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Idempotency in Payment Processing APIs
1.

Provide a comprehensive explanation of idempotency in the context of designing a payment processing API. Your explanation should cover:

  1. Definition of Idempotency: What idempotency means in the context of API calls, particularly for operations like 'create payment'.
  2. Problem Statement: Detail the specific problem of duplicate 'create payment' requests due to client network issues and retries, and why it's critical to prevent multiple charges.
  3. Idempotency Key Strategy: Describe a robust strategy for implementing idempotency using a client-generated idempotency key (e.g., a UUID).
    • Client-Side Behavior: How the client should generate and send the key with the request.
    • Server-Side Logic: Step-by-step logic the API server should follow upon receiving a request with an idempotency key:
      • Checking for existing keys and their associated results.
      • Handling concurrent requests with the same key.
      • Storing the key and the outcome of the operation (success or failure) once processed.
      • Returning the previously stored result for duplicate requests without re-processing.
  4. Benefits: Explain how this strategy effectively ensures the customer is only charged once, even with multiple identical requests.
  5. Considerations: Briefly mention other important considerations for implementation (e.g., key expiration, scope of idempotency).
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