.. _2026-05-19-secret-manager-caching-bigquery-retry_release:

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2026-05-19 - Secret Manager Keyfile Caching and BigQuery Retry Standardisation
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Release
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AgileData.io - Leaner Backend: Fewer External Calls, Faster Processing

Two backend efficiency improvements were deployed this month that reduce unnecessary calls to external services and make error handling more predictable.

**Secret Manager keyfile caching** — The service account keyfile fetched from Google Secret Manager is now cached after the first lookup. Previously, backend functions that needed both an IAP token and a GCIP token were making two separate Secret Manager calls per request to retrieve the same keyfile. Caching the result after the first call eliminates the redundant lookup, reducing latency and Secret Manager API quota consumption.

**BigQuery retry standardisation** — All BigQuery API calls across the backend now use `retry=None`, meaning failures are reported immediately rather than being silently retried by the default retry policy. This makes errors deterministic and easier to diagnose — instead of a call appearing to hang while retries accumulate, failures surface quickly with clear error messages.

**What's New:**

* Secret Manager keyfile cached after first lookup per request — no more duplicate calls
* All BigQuery calls standardised to `retry=None` for deterministic error behaviour
* Both changes applied consistently across the entire backend

**What this means for you:**

* Faster backend processing with fewer round-trips to external services
* Clearer and faster error reporting when BigQuery queries fail
* More efficient use of Google Cloud API quotas

Last Refreshed
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*Doc Refreshed: 2026-05-19*