refactor: extract generate_summary helper so view gets a timeout and task keeps retries

Author: javiercoronadonarvaez

news/tasks.py

@@ -12,11 +12,23 @@
 logger = structlog.get_logger(__name__)
 
 
-@app.task(bind=True, max_retries=3, autoretry_for=(OpenAIError,))
-def summarize_content(
-    self, content: str, title: str, model: str, max_length: int = 256
-) -> str:
-    """Summarize content using an LLM model."""
+def generate_summary(
+    content: str,
+    title: str,
+    model: str,
+    max_length: int = 256,
+    timeout: float = 30,
+) -> str | None:
+    """Build the summarization prompt and call OpenRouter synchronously.
+
+    Plain function (no Celery decoration) so callers can use it inline with an
+    explicit ``timeout``. 
+    Background callers go through ``summarize_content`` below, which wraps this 
+    in a Celery task so ``autoretry_for=(OpenAIError,)`` and ``max_retries`` fire.
+
+    Raises ValueError on empty content, OpenAIError on API failures.
+    Returns the summary string, or None if the response is malformed.
+    """
     if not content:
         logger.warning("No content provided to summarize, skipping.")
         raise ValueError("No content provided to summarize.")
@@ -55,17 +67,33 @@ def summarize_content(
         {"role": "user", "content": user_prompt},
     ]
     logger.debug(f"{messages=}")
-    content = None
+    client = OpenAI(
+        base_url=OPENROUTER_URL, api_key=OPENROUTER_API_KEY, timeout=timeout
+    )
+    response = client.chat.completions.create(model=model, messages=messages)
     try:
-        client = OpenAI(base_url=OPENROUTER_URL, api_key=OPENROUTER_API_KEY)
-        response = client.chat.completions.create(model=model, messages=messages)
-        content = response.choices[0].message.content
-        logger.info(
-            f"Received summarized content for {content[:100]=}: {len(content)=}..."
-        )
+        summary = response.choices[0].message.content
     except (AttributeError, IndexError) as e:
         logger.error(f"Error getting summarized content: {e=}")
-    return content
+        return None
+    logger.info(
+        f"Received summarized content for {summary[:100]=}: {len(summary)=}..."
+    )
+    return summary
+
+
+@app.task(bind=True, max_retries=3, autoretry_for=(OpenAIError,))
+def summarize_content(
+    self, content: str, title: str, model: str, max_length: int = 256
+) -> str | None:
+    """Celery wrapper around ``generate_summary``.
+
+    Runs in a worker so ``autoretry_for=(OpenAIError,)`` and ``max_retries``
+    apply to transient OpenRouter blips. For synchronous, inline callers, use
+    ``generate_summary`` directly (so retries don't silently no-op and you can
+    set a tight timeout).
+    """
+    return generate_summary(content, title, model, max_length)
 
 
 @app.task

news/views.py

@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
 )
 from .forms import BlogPostForm, EntryForm, LinkForm, NewsForm, PollForm, VideoForm
 from .models import BlogPost, Entry, Link, News, Poll, Video
-from .tasks import summarize_content
+from .tasks import generate_summary
 from .notifications import (
     send_email_news_approved,
     send_email_news_needs_moderation,
@@ -598,8 +598,13 @@ def generate_description(request):
         return JsonResponse({"error": "Add some content first."}, status=400)
 
     try:
-        summary = summarize_content(
-            content, title, settings.SUMMARIZATION_MODEL, DESCRIPTION_SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH
+        # Call the plain helper 
+        summary = generate_summary(
+            content,
+            title,
+            settings.SUMMARIZATION_MODEL,
+            DESCRIPTION_SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH,
+            timeout=30,
         )
     except Exception:
         logger.exception("generate_description: summarization failed")