A circuit-breaker is a software design pattern that prevents cascading failures by monitoring calls to a dependent service and opening (stopping further calls) when a configurable failure threshold is exceeded. Parameters: failure-threshold (number of failures triggering open state), timeout-period (duration before transitioning to half-open for a probe call), success-criteria (what qualifies as success in half-open state). Persistence mechanism: state machine (CLOSED→OPEN→HALF-OPEN→CLOSED) maintained by the runtime within the calling application. [formal: circuit-breaker | substrate: behavior | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
circuit-breaker
A circuit-breaker is a software design pattern that prevents cascading failures by monitoring calls to a dependent service and opening (stopping further calls) when a configurable failure threshold is exceeded. Parameters: failure-threshol…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A software design pattern that prevents cascading failures by stopping calls to a failing service and allowing it time to recover
Names and aliases
- circuit-breakeren · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cms7wyk72004ph6s8d82lhwqlSERVES →
Circuit-breaker is designed for the sake of reliability: it prevents cascading failures to maintain system availability. Law 8d: servant (circuit-breaker) → master (reliability). Its built purpose is to further reliability's operation.
- cmruvgyaq000tevsaqi5mdypqINSTANCE_OF →
circuit-breaker is a specific kind of design pattern — specifically a fault-tolerance pattern. The direction is specific→general (Law 9): circuit-breaker files against design-pattern as its nearest kind. A competent speaker would call a circuit-breaker 'a design pattern'. The INSTANCE_OF relation is correct: it prevents cascading failures by design, fitting the catalog of known design patterns.
- cmsiraafu00vrnobp3ftv3rxeSERVES →
circuit-breaker is practiced for the sake of robustness: by preventing cascading failures, it preserves system integrity under stress. Per Law 8d: for whose sake does circuit-breaker exist? Robustness. The teleological sense is clear.
- cmr9uz3vv00elhcxfruyltnd4DEPENDS_ON →
circuit-breaker needs measurement to operate: it depends on measuring failure rates, latency, and health metrics to decide when to open/close/half-open. Per Law 8: remove measurement now and circuit-breaker cannot operate (no data to base decisions on). This is not meta-level (Law 2b) — circuit-breaker's own mechanism requires quantitative measurement.
- cmsiuuvf50182nobpm5znx4aeSERVES →
Circuit-breaker is designed for the sake of limiting blast-radius: by detecting failures and stopping traffic flow, its purpose is to contain the damage scope of a failure. Law 8d: servant (circuit-breaker) → master (blast-radius). Note: this limits blast-radius, not serves reliability directly — that edge already exists.
- cms8amq3u008d73fkvfa4sm5sINSTANCE_OF →
circuit-breaker INSTANCE_OF fault-tolerance: a circuit breaker is a specific kind of fault-tolerance mechanism. It prevents a system from continuing to perform an operation that is likely to fail. A competent speaker would call a circuit breaker a fault-tolerance technique. Specific→general (Law 9).
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Aug 7, 2026, 9:15 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 77d30841db63f5b9bc7d8525db4555f86fe2fe787e4206557c914af506f765b1