# Timeout Omission

> A defect in which calls to external systems carry no timeout, cancellation or deadline, so a caller can wait for ever on work that never completes.

Record: `architecture:timeout-omission`
Kind: anti-pattern
Layer: [Enforcement Core](https://banes-lab.com/records/layer/enforcement-core.md)
Severity: discouraged
Scope: resilience_recovery
Aliases: Infinite Wait
Canonical: https://banes-lab.com/ontology#architecture-timeout-omission

Listed in [Architecture principles](https://banes-lab.com/api/records/architecture.md), after [Retry Storm](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/retry-storm.md) and before [Missing Backpressure](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/missing-backpressure.md).

## Repair

- Refactored by: add_timeout, propagate_deadline, add_cancellation, fallback_or_failfast
- Detected by: HTTP_call_without_timeout, DB_query_without_timeout, missing_cancellation_token, no_deadline_propagation
- Violated by: Call external systems without explicit timeouts, cancellation, or deadline propagation.
- Measured by: outbound calls without a timeout
- Enforced by: a lint rule that requires a timeout on outbound calls

## Severity

- [discouraged](https://banes-lab.com/records/vocabulary/severity-discouraged.md)

## Category

- [Anti-patterns](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture-category/anti-patterns.md)

## Force

- [Resilience recovery](https://banes-lab.com/records/force/resilience-recovery.md)

## Negated by

- [Timeout Pattern](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/timeout-pattern.md)

## Linked from

- [Anti-patterns](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-anti-patterns.md)
- [Error Handling / Resilience](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-error-handling-resilience.md)
- [Severity levels](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-vocabulary-severity.md)
- [The forces](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-forces.md)