Store fallback
Why your store keeps working when SeekGist is slow or down.
SeekGist is built so that your store never breaks because of us. Every SeekGist connector follows the same rules. If you call the API from your own server, follow them too.
The rules
| Rule | Value |
|---|---|
| Total time to wait for SeekGist | 300 ms |
| Time to connect | 150 ms |
| Fall back on | timeout, connection error, HTTP 5xx, 429, 401, 403, a body that is not JSON, a body without ids |
| What the shopper sees | your store's own search results, never an error page |
| Circuit breaker | after 5 failures in 60 seconds, skip SeekGist for 30 seconds, then try one call |
| Reporting | each fallback is sent as POST /v1/event with type=fallback, in the background |
Checkout and page rendering never wait for SeekGist. Clicks and events are sent in the background.
Why it matters
- If SeekGist is slow or down, shoppers still get results from your store's own search.
- Fallbacks show up in your analytics, so you can see how often they happen.
- The status page shows if SeekGist has a known problem.
How connectors are tested
Every connector has a fallback test against a fault server that can be slow, return errors, return 429, return broken JSON, return an empty body, or drop the connection. The connector must serve the store's own results in every case.
Turning SeekGist off
Every connector has an on/off switch in its settings. Off means the store's own search, at once, with no wait.