When implementing a backoff strategy, what return codes should you look for and then retry your request?

When implementing a backoff strategy, particularly in the context of making API calls or requests to a service, it is essential to focus on specific HTTP return codes that indicate the request may not have been processed successfully due to temporary issues.

The chosen answer highlights the significance of the 503 Service Unavailable status code. This code indicates that the server is currently unable to handle the request due to temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. When encountering a 503 error, it is appropriate to employ a backoff strategy and retry the request after a certain interval, as the issue is likely to be transient.

Additionally, the 207 Multi-Status code can be part of a response when multiple operations in a request are being processed, and not all operation statuses may be successful, which indicates mixed outcomes. While not typically associated with retrying, it may signal that some operations succeeded while others did not, warranting follow-up actions, including retries for failed operations.

In contrast, other return codes include those that indicate more permanent issues (like 400-series codes for client errors) or success codes (like 200 and 201), which signal that the request was successfully processed and do not warrant a retry. Return codes such as 500 indicate server errors