> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://hanfak.gitbook.io/workspace/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://hanfak.gitbook.io/workspace/integration/short-polling.md).

# Short Polling

* Request is taking a while, I’ll check with you later
* checking if this thing is done
* Letting the backend handle it (aysnc), and it receives a response with some id, which it can use to send more requests to check if the job has been completed (and/or get some data)

## Uses

* A request takes a long time
  * uploading a large file
* Backend wants to send a notificaiton

## How

* Client sends a request
* Server responds immediately with a handle( id/callback)
* but server can process it whenever
* Server continues to process the request
* Client uses that handle to check for status
* Multiple “short” request response as polls

## PRos

* simple
* Good for long runnign requests
* client disconnects
  * can save request id from long running request, and can start up again (on app start up, or cron job)

## Cons

* Too chatty -> Increased network bandwidth
  * Especially with scaling, with one client is fine, but as the number of clients increase can overwhelm the server and bandwidth
* Wasted backend resources
  * Instead of checking, it could have done other things