Why I Stopped Relying on a Single AI Provider (and Built a Fallback System)

Short summary

Developer shares a practical pattern for building resilient AI applications that don't fail when a single provider experiences outages. Uses an abstract interface layer and intelligent router with exponential backoff and response caching to transparently failover between OpenAI, alternative providers, or custom APIs. Includes complete Python implementation and discusses production considerations like Redis-backed caching and robust health checks.

• •Built a multi-provider fallback system after OpenAI API outages disrupted production
• •Uses abstract interface pattern with router class handling provider switching, retries, and caching
• •Discusses production considerations: Redis caching, health checks, and avoiding common pitfalls

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