AJO Custom Action Retry Mechanism and Timeout/Error Path Behavior Clarification | Community
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AkshithaPo
Level 2
February 19, 2026
Question

AJO Custom Action Retry Mechanism and Timeout/Error Path Behavior Clarification

  • February 19, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 17 views

Would like some clarification regarding the behavior of Custom Actions in Adobe Journey Optimizer, specifically around retry mechanisms and how profiles are handled when they enter timeout or error paths.

We are running a journey where profiles execute a Custom Action, and some profiles are being routed to the timeout/error branch due to execution failures. To better understand the platform behavior and plan our design appropriately, we have the following questions:

  1. Retry Mechanism
    • Does AJO perform any automatic retries for Custom Action executions in case of transient failures (for example network issues, service unavailability, or throttling responses)?
    • If retries are performed, what is the general retry strategy and is there any configurability available?

  2. Timeout and Error Path Handling
    • Once a profile is routed to the timeout or error path after a Custom Action failure, is that profile considered fully processed for that activity?
    • If the journey is paused and later resumed, will those profiles be retried automatically, or do they continue forward without another execution attempt?
    • Is there any native mechanism within AJO to reprocess profiles that previously failed at a Custom Action step?

  3. Best Practices
    • What are the recommended best practices for handling retries and resilience when designing journeys that rely on Custom Actions with external systems?

    1 reply

    SatheeskannaK
    Community Advisor
    SatheeskannaKCommunity Advisor
    Community Advisor
    February 20, 2026

    ​@AkshithaPo 

    1. Retry Mechanism
      • Does AJO perform any automatic retries for Custom Action executions in case of transient failures (for example network issues, service unavailability, or throttling responses)?
      • If retries are performed, what is the general retry strategy and is there any configurability available? 

             Error Handling and Retries

    • The system is configured to perform a maximum of three retries when an error occurs. This retry count is fixed and cannot be dynamically adjusted based on the specific error message received.
    • Retries are executed for all HTTP errors, with the following exceptions: HTTP 401 (Unauthorized), HTTP 403 (Forbidden), and HTTP 404 (Not Found).
    • For guidance on managing timeouts and conditional error branching, refer to the documentation based on the jo_status_code.

    https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/journey-optimizer/using/configure-journeys/action-journeys/action-response

    1. Timeout and Error Path Handling
      • Once a profile is routed to the timeout or error path after a Custom Action failure, is that profile considered fully processed for that activity? - Yes
      • If the journey is paused and later resumed, will those profiles be retried automatically, or do they continue forward without another execution attempt? -The process will not attempt another retry. Instead, it will proceed to the timeout branch, assuming one is configured.

    • Is there any native mechanism within AJO to reprocess profiles that previously failed at a Custom Action step? - No. But you can configure the retry handling mechanism based on the HTTP status code.

    1. Best Practices
      • What are the recommended best practices for handling retries and resilience when designing journeys that rely on Custom Actions with external systems? - This page contains all of the best practices.

    https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/journey-optimizer/using/configure-journeys/action-journeys/action-response

    https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/journey-optimizer/using/monitor/troubleshooting/troubleshoot-journey/troubleshoot-custom-action


     

    Thanks, Sathees
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