# Retry Input File Staging on Network Failure

**URL:** <https://community.seqera.io/t/retry-input-file-staging-on-network-failure/2142>\
**Category:** Ask for help\
**Tags:** nextflow\
**Created:** [May 19, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/retry-input-file-staging-on-network-failure/2142 "2025-05-19T13:29:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MikeWLloyd](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.seqera.io/mikewlloyd/32/1820_2.png) [@MikeWLloyd](https://community.seqera.io/u/MikeWLloyd)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/retry-input-file-staging-on-network-failure/2142/1 "2025-05-19T13:29:00Z")

</div>

Using the nf-test framework, I am accessing remote files for inputs to the tests. I have recently begun to encounter errors related to file access / download (e.g., `ERROR ~ No such file or directory: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/...`). I have tested extensively with these before, and have had no issues. I believe this is related to the degree of activity on my HPC, and it would be nice to simply retry these type of failures with back-off.

Is there a way to have Nextflow retry input file staging?

I know that you can retry processes, but this is not staging in a process, it is at the workflow level:

Here is the error specifics:

```auto
Check script '<redacted>/workflows/wgs.nf' at line: 80 or see '.nf-test/tests/85f69340fae4c75830dd11be32039399/meta/nextflow.log' file for more details

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mribeirodantas](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.seqera.io/mribeirodantas/32/235_2.png) [@mribeirodantas](https://community.seqera.io/u/mribeirodantas)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/retry-input-file-staging-on-network-failure/2142/2 "2025-08-29T13:35:10Z")

</div>

Nextflow currently does not support automatic retry for file staging. One thing you can do though is to handle that in a process. Something like:

```auto
process DOWNLOAD_FILES {
    errorStrategy 'retry'
    maxRetries 3
    stageInMode 'copy'
    
    input:
    val url
    
    output:
    path "downloaded_file"
    
    script:
    """
    wget --retry-connrefused --waitretry=5 --read-timeout=20 --timeout=15 -t 3 "${url}" -O downloaded_file
    """
}

```