dropbox-sdk-js: dropped connections hang uploads, use DropboxFileUploader

TL;DR

When you upload to Dropbox from Node, use the DropboxFileUploader helper instead of raw filesUpload(); it adds timeouts, abort signals, and retries so a dropped connection fails loudly instead of hanging.

Steps

1. When you upload to Dropbox from Node, use the DropboxFileUploader helper instead of raw filesUpload(); it adds timeouts, abort signals, and retries so a dropped connection fails loudly instead of hanging. If you stay on filesUpload(), wrap it in your own timeout and retry logic, since the SDK wont surface the stall.

When to use

You are seeing this: If you stay on filesUpload(), wrap it in your own timeout and retry logic, since the SDK wont surface the stall. Use this skill when you run into "dropbox-sdk-js: dropped connections hang uploads, use DropboxFileUploader".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

Source: GitHub issue dropbox/dropbox-sdk-js #1078 (closed, resolved): when the internet drops mid-upload, the raw filesUpload() can hang forever with no error to catch. Resolved for the new DropboxFileUploader helper, which supports timeout, AbortSignal, and retries for transient failures. The legacy filesUpload() behavior is unchanged.

Verified resolution: When you upload to Dropbox from Node, use the DropboxFileUploader helper instead of raw filesUpload(); it adds timeouts, abort signals, and retries so a dropped connection fails loudly instead of hanging. If you stay on filesUpload(), wrap it in your own timeout and retry logic, since the SDK wont surface the stall.

Source URL: https://github.com/dropbox/dropbox-sdk-js/issues/1078