Fallback Pattern

Provide degraded but functional responses when primary operations fail, ensuring users always get a result

When to Use

• External service is down and you need to return something useful
• Stale cached data is better than an error message
• Different quality tiers exist (real-time data, cached data, static defaults)
• Feature flags need to gracefully disable features without errors

Instructions

1. Define a fallback chain: primary source, then secondary, then static default. Each level degrades gracefully.
2. Fallbacks should be fast and local — no external calls in the last-resort fallback.
3. Mark fallback responses so consumers know the data may be stale or incomplete.
4. Log when fallbacks are triggered — they indicate upstream problems.
5. Test fallbacks explicitly — they are rarely exercised in normal operation and rot silently.
6. Combine with circuit breaker: when the circuit opens, the fallback activates immediately.

// services/product-service.ts
interface Product {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  price: number;
  _fallback?: boolean;
  _fallbackReason?: string;
}

interface FallbackResult<T> {
  data: T;
  source: 'primary' | 'cache' | 'default';
}

export async function getProduct(id: string): Promise<FallbackResult<Product>> {
  // Level 1: Primary source — live API
  try {
    const res = await fetch(`https://api.example.com/products/${id}`, {
      signal: AbortSignal.timeout(3000),
    });
    if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${res.status}`);
    const product = await res.json();
    // Refresh cache on success
    await cache.set(`product:${id}`, product, { ttl: 3600 });
    return { data: product, source: 'primary' };
  } catch (primaryError) {
    console.warn(`Primary failed for product ${id}:`, primaryError);
  }

  // Level 2: Cache — stale but real data
  try {
    const cached = await cache.get<Product>(`product:${id}`);
    if (cached) {
      return { data: { ...cached, _fallback: true, _fallbackReason: 'cache' }, source: 'cache' };
    }
  } catch (cacheError) {
    console.warn(`Cache failed for product ${id}:`, cacheError);
  }

  // Level 3: Static default — always available
  return {
    data: {
      id,
      name: 'Product Unavailable',
      price: 0,
      _fallback: true,
      _fallbackReason: 'default',
    },
    source: 'default',
  };
}

// Generic fallback utility
export async function withFallback<T>(
  primary: () => Promise<T>,
  ...fallbacks: Array<() => Promise<T> | T>
): Promise<T> {
  try {
    return await primary();
  } catch (error) {
    for (const fallback of fallbacks) {
      try {
        return await fallback();
      } catch {
        continue;
      }
    }
    throw error; // All fallbacks failed, rethrow original
  }
}

// Usage
const recommendations = await withFallback(
  () => recommendationService.getPersonalized(userId),
  () => recommendationService.getPopular(),
  () => STATIC_RECOMMENDATIONS
);

Details

Fallback strategies:

• Cache fallback: Return the last known good value from a cache. Best for data that changes slowly.
• Static default: Return hardcoded safe values. Best for configuration and feature flags.
• Simplified computation: Return an approximation instead of the exact result. Best for complex calculations.
• Alternative service: Call a backup provider. Best for critical external dependencies.
• Queue for later: Accept the request and process it asynchronously when the dependency recovers.

Marking fallback responses: Always indicate when a response is degraded. The UI can show a banner, the API can set headers, or the response object can include metadata:

// HTTP header approach
res.setHeader('X-Fallback', 'cache');
res.setHeader('X-Cache-Age', '3600');

// Response envelope approach
{ data: product, meta: { source: 'cache', staleSeconds: 3600 } }

Testing fallbacks: Inject failures in tests. Use dependency injection to swap services with failing implementations:

it('returns cached data when API is down', async () => {
  mockFetch.mockRejectedValue(new Error('Network error'));
  await cache.set('product:1', mockProduct);

  const result = await getProduct('1');
  expect(result.source).toBe('cache');
  expect(result.data._fallback).toBe(true);
});

Source

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/patterns/circuit-breaker#fallback

Process

1. Read the instructions and examples in this document.
2. Apply the patterns to your implementation, adapting to your specific context.
3. Verify your implementation against the details and edge cases listed above.

Harness Integration

• Type: knowledge — this skill is a reference document, not a procedural workflow.
• No tools or state — consumed as context by other skills and agents.

Success Criteria

• The patterns described in this document are applied correctly in the implementation.
• Edge cases and anti-patterns listed in this document are avoided.