Limited retries on error with a retryWhen

index.js

const { rxObserver } = require('api/v0.3');
const { timer, of, throwError } = require('rxjs');
const { merge, map, tap, take, finalize, retryWhen, switchMap } = require('rxjs/operators');

const sourceObserver = rxObserver('Source');
const errorsObserver = rxObserver('Errors');
const resultObserver = rxObserver('Result');

timer(10, 10).pipe(
  map(x => {
    const time = Date.now();
    if (time <= 30) {
      throw x;
    }

    return x;
  }),

  tap(sourceObserver),

  retryWhen(errors$ =>
    errors$.pipe(
      switchMap((error, index)=>{
        // on 4th error -- propagate the error
        if (index == 3) {
          return throwError(error);
        }

        // trigger another retry
        return of(error);
      }),


      // Errors stream visualization
      tap(errorsObserver),
      finalize(errorsObserver.complete)
    )
  ),
  
  take(10)
)
.subscribe(resultObserver);

Run at https://observable-playground.github.io/gist/2bcd4bb2ee9be92de22d65b39c5ec813