Reliability & Failure Modes
Gateco is designed to fail safely. Below is a full account of how errors are handled at every layer of the stack.
Default Behavior: Fail-Closed
If the policy engine encounters an unhandled error, the retrieval is denied. No data leaks from system failures. The audit log records decision=error_deny so you can investigate the root cause without ambiguity.
Fail-Open Mode (Enterprise)
Enterprise organizations can opt into fail-open mode via a support agreement. In this mode, policy evaluation errors produce an allow with a warning logged as decision=error_allow_audit. This is appropriate for low-sensitivity internal tools where availability outweighs denial-on-error.
Request this configuration at enterprise@gateco.ai.
Circuit Breaker
Gateco implements per-connector circuit breakers to prevent cascading failures from an unavailable vector database.
Closed (normal)
All requests pass through. Error count tracked over a 30-second sliding window.
Open (tripped)
Opens after 5 consecutive errors within 30 seconds. Retrieval requests to the affected connector immediately return a connector_unavailable error rather than hanging.
Half-open (probing)
Entered 2 minutes after the breaker opens. A single probe request is allowed through. Success closes the breaker; failure extends the open period.
Degradation Scenarios
The table below summarizes how each failure mode presents to the caller and what side effects are recorded.
| Scenario | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Connector unreachable | Error returned to caller, retrieval denied, audit event logged, circuit breaker counter incremented. |
| IDP sync stale (>24 h) | Warning field added to retrieval response. Policy evaluation continues using cached principal attributes. |
| Policy compile error | Fail-closed: request denied. error_deny audit event written so the misconfigured policy can be identified. |
| Database connection lost | 503 returned to caller. Postgres reconnect is attempted automatically on the next incoming request. |
SLA
A 99.9% uptime SLA is available on Enterprise plans per signed agreement. Contact enterprise@gateco.ai for terms and service credit details.