Circuit Breaker Pattern
The Circuit Breaker Pattern is a software design pattern used to detect failures and prevent cascading failures in distributed systems by temporarily blocking requests to a failing service. It acts as a proxy that monitors for failures and, when a threshold is exceeded, opens the circuit to stop further requests, allowing the failing service time to recover. This pattern improves system resilience and stability by gracefully handling service outages and preventing resource exhaustion.
Developers should use the Circuit Breaker Pattern when building microservices, APIs, or any distributed system where service dependencies can fail, to avoid cascading failures and improve fault tolerance. It is particularly useful in scenarios with network latency, remote service calls, or third-party integrations, as it helps maintain system responsiveness and provides fallback mechanisms. Implementing this pattern reduces downtime and enhances user experience by preventing repeated calls to unresponsive services.