Handle OAuth token refresh races in long-running integrations
domain: oauth-general · 4 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Store access+refresh tokens with expiry timestamps
Refresh proactively (e.g. 60s before expiry), not on 401
Serialize refreshes per user (mutex/row lock) so concurrent workers don't double-refresh
If provider rotates refresh tokens, persist the new one atomically BEFORE using it
Known gotchas
Two workers refreshing the same rotating refresh token simultaneously: the second invalidates the connection permanently (QuickBooks, Xero are notorious)
A 401 retry loop without backoff can trip provider abuse detection and revoke grants
Clock skew makes 'expires_in' arithmetic unsafe — keep a safety margin
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