Clay Reliability Patterns

Overview

Production-grade reliability patterns for Clay integrations.

Prerequisites

• Understanding of circuit breaker pattern
• opossum or similar library installed
• Queue infrastructure for DLQ
• Caching layer for fallbacks

Circuit Breaker

import CircuitBreaker from 'opossum';

const clayBreaker = new CircuitBreaker(
  async (operation: () => Promise<any>) => operation(),
  {
    timeout: 30000,
    errorThresholdPercentage: 50,
    resetTimeout: 30000,
    volumeThreshold: 10,
  }
);

// Events
clayBreaker.on('open', () => {
  console.warn('Clay circuit OPEN - requests failing fast');
  alertOps('Clay circuit breaker opened');
});

clayBreaker.on('halfOpen', () => {
  console.info('Clay circuit HALF-OPEN - testing recovery');
});

clayBreaker.on('close', () => {
  console.info('Clay circuit CLOSED - normal operation');
});

// Usage
async function safeClayCall<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
  return clayBreaker.fire(fn);
}

Idempotency Keys

import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
import crypto from 'crypto';

// Generate deterministic idempotency key from input
function generateIdempotencyKey(
  operation: string,
  params: Record<string, any>
): string {
  const data = JSON.stringify({ operation, params });
  return crypto.createHash('sha256').update(data).digest('hex');
}

// Or use random key with storage
class IdempotencyManager {
  private store: Map<string, { key: string; expiresAt: Date }> = new Map();

  getOrCreate(operationId: string): string {
    const existing = this.store.get(operationId);
    if (existing && existing.expiresAt > new Date()) {
      return existing.key;
    }

    const key = uuidv4();
    this.store.set(operationId, {
      key,
      expiresAt: new Date(Date.now() + 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000),
    });
    return key;
  }
}

Bulkhead Pattern

import PQueue from 'p-queue';

// Separate queues for different operations
const clayQueues = {
  critical: new PQueue({ concurrency: 10 }),
  normal: new PQueue({ concurrency: 5 }),
  bulk: new PQueue({ concurrency: 2 }),
};

async function prioritizedClayCall<T>(
  priority: 'critical' | 'normal' | 'bulk',
  fn: () => Promise<T>
): Promise<T> {
  return clayQueues[priority].add(fn);
}

// Usage
await prioritizedClayCall('critical', () =>
  clayClient.processPayment(order)
);

await prioritizedClayCall('bulk', () =>
  clayClient.syncCatalog(products)
);

Timeout Hierarchy

const TIMEOUT_CONFIG = {
  connect: 5000,      // Initial connection
  request: 30000,     // Standard requests
  upload: 120000,     // File uploads
  longPoll: 300000,   // Webhook long-polling
};

async function timedoutClayCall<T>(
  operation: 'connect' | 'request' | 'upload' | 'longPoll',
  fn: () => Promise<T>
): Promise<T> {
  const timeout = TIMEOUT_CONFIG[operation];

  return Promise.race([
    fn(),
    new Promise<never>((_, reject) =>
      setTimeout(() => reject(new Error(`Clay ${operation} timeout`)), timeout)
    ),
  ]);
}

Graceful Degradation

interface ClayFallback {
  enabled: boolean;
  data: any;
  staleness: 'fresh' | 'stale' | 'very_stale';
}

async function withClayFallback<T>(
  fn: () => Promise<T>,
  fallbackFn: () => Promise<T>
): Promise<{ data: T; fallback: boolean }> {
  try {
    const data = await fn();
    // Update cache for future fallback
    await updateFallbackCache(data);
    return { data, fallback: false };
  } catch (error) {
    console.warn('Clay failed, using fallback:', error.message);
    const data = await fallbackFn();
    return { data, fallback: true };
  }
}

Dead Letter Queue

interface DeadLetterEntry {
  id: string;
  operation: string;
  payload: any;
  error: string;
  attempts: number;
  lastAttempt: Date;
}

class ClayDeadLetterQueue {
  private queue: DeadLetterEntry[] = [];

  add(entry: Omit<DeadLetterEntry, 'id' | 'lastAttempt'>): void {
    this.queue.push({
      ...entry,
      id: uuidv4(),
      lastAttempt: new Date(),
    });
  }

  async processOne(): Promise<boolean> {
    const entry = this.queue.shift();
    if (!entry) return false;

    try {
      await clayClient[entry.operation](entry.payload);
      console.log(`DLQ: Successfully reprocessed ${entry.id}`);
      return true;
    } catch (error) {
      entry.attempts++;
      entry.lastAttempt = new Date();

      if (entry.attempts < 5) {
        this.queue.push(entry);
      } else {
        console.error(`DLQ: Giving up on ${entry.id} after 5 attempts`);
        await alertOnPermanentFailure(entry);
      }
      return false;
    }
  }
}

Health Check with Degraded State

type HealthStatus = 'healthy' | 'degraded' | 'unhealthy';

async function clayHealthCheck(): Promise<{
  status: HealthStatus;
  details: Record<string, any>;
}> {
  const checks = {
    api: await checkApiConnectivity(),
    circuitBreaker: clayBreaker.stats(),
    dlqSize: deadLetterQueue.size(),
  };

  const status: HealthStatus =
    !checks.api.connected ? 'unhealthy' :
    checks.circuitBreaker.state === 'open' ? 'degraded' :
    checks.dlqSize > 100 ? 'degraded' :
    'healthy';

  return { status, details: checks };
}

Instructions

Step 1: Implement Circuit Breaker

Wrap Clay calls with circuit breaker.

Step 2: Add Idempotency Keys

Generate deterministic keys for operations.

Step 3: Configure Bulkheads

Separate queues for different priorities.

Step 4: Set Up Dead Letter Queue

Handle permanent failures gracefully.

Output

• Circuit breaker protecting Clay calls
• Idempotency preventing duplicates
• Bulkhead isolation implemented
• DLQ for failed operations

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
Circuit stays open	Threshold too low	Adjust error percentage
Duplicate operations	Missing idempotency	Add idempotency key
Queue full	Rate too high	Increase concurrency
DLQ growing	Persistent failures	Investigate root cause

Examples

Quick Circuit Check

const state = clayBreaker.stats().state;
console.log('Clay circuit:', state);

Resources

• Circuit Breaker Pattern
• Opossum Documentation
• Clay Reliability Guide

Next Steps

For policy enforcement, see

clay-policy-guardrails

.