diff --git a/web/src/lib/workers/fetch.ts b/web/src/lib/workers/fetch.ts
index aa30a4c4..62d05206 100644
--- a/web/src/lib/workers/fetch.ts
+++ b/web/src/lib/workers/fetch.ts
@@ -1,21 +1,34 @@
 import { OPFSStorage } from "$lib/storage";
 
-const error = (code: string) => {
-    // TODO: return proper errors and code here
-    self.postMessage({
-        cobaltFetchWorker: {
-            error: code,
-        }
-    })
-};
+let attempts = 0;
 
 const fetchFile = async (url: string) => {
+    const error = async (code: string) => {
+        attempts++;
+
+        if (attempts <= 5) {
+            // try 5 more times before actually failing
+
+            console.log("fetch attempt", attempts);
+            await fetchFile(url);
+        } else {
+            // if it still fails, then throw an error and quit
+            self.postMessage({
+                cobaltFetchWorker: {
+                    // TODO: return proper error code here
+                    // (error.code and not just random shit i typed up)
+                    error: code,
+                }
+            });
+            self.close();
+        }
+    };
+
     try {
         const response = await fetch(url);
 
         if (!response.ok) {
-            error("file response wasn't ok");
-            return self.close();
+            return error("file response wasn't ok");
         }
 
         const contentType = response.headers.get('Content-Type') || 'application/octet-stream';
@@ -27,8 +40,7 @@ const fetchFile = async (url: string) => {
         const storage = await OPFSStorage.init();
 
         if (!reader) {
-            error("no reader");
-            return self.close();
+            return error("no reader");
         }
 
         let receivedBytes = 0;
@@ -51,14 +63,13 @@ const fetchFile = async (url: string) => {
         }
 
         if (receivedBytes === 0) {
-            error("tunnel is broken");
-            return self.close();
+            return error("tunnel is broken");
         }
 
         const file = await storage.res();
 
         if (Number(contentLength) !== file.size) {
-            error("file is not downloaded fully");
+            return error("file was not downloaded fully");
         }
 
         self.postMessage({
@@ -71,8 +82,7 @@ const fetchFile = async (url: string) => {
         });
     } catch (e) {
         console.log(e);
-        error("error when downloading the file");
-        return self.close();
+        return error("error when downloading the file");
     }
 }