Skip retries in retryOperation for non-retriable storage errors

[elirangoshen]

Details

Introduces a NON_RETRIABLE_ERRORS classification alongside the existing STORAGE_ERRORS list and short-circuits retryOperation for errors where retrying is provably futile — specifically Internal error opening backing store for indexedDB.open, where the LevelDB backing store is broken at the filesystem level and cannot recover from immediate retries.

Today, every non-capacity storage error in retryOperation retries 5 times with no delay, then silently resolves via Promise.resolve(). For the UnknownError: Internal error opening backing store… class analyzed in Expensify/App#87862, this produces ~6× the log/Sentry volume of the underlying event rate — 884,955 occurrences (26.3% of all storage failures) inflated to ~5M log lines, all noise because no retry can succeed.

The healing path (separate action item Expensify/App#90636) is responsible for recovering the IDB connection for this error class — retryOperation should defer to it, not compete with it.

Why this is safe

• The cache layer absorbs the write before retryOperation is reached, so callers cannot observe retry success vs. failure.
• Exhausted retries today already silently resolve via Promise.resolve(), so the only observable change is log volume.
• The capacity-error eviction path and the generic-error retry path are untouched (regression tests pass).
• Matching uses the same case-insensitive substring style as STORAGE_ERRORS (includes against lowercased name and message).

Scope

Scoped to Internal error opening backing store. The new classification structure (IDB_NON_RETRIABLE_ERRORS → NON_RETRIABLE_ERRORS, mirroring IDB_STORAGE_ERRORS → STORAGE_ERRORS) makes adding other connection-state errors trivial later.

Related Issues

Expensify/App#90633

Automated Tests

Added two unit tests to tests/unit/onyxUtilsTest.ts in the existing describe('retryOperation', ...) block:

1. should not retry for non-retriable IndexedDB backing-store errors — mocks Storage.setItem to reject with new Error('Internal error opening backing store for indexedDB.open.') (name: UnknownError), asserts retryOperation is called exactly once (not 6×).
2. should log a single skip alert for non-retriable errors — asserts the new Storage operation skipped retry for non-retriable error... alert fires exactly once, and the existing "5 retries exhausted" alert does not fire.

All existing retryOperation regression tests continue to pass:

• Generic-error continuous-failure still retries 6× (token does not match).
• Capacity-error eviction path unchanged.
• IDBObjectStore invalid-data still throws.

Local results: npx jest — 451/451 pass across 16 suites. npx tsc --noEmit clean. ESLint clean on changed files.

Manual Tests

End-to-end manual verification against Expensify/App (link to the App-side companion PR will be added once opened):

1. Pin Expensify/App's package.json react-native-onyx dependency to this PR's head SHA, run npm install.
2. In Chrome DevTools, intercept Storage.setItem and reject it with Object.assign(new Error('Internal error opening backing store for indexedDB.open.'), {name: 'UnknownError'}).
3. Trigger an Onyx.set() call (e.g., navigate to a screen that writes a transient key).
4. Verify in console:
   • Exactly one Failed to save to storage. Error: ... retryAttempt: 0/5 log line (not six).
   • Exactly one Storage operation skipped retry for non-retriable error. Error: ... onyxMethod: setWithRetry. alert.
   • No Storage operation failed after 5 retries... alert.

Post-deploy production signal (per Expensify/App#90633 test plan):

• VictoriaLogs: volume of Failed to save to storage. Error: ...Internal error opening backing store... drops ~5–6×.
• New low-volume line Storage operation skipped retry for non-retriable error... appears at roughly 1× the underlying event rate.

Author Checklist

• I linked the correct issue in the ### Related Issues section above
• I wrote clear testing steps that cover the changes made in this PR
  • I added steps for local testing in the Tests section
  • I tested this PR with a High Traffic account against the staging or production API to ensure there are no regressions (e.g. long loading states that impact usability).
• I included screenshots or videos for tests on all platforms
• I ran the tests on all platforms & verified they passed on:
  • Android / native
  • Android / Chrome
  • iOS / native
  • iOS / Safari
  • MacOS / Chrome / Safari
• I verified there are no console errors (if there's a console error not related to the PR, report it or open an issue for it to be fixed)
• I followed proper code patterns (see Reviewing the code)
  • I verified that any callback methods that were added or modified are named for what the method does and never what callback they handle (i.e. toggleReport and not onIconClick)
  • I verified that the left part of a conditional rendering a React component is a boolean and NOT a string, e.g. myBool && <MyComponent />.
  • I verified that comments were added to code that is not self explanatory
  • I verified that any new or modified comments were clear, correct English, and explained "why" the code was doing something instead of only explaining "what" the code was doing.
  • I verified proper file naming conventions were followed for any new files or renamed files. All non-platform specific files are named after what they export and are not named "index.js". All platform-specific files are named for the platform the code supports as outlined in the README.
  • I verified the JSDocs style guidelines (in STYLE.md) were followed
• If a new code pattern is added I verified it was agreed to be used by multiple Expensify engineers
• I followed the guidelines as stated in the Review Guidelines
• I tested other components that can be impacted by my changes (i.e. if the PR modifies a shared library or component like Avatar, I verified the components using Avatar are working as expected)
• I verified all code is DRY (the PR doesn't include any logic written more than once, with the exception of tests)
• I verified any variables that can be defined as constants (ie. in CONST.js or at the top of the file that uses the constant) are defined as such
• I verified that if a function's arguments changed that all usages have also been updated correctly
• If a new component is created I verified that:
  • A similar component doesn't exist in the codebase
  • All props are defined accurately and each prop has a /** comment above it */
  • The file is named correctly
  • The component has a clear name that is non-ambiguous and the purpose of the component can be inferred from the name alone
  • The only data being stored in the state is data necessary for rendering and nothing else
  • If we are not using the full Onyx data that we loaded, I've added the proper selector in order to ensure the component only re-renders when the data it is using changes
  • For Class Components, any internal methods passed to components event handlers are bound to this properly so there are no scoping issues (i.e. for onClick={this.submit} the method this.submit should be bound to this in the constructor)
  • Any internal methods bound to this are necessary to be bound (i.e. avoid this.submit = this.submit.bind(this); if this.submit is never passed to a component event handler like onClick)
  • All JSX used for rendering exists in the render method
  • The component has the minimum amount of code necessary for its purpose, and it is broken down into smaller components in order to separate concerns and functions
• If any new file was added I verified that:
  • The file has a description of what it does and/or why is needed at the top of the file if the code is not self explanatory
• If the PR modifies a generic component, I tested and verified that those changes do not break usages of that component in the rest of the App (i.e. if a shared library or component like Avatar is modified, I verified that Avatar is working as expected in all cases)
• If the main branch was merged into this PR after a review, I tested again and verified the outcome was still expected according to the Test steps.
• I have checked off every checkbox in the PR author checklist, including those that don't apply to this PR.

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari