Retry without starting work twice - Millwork

Goal: Send the same request twice and receive the same run. Why this helps: a response can be lost even when Millwork accepted the request. Reusing the same request key avoids starting and paying for the work again. You are done when: both responses contain the same execution_id.

Before you begin

Set MILLWORK_API_URL and MILLWORK_API_KEY as shown in Check your setup. This recipe uses Echo, so it does not call an AI provider.

Send the same request twice

export JOB_KEY="echo-retry-$(date +%s)"

jq -n '{
  mode: "echo",
  task: {
    objective: "Check that a repeated request does not start another run."
  },
  policy: {
    data_classes: ["public"],
    budget: {
      max_cost_usd: 1,
      max_runtime_s: 30
    }
  }
}' > retry-request.json

for ATTEMPT in 1 2; do
  curl --fail-with-body \
    --request POST \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer $MILLWORK_API_KEY" \
    --header "Idempotency-Key: $JOB_KEY" \
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data @retry-request.json \
    "$MILLWORK_API_URL/executions" > "retry-$ATTEMPT.json"
done

jq -e -s '.[0].execution_id == .[1].execution_id' \
  retry-1.json retry-2.json

Expected result: the final command prints true.

If it fails

What happened	What to do
`idempotency_conflict`	The body changed. Use the original body, or use a new key for new work.
No response after submitting	Send the exact same body with the same key.
You do not know which body was sent	Stop. Check the original run before creating another request.

What this confirms

The same key and same body return the same accepted work. It does not confirm that the work succeeded. Continue to poll the returned run ID until it reaches a final status.

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