Feedback: guides-retry-server-error

Documentation Feedback

Original URL: https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/guides/retry-server-error
Category: guides
Generated: 05/08/2025, 4:38:12 pm

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Claude Sonnet 4 Feedback

Generated: 05/08/2025, 4:38:11 pm

Technical Documentation Analysis & Feedback

Overall Assessment

The documentation covers a useful functionality but suffers from several structural and content issues that could frustrate users. Here’s my detailed analysis:

Critical Issues to Address

1. Missing Information

Error Code Identification

• No clear definition of what constitutes a “server error” vs other error types
• Missing HTTP status codes that trigger retries (5xx errors)
• No list of specific error messages that should trigger retries

Configuration Details

• Lack of guidance on optimal retry counts and wait times
• No mention of exponential backoff strategies
• Missing information about rate limits and how they interact with retries

SDK Requirements

• No minimum SDK version specified
• Missing compatibility information

2. Structural Problems

Redundant Code The exact same code block appears twice (Quickstart and Step-by-step), which is confusing and suggests poor organization.

Recommended Structure:

1. Overview & When to Use
2. Prerequisites
3. Implementation Options
   - Basic Implementation
   - Advanced Implementation (exponential backoff)
4. Configuration Reference
5. Error Handling Best Practices
6. Troubleshooting

3. Unclear Explanations

Logic Flow Issues

• The retry logic is hard to follow
• No explanation of why the function returns early in success cases
• Unclear distinction between different error types

Parameter Explanations

# Current - unclear parameter purpose
def handle_error_transcription(audio_url, transcriber, config, retries=1, wait_time=5):

# Better - with clear documentation
def handle_error_transcription(
    audio_url: str,           # URL or path to audio file
    transcriber: aai.Transcriber,  # AssemblyAI transcriber instance
    config: aai.TranscriptionConfig,  # Transcription settings
    max_retries: int = 3,     # Maximum retry attempts (recommended: 3-5)
    initial_wait: float = 2.0, # Initial wait time in seconds
    use_exponential_backoff: bool = True  # Whether to increase wait time per retry
) -> Optional[aai.Transcript]:

4. Better Examples Needed

Current Example Issues:

• Generic placeholder values
• No real-world audio URL
• Missing error scenarios demonstration

Improved Examples:

# Example 1: Basic retry with real audio
audio_url = "https://github.com/AssemblyAI-Examples/audio-examples/raw/main/20230607_me_canadian_wildfires.mp3"

transcript = handle_error_transcription(
    audio_url=audio_url,
    transcriber=transcriber,
    config=config,
    max_retries=3,
    initial_wait=2.0
)

# Example 2: Advanced configuration with speaker detection
config = aai.TranscriptionConfig(
    speaker_labels=True,
    auto_highlights=True
)

# Example 3: Handling different error scenarios
try:
    transcript = handle_error_transcription(audio_url, transcriber, config)
    if transcript:
        print(f"✅ Transcription successful: {len(transcript.text)} characters")
        if transcript.confidence < 0.8:
            print("⚠️  Low confidence score - consider audio quality")
    else:
        print("❌ Transcription failed after retries")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"❌ Unexpected error: {e}")

5. User Pain Points

Immediate Issues:

• Users can’t distinguish between retry-worthy and non-retry-worthy errors
• No guidance on what to do when retries are exhausted
• Hardcoded error message matching is fragile

Improved Error Handling:

def is_retriable_error(transcript: aai.Transcript) -> bool:
    """Check if the error is worth retrying."""
    if transcript.status != aai.TranscriptStatus.error:
        return False

    # Server errors that should be retried
    retriable_errors = [
        "Server error, developers have been alerted",
        "Internal server error",
        "Service temporarily unavailable",
        "Timeout error"
    ]

    return any(error in transcript.error.lower() for error in retriable_errors)

def calculate_wait_time(attempt: int, initial_wait: float, max_wait: float = 60.0) -> float:
    """Calculate wait time with exponential backoff and jitter."""
    import random

    wait_time = initial_wait * (2 ** attempt)  # Exponential backoff
    wait_time = min(wait_time, max_wait)       # Cap maximum wait
    jitter = random.uniform(0.1, 0.9)         # Add jitter to prevent thundering herd
    return wait_time * jitter

Additional Recommendations

6. Add Configuration Reference Table

Parameter	Type	Default	Description	Recommended Range
max_retries	int	3	Maximum retry attempts	1-5
initial_wait	float	2.0	Initial wait time (seconds)	1.0-5.0
max_wait	float	60.0	Maximum wait time (seconds)	30.0-300.0
use_exponential_backoff	bool	True	Increase wait time per retry	-

7. Add Troubleshooting Section

## Troubleshooting

**Q: My retries keep failing with server errors**
A: If you experience persistent server errors after 3+ retries, this may indicate a service outage. Check our [status page](https://status.assemblyai.com) or contact support.

**Q: Should I retry client errors (4xx)?**
A: No, client errors indicate issues with your request (invalid API key, malformed audio, etc.) and retrying won't help.

**Q: How long should I wait between retries?**
A: Start with 2-5 seconds and use exponential backoff. Our servers typically recover within seconds.

8. Add Logging Example

import logging

logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

def handle_error_transcription_with_logging(audio_url, transcriber, config, max_retries=3):
    for attempt in range(max_retries + 1):
        logger.info(f"Transcription attempt {attempt + 1}/{max_retries + 1}")

        transcript = transcriber.transcribe(audio_url, config)

        if transcript.status == aai.TranscriptStatus.completed:
            logger.info("✅ Transcription completed successfully")
            return transcript
        elif is_retriable_error(transcript):
            wait_time = calculate_wait_time(attempt, 2.0)
            logger.warning(f"⚠️  Server error on attempt {attempt + 1}. Retrying in {wait_time:.1f}s...")
            time.sleep(wait_time)
        else:
            logger.error(f"❌ Non-retriable error: {transcript.error}")
            return None

    logger.error("❌ All retry attempts exhausted")
    return None

This improved structure would make the documentation much more user-friendly and production-ready.

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