Announcing updated retry behavior for AWS SDKs and Tools

This article announces updated retry behavior for AWS SDKs and Tools, with an opt-in flag available today and default rollout in November 2026.

• Transient errors now retry faster with 50ms base delay instead of hundreds of milliseconds
• Throttling errors use 1,000ms base delay to give services time to recover
• Retry quota token cost increased to 14 for transient errors, 5 for throttling
• DynamoDB uses 25ms base delay with 4 max attempts by default
• Long-polling operations apply backoff before returning errors when quota depleted
• Legacy mode SDKs now default to standard mode with retry quota
• Opt in with environment variable AWS_NEW_RETRIES_2026=true
• Eight SDKs support opt-in today; six more coming soon
• Revert by unsetting the flag or setting AWS_RETRY_MODE=legacy

The update provides consistent, faster retry defaults across all AWS SDKs, helping applications recover from transient errors quicker while failing fast during sustained outages.