hystrix

Hystrix

This module wraps Feign's http requests in Hystrix, which enables the Circuit Breaker Pattern.

To use Hystrix with Feign, add the Hystrix module to your classpath. Then, configure Feign to use the HystrixInvocationHandler:

GitHub github = HystrixFeign.builder()
        .target(GitHub.class, "https://api.github.com");

For asynchronous or reactive use, return HystrixCommand<YourType>.

For RxJava compatibility, use rx.Observable<YourType> or rx.Single<YourType>. Rx types are cold, which means a http call isn't made until there's a subscriber.

Methods that do not return HystrixCommand, rx.Observable or [rx.Single] are still wrapped in a HystrixCommand, but execute() is automatically called for you.

interface YourApi {
  @RequestLine("GET /yourtype/{id}")
  HystrixCommand<YourType> getYourType(@Param("id") String id);

  @RequestLine("GET /yourtype/{id}")
  Observable<YourType> getYourTypeObservable(@Param("id") String id);

  @RequestLine("GET /yourtype/{id}")
  Single<YourType> getYourTypeSingle(@Param("id") String id);

  @RequestLine("GET /yourtype/{id}")
  YourType getYourTypeSynchronous(@Param("id") String id);
}

YourApi api = HystrixFeign.builder()
                  .target(YourApi.class, "https://example.com");

// for reactive
api.getYourType("a").toObservable

// or apply hystrix to RxJava methods
api.getYourTypeObservable("a")

// for asynchronous
api.getYourType("a").queue();

// for synchronous
api.getYourType("a").execute();

// or to apply hystrix to existing feign methods.
api.getYourTypeSynchronous("a");

Group and Command keys

By default, Hystrix group keys match the target name, and the target name is usually the base url. Hystrix command keys are the same as logging keys, which are equivalent to javadoc references.

For example, for the canonical GitHub example...

• the group key would be "https://api.github.com" and
• the command key would be "GitHub#contributors(String,String)"

You can use HystrixFeign.Builder#setterFactory(SetterFactory) to customize this, for example, to read key mappings from configuration or annotations.

Ex.

SetterFactory commandKeyIsRequestLine = (target, method) -> {
  String groupKey = target.name();
  String commandKey = method.getAnnotation(RequestLine.class).value();
  return HystrixCommand.Setter
      .withGroupKey(HystrixCommandGroupKey.Factory.asKey(groupKey))
      .andCommandKey(HystrixCommandKey.Factory.asKey(commandKey));
};

api = HystrixFeign.builder()
                  .setterFactory(commandKeyIsRequestLine)
                  ...

Fallback support

Fallbacks are known values, which you return when there's an error invoking an http method. For example, you can return a cached result as opposed to raising an error to the caller. To use this feature, pass a safe implementation of your target interface as the last parameter to HystrixFeign.Builder.target.

Here's an example:

// When dealing with fallbacks, it is less tedious to keep interfaces small.
interface GitHub {
  @RequestLine("GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/contributors")
  List<String> contributors(@Param("owner") String owner, @Param("repo") String repo);
}

// This instance will be invoked if there are errors of any kind.
GitHub fallback = (owner, repo) -> {
  if (owner.equals("Netflix") && repo.equals("feign")) {
    return Arrays.asList("stuarthendren"); // inspired this approach!
  } else {
    return Collections.emptyList();
  }
};

GitHub github = HystrixFeign.builder()
                            ...
                            .target(GitHub.class, "https://api.github.com", fallback);

Considering the cause

The cause of the fallback is logged by default to FINE level. You can programmatically inspect the cause by making your own FallbackFactory. In many cases, the cause will be a FeignException, which includes the http status.

Here's an example of using FallbackFactory:

// This instance will be invoked if there are errors of any kind.
FallbackFactory<GitHub> fallbackFactory = cause -> (owner, repo) -> {
  if (cause instanceof FeignException && ((FeignException) cause).status() == 403) {
    return Collections.emptyList();
  } else {
    return Arrays.asList("yogi");
  }
};

GitHub github = HystrixFeign.builder()
                            ...
                            .target(GitHub.class, "https://api.github.com", fallbackFactory);