diff --git a/csst_common/utils/__init__.py b/csst_common/utils/__init__.py
index 219871dc7e3d539528c0f9bedaa22b296f665db9..fc5b7f1170b5b05fdec545176167356ca164d92f 100644
--- a/csst_common/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/csst_common/utils/__init__.py
@@ -10,4 +10,8 @@ Modified-History:
 """
 
 from ._module_docstr import ModuleHeader
+from ._retry import retry
 from .tempfile import randfile
+
+
+
diff --git a/csst_common/utils/_retry.py b/csst_common/utils/_retry.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d11e4ccfc5aea4779658fb87de291be7abfb6b21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/csst_common/utils/_retry.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+"""
+Identifier:     csst_common/utils/_retry.py
+Name:           _retry.py
+Description:    CSST utils
+Author:         Bo Zhang
+Created:        2023-12-20
+Modified-History:
+    2023-12-20, Bo Zhang, add retry
+"""
+
+
+def retry(func, n_try=3, *args, **kwargs):
+    # is DFS?
+    try:
+        assert func.__self__.__class__.__module__.startswith("csst_dfs_api"), func
+        is_dfs = True
+    except BaseException:
+        is_dfs = False
+    # start trials
+    for attempt in range(n_try):
+        print(f"Trial #{attempt}: call {func}")
+        try:
+            res = func(*args, **kwargs)
+            if is_dfs:
+                assert res["code"] == 0, res
+            return res
+        except BaseException as e:
+            print(f"Error occurs: {e.__repr__()}")
+    raise RuntimeError(f"All {n_try} attempts failed.")