tests

retry -t 3 -v -- go test ./pkg/integration/...

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Philosophy

Part of the 0× suite — tools that do one job, have zero bloat, and stay out of your way.

• No config files
• No runtime dependencies (single static binary once built)
• No surprises
• --help is all the docs you need

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License

Licensed under MIT