Node reports socket hang up when a connection closes before the HTTP response is fully received. It is a special case of ECONNRESET, common with slow servers, timeouts, or transient network drops.
What this error means
An HTTP request fails with Error: socket hang up. The failure is intermittent - the same request succeeds on retry - when the cause is a transient drop rather than a logic error.
node
Error: socket hang up
at connResetException (node:internal/errors:720:14)
at TLSSocket.socketOnEnd (node:_http_client:519:23)
code: 'ECONNRESET'
Common causes
The server closed before responding
A slow or overloaded server, or one that hit its own timeout, closed the socket before sending a full response. The client sees a hang up.
A transient network drop
A momentary disruption between the runner and host tears down the connection mid-response. It is not deterministic.
How to fix it
Add timeouts and retry transient hang-ups
Set an explicit request timeout and retry the request when it fails with a hang up.
src/http.ts
const res = await fetch(url, {
signal: AbortSignal.timeout(10000),
});
Wait for the dependency to be ready
Ensure the target server is fully up and not still warming before issuing requests in CI.
Add a readiness/health check before the first request.
Increase the server response timeout if it is genuinely slow.
Retry on hang up with a small backoff.
How to prevent it
Set explicit request timeouts so a slow server fails fast and predictably.
Retry transient hang-ups with bounded backoff.
Gate tests on a readiness check for dependent services.
Frequently asked questions
What causes ""socket hang up""?
A slow or overloaded server, or one that hit its own timeout, closed the socket before sending a full response. The client sees a hang up.
How do I fix "socket hang up"?
Set an explicit request timeout and retry the request when it fails with a hang up.
Can Latchkey fix this automatically?
Yes. Latchkey runs your GitHub Actions on managed runners that detect this failure, apply the fix, and retry the job automatically - self-healing is on by default.
