## Claim Any network request made during a build must carry an explicit timeout, so a dead endpoint degrades the build by seconds rather than minutes. <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ## Scope & conditions Holds for build-time fetches — RSS, third-party APIs, remote data — where default HTTP clients hold sockets open until they time out on their own. Breaks when calls are genuinely optional and already wrapped in fast-fail logic. ## Evidence A single dead shortcode endpoint added roughly 70 seconds per reference to the author's build because the request had no timeout and kept an HTTP socket open until the default ~70s timeout hit. > [!quote] > would get a quick failure but was keeping an HTTP socket open until it timed out, roughly 70 seconds later ## Links - [[3. Resources/MOCs/AI & the Future of Knowledge Work MOC.md]] — because this is a concrete example of AI-assisted code review catching a real build defect - [[3. Resources/MOCs/WordPress Platform Design MOC]] — applies-in: Closest fit: site build practice; no build-tooling cluster exists. ## Tests/falsifiers - This claim would be undermined by a clear counter-case where the described dynamic holds even without the scope condition above, or fails to hold even when the scope condition is met. ## Maintenance - Last tended: 2026-08-16 - Next review: 2026-11-16 ## Source [[3. Resources/Readwise/Articles/Asking Cursor to Review My Blog for Performance]]