Retry-After Header Now Included

Cloudflare has updated its error handling to include the standard Retry-After HTTP header in responses for retryable 1xxx errors. This allows HTTP clients and agents to determine appropriate retry timing without requiring response body parsing.

Affected Error Codes

Seven retryable error codes now emit the header with preset wait times:

• 1004 (DNS resolution error) - 120 seconds
• 1005 (Banned zone) - 120 seconds
• 1015 (Rate limited) - 30 seconds
• 1033 (Argo Tunnel error) - 120 seconds
• 1038 (HTTP headers limit exceeded) - 60 seconds
• 1200 (Cache connection limit) - 60 seconds
• 1205 (Too many redirects) - 5 seconds

The Retry-After header values match the existing retry_after field already present in JSON and Markdown response bodies.

Priority and Availability

If a WAF rate limiting rule has set a dynamic Retry-After value on the response, that custom value takes precedence over the default values. This change is available across all zones and plan types with no action required from users.

Getting Started

You can verify the header on any retryable error using the provided curl command with a test domain and error endpoint. The implementation follows RFC 9110 standards for HTTP retry behavior.