> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.unstructured.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Retries

For the [Unstructured Python SDK](/api-reference/workflow/overview#unstructured-python-sdk),
the [Unstructured API's workflow operations](/api-reference/workflow/overview) allows for retries with the
`RetryConfig` class when initializing the client, through the client's `retry_config` parameter.
If a request to the Unstructured API's workflow operations fails, the client will retry the
request with an exponential backoff strategy up to a maximum interval of one minute. The
function keeps retrying until the total elapsed time exceeds `max_elapsed_time`[\*](#parameter-names),
which defaults to one hour. However, you can override these defaults, for example as follows:

```python Python SDK theme={null}
# ...
from unstructured_client.utils import RetryConfig, BackoffStrategy

client = UnstructuredClient(
    api_key_auth=os.getenv("UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY")
    retry_config=RetryConfig(
        strategy="backoff",
        retry_connection_errors=True,
        backoff=BackoffStrategy(
            initial_interval=500,     # 0.5 seconds: 500 milliseconds
            max_interval=60000,       # 1 minute: 60 seconds * 1000 milliseconds
            exponent=1.5,
            max_elapsed_time=900000,  # 15 minutes: 15 * 60 seconds * 1000 milliseconds
        ),
    )
)
```

Available `RetryConfig` settings include:

| Setting                            | Description                                                                       |
| ---------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `strategy`                         | The strategy to use for retries. The only supported value is `backoff`.           |
| `retry_connection_errors`          | True to retry on connection errors.                                               |
| `BackoffStrategy.initial_interval` | After the first error, wait the specified number of milliseconds before retrying. |
| `BackoffStrategy.max_interval`     | The maximum wait time, specified in milliseconds between retries.                 |
| `BackoffStrategy.exponent`         | After each retry, increase the wait time exponentially by the specified factor.   |
| `BackoffStrategy.max_elapsed_time` | Stop retrying after the specified number of milliseconds.                         |