diff --git a/maap/config_reader.py b/maap/config_reader.py
index e2f82e3..2c2bf73 100644
--- a/maap/config_reader.py
+++ b/maap/config_reader.py
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@
 import requests
 from urllib.parse import urlparse, urljoin, urlunsplit, SplitResult
 from collections import namedtuple
-from functools import cache
+from requests.adapters import HTTPAdapter
+from urllib3.util.retry import Retry
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -115,10 +116,25 @@ def _get_api_root(config_url, config):
                        query='', fragment='').geturl()
 
 
-@cache
+_CONFIG_CACHE = {}
+_CONFIG_TIMEOUT = (5, 30)  # (connect, read) seconds
+_CONFIG_RETRY = Retry(
+    total=5,
+    connect=5,
+    read=3,
+    status=5,
+    backoff_factor=1,
+    status_forcelist=(502, 503, 504),
+    allowed_methods=frozenset(["GET"]),
+)
+
+
 def _get_client_config(maap_host):
     """
-    Fetch and cache client configuration from the API.
+    Fetch client configuration from the API, caching successful results.
+
+    Requests use a timeout and retry with exponential backoff on connection
+    errors and 502/503/504 responses. Failures are never cached.
 
     Parameters
     ----------
@@ -130,21 +146,28 @@ def _get_client_config(maap_host):
     dict
         Configuration dictionary containing service endpoints and settings.
 
-    Notes
-    -----
-    Results are cached using functools.cache to avoid repeated API calls
-    for the same host.
+    Raises
+    ------
+    RuntimeError
+        If the configuration cannot be fetched or parsed.
     """
+    if maap_host in _CONFIG_CACHE:
+        return _CONFIG_CACHE[maap_host]
     config_url = _get_config_url(maap_host)
     logger.debug(f"Requesting client config from api at: {config_url}")
-    response = requests.get(config_url)
     try:
-        response.raise_for_status()
-        config = response.json()
+        with requests.Session() as session:
+            session.mount("http://", HTTPAdapter(max_retries=_CONFIG_RETRY))
+            session.mount("https://", HTTPAdapter(max_retries=_CONFIG_RETRY))
+            response = session.get(config_url, timeout=_CONFIG_TIMEOUT)
+            response.raise_for_status()
+            config = response.json()
         config["service"]["maap_api_root"] = _get_api_root(config_url, config)
-        return config
     except Exception as ex:
         logger.error(f"Unable to read maap config from api: {ex}")
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Unable to read maap config from {config_url}: {ex}") from ex
+    _CONFIG_CACHE[maap_host] = config
+    return config
 
 
 class MaapConfig:
diff --git a/test/test_config_reader.py b/test/test_config_reader.py
index f219edf..36e4f45 100644
--- a/test/test_config_reader.py
+++ b/test/test_config_reader.py
@@ -77,3 +77,48 @@ def test_read_conf_default(self):
     def test_read_conf_uninitialized(self):
         with TestConfig().assertRaises(expected_exception=EnvironmentError, msg="Successfully raised exception") as err:
             MaapConfig()
+
+
+class TestClientConfigFetch(TestCase):
+    CONFIG = {"service": {"maap_api_root": "https://api.example.org/api"}}
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        config_reader._CONFIG_CACHE.clear()
+
+    def _resp(self, status=200):
+        from unittest import mock
+        resp = mock.Mock(status_code=status)
+        resp.json.return_value = {"service": dict(self.CONFIG["service"])}
+        if status >= 400:
+            import requests
+            resp.raise_for_status.side_effect = requests.HTTPError(str(status))
+        return resp
+
+    def test_transient_failure_then_success(self):
+        from unittest import mock
+        import requests
+        with mock.patch("requests.Session.get",
+                        side_effect=[requests.ConnectionError("boom"), self._resp()]) as get:
+            with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+                config_reader._get_client_config("https://api.example.org")
+            config = config_reader._get_client_config("https://api.example.org")
+        self.assertEqual(2, get.call_count)
+        self.assertEqual("https://api.example.org/api/", config["service"]["maap_api_root"])
+
+    def test_permanent_failure_not_cached(self):
+        from unittest import mock
+        with mock.patch("requests.Session.get", return_value=self._resp(503)) as get:
+            for _ in range(2):
+                with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError):
+                    config_reader._get_client_config("https://api.example.org")
+        self.assertEqual(2, get.call_count)
+        self.assertNotIn("https://api.example.org", config_reader._CONFIG_CACHE)
+
+    def test_success_is_cached_and_timeout_used(self):
+        from unittest import mock
+        with mock.patch("requests.Session.get", return_value=self._resp()) as get:
+            first = config_reader._get_client_config("https://api.example.org")
+            second = config_reader._get_client_config("https://api.example.org")
+        self.assertIs(first, second)
+        self.assertEqual(1, get.call_count)
+        self.assertEqual(config_reader._CONFIG_TIMEOUT, get.call_args.kwargs["timeout"])