Job retries and failure in Laravel - Step-by-Step Execution

Concept Flow - Job retries and failure

Job dispatched

↓

Job runs

↓

Job succeeds?

No→Job fails

↓

Retries left?

No→Mark job as failed

↓

Retry job after delay

↓

Job runs again

This flow shows how a Laravel job runs, checks success, retries if it fails and retries remain, or marks as failed if no retries left.

Execution Sample

Laravel

public function handle()
{
    // Job logic here
    if ($this->attempts() >= 3) {
        return; // Job succeeds after 3 attempts
    }
    throw new \Exception('Fail to retry');
}

This job throws an exception to fail and retry up to 3 times before succeeding.

Execution Table

Step	Action	Attempt Number	Result	Next Step
1	Job dispatched and runs	1	Fails (exception thrown)	Check retries left
2	Retries left? (1 < 3)	1	Yes	Retry job after delay
3	Job runs again	2	Fails (exception thrown)	Check retries left
4	Retries left? (2 < 3)	2	Yes	Retry job after delay
5	Job runs again	3	Fails (exception thrown)	Check retries left
6	Retries left? (3 < 3)	3	No	Mark job as failed
7	Job marked as failed	3	Failure recorded	Stop retries

💡 Retries exhausted at attempt 3, job marked as failed and stops retrying.

Variable Tracker

Variable	Start	After 1	After 2	After 3	Final
attempts()	0	1	2	3	3
Job status	pending	failed	failed	failed	failed

Key Moments - 3 Insights

Why does the job retry only up to 3 times and then fail?

Because the attempts() method returns the current try count, and when it reaches 3, the condition to retry is false (see execution_table rows 6 and 7).

What happens if the job succeeds before reaching max retries?

The job stops retrying and is considered successful, so no further retries or failure marking occur (not shown in this trace but implied by the success branch in concept_flow).

How does Laravel know when to mark a job as failed?

When the retry limit is reached and the job still fails, Laravel marks it as failed automatically (see execution_table row 7).

Visual Quiz - 3 Questions

Look at the execution table, what is the attempt number when the job is marked as failed?

A 1

B 3

C 2

D 4

💡 Hint

Check the 'Attempt Number' column in the row where 'Job marked as failed' occurs.

At which step does the job decide not to retry anymore?

A Step 4

B Step 2

C Step 6

D Step 7

💡 Hint

Look for the step where 'Retries left?' condition is false in the execution_table.

If the max retries were increased to 5, how would the execution table change?

A The job would retry up to attempt 5 before failing

B The job would fail immediately at attempt 3

C The job would never fail

D The job would succeed on first try

💡 Hint

Refer to the retry condition check in execution_table rows 2, 4, and 6.

Concept Snapshot

Laravel jobs run and may fail.
If a job fails, Laravel retries it up to a max attempts limit.
Each retry waits some delay before running again.
When retries are exhausted, Laravel marks the job as failed.
Use attempts() to check current try count inside the job.
Throw exceptions to trigger retries automatically.

Full Transcript

In Laravel, when a job is dispatched, it runs and may succeed or fail. If it fails, Laravel checks if the job has retries left by comparing the current attempt count with the max allowed. If retries remain, Laravel waits and retries the job. This repeats until the job succeeds or the retry limit is reached. When no retries remain, Laravel marks the job as failed and stops retrying. The attempts() method inside the job returns how many times the job has run. Throwing an exception causes the job to fail and trigger a retry if allowed. This process helps handle temporary failures gracefully by retrying jobs automatically.