Redlock: The operation was unable to achieve a quorum during its retry window Redis Origin: Data OSI layer 7 · Application Last updated 5 Nov 2026

Redlock: ExecutionError: The operation was unable to achieve a quorum during its retry window / LockError: Exceeded 10 attempts to lock the resource

A distributed lock couldn't be acquired because another holder keeps it or too few Redis nodes responded.

Exact message you may see ExecutionError: The operation was unable to achieve a quorum during its retry windowLockError: Exceeded 10 attempts to lock the resourceRedlock unable to achieve a quorumThe operation was unable to achieve a quorum during its retry windowResourceLockedError: The operation was unable to achieve a quorum
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Seen on: Redis Node.js

Meaning

Either the lock is genuinely held (long critical section, forgotten unlock) or Redis nodes are unreachable/slow. Check TTL and retry settings (retryCount, retryDelay), ensure unlocking in finally, keep TTL longer than the work (or extend), and verify connectivity to a majority of nodes. A single Redis node is a single point of failure for correctness.

Common causes

  • Lock held by another process longer than retries
  • TTL expired while work still running (lock lost)
  • Less than quorum of nodes reachable
  • Clock/latency drift
  • Missing unlock after errors

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Release locks in finally; extend if work is long
  2. Tune retryCount/retryDelay/driftFactor
  3. Check connectivity to all Redis nodes

Detailed fix by platform

Node.js

  1. const lock = await redlock.acquire(["locks:job:42"], 10000); try { /* work */ } finally { await lock.release(); }

How to diagnose

  1. Holder — Who has the lock?
  2. TTL — Longer than work?
  3. Nodes — Reachable?

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Data. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

BullMQ: Missing lock for job / job stalled more than allowable limit — BullMQ: Error: Missing lock for job 42. moveToFinished / job stalled more than allowable limit (Redis)BullMQ: Missing lock …BUSY Redis is busy running a script — Redis: (error) BUSY Redis is busy running a script. You can only call SCRIPT KILL or SHUTDOWN NOSAVE (Redis)BUSY Redis is busy ru…Celery with Redis: tasks run twice (visibility_timeout) — Celery: Task executed twice / Restoring unacked messages — Redis broker visibility_timeout shorter than task ETA (Redis)Celery with Redis: ta…Client output buffer limit reached (scheduled to be closed) — Redis: Client id=12 addr=10.0.0.5:51234 scheduled to be closed ASAP for overcoming of output buffer limits (Redis)Client output buffer …CLUSTERDOWN Hash slot not served — Redis Cluster: (error) CLUSTERDOWN Hash slot not served / The cluster is down (Redis)CLUSTERDOWN Hash slot…MaxRetriesPerRequestError: Reached the max retries per request limit — ioredis: MaxRetriesPerRequestError: Reached the max retries per request limit (which is 20). Refer to "maxRetriesPerRequest" option for details (Redis)MaxRetriesPerRequestE…Redis command timed out / ETIMEDOUT / Command timed out — Redis client: Error: Command timed out / redis.exceptions.TimeoutError: Timeout reading from socket (Redis)Redis command timed o…Redis::CannotConnectError (Sidekiq/Rails) — Redis::CannotConnectError: Error connecting to Redis on localhost:6379 (Errno::ECONNREFUSED) (Ruby / Rails)Redis::CannotConnectE…Redlock: …

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