Design workflows for the moments things go wrong

An integration can fail even when every system is healthy. Networks time out, payloads change, rate limits apply, and the same event can arrive more than once. Reliable workflows account for these conditions from the beginning.

Use an idempotency key to distinguish a repeat delivery from a new action. Store the result of completed work where a retry can find it. Choose a bounded retry strategy with increasing delays, and stop automatically when intervention is needed.

Validate events before acting on them. A structurally valid payload is not necessarily authorized. Check the event source, the intended scope, and the action permitted by the workflow configuration.

Finally, make failure useful. An activity record should say which step failed, why it failed, and what can happen next. Avoid logging tokens or unnecessary personal data. A clear trail makes automation easier to operate and easier to trust.