---
title: "Verify a temporary login outage supports a clean retry"
description: "Simulate an application-owned authentication outage and verify that one retry signs in correctly without losing the destination or duplicating sessions."
canonical_url: "https://vostride.com/agent-library/authentication/login-error-recovery.md"
md_url: "https://vostride.com/agent-library/authentication/login-error-recovery.md"
content_kind: "recipe"
topic: "authentication"
---

# Verify a temporary login outage supports a clean retry

Simulate an application-owned authentication outage and verify that one retry signs in correctly without losing the destination or duplicating sessions.

## Risk

A transient authentication dependency failure should not resemble a wrong password or permanently disable the submit button. Recovery needs an observable boundary between service failure, user feedback, and a later successful credential submission.

## Fixtures

- A verified test account with a private destination containing a unique marker.
- A supported environment fixture that returns a temporary authentication service failure for this account only.
- A session inspection hook and an explicit expected error message category for service unavailability.

## Steps

1. Enable the account-scoped failure fixture and open the private destination while signed out; verify the login form appears.
2. Submit valid credentials once and verify a temporary-service error is displayed, with no claim that the password is incorrect.
3. Verify the form remains usable and the private destination is still inaccessible; inspect the absence of a completed session.
4. Disable the failure fixture, retry through the visible application control, and verify the intended private destination and account identity.
5. Reload once and inspect the session record to confirm one successful login transition and no leftover pending authentication state.

## Expected results

- The outage branch reports service unavailability and does not authenticate the account.
- Restoring the service allows a deliberate retry without manually clearing browser data.
- The successful retry retains the allowed destination and creates the expected complete session state.

## False-pass traps

- A spinner that eventually disappears is not sufficient evidence of an actionable error.
- Broad automatic retries can hide the required visible failure state and make the scenario pass without testing it.

## Cleanup

- Disable the outage fixture even on failure and revoke the final test session.

## Use with agent-qa

Adapt this test design to your application's acceptance criteria and configured target using the [recipe execution guide](/agent-library/software-factory/turn-a-recipe-into-an-agent-qa-test.md). External fixture setup and non-UI checks require your own supported hooks or test tooling. Validate the authored test, execute it, and inspect the completed evidence; this recipe is not a recorded test result.

## References

- [agent-qa test](/docs/agent-qa/configuration/test.md)
- [agent-qa hooks](/docs/agent-qa/guides/hooks.md)
- [agent-qa auth state](/docs/agent-qa/guides/auth-state.md)

- [Authentication QA recipes](/agent-library/authentication.md)
- [Software factory QA library](/agent-library.md)