Document test context failure threshold support in reference manual

See gh-14182

framework-docs/modules/ROOT/nav.adoc

@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@
 **** xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/web.adoc[]
 **** xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/web-mocks.adoc[]
 **** xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/caching.adoc[]
+**** xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/failure-threshold.adoc[]
 **** xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/hierarchies.adoc[]
 *** xref:testing/testcontext-framework/fixture-di.adoc[]
 *** xref:testing/testcontext-framework/web-scoped-beans.adoc[]

framework-docs/modules/ROOT/pages/appendix.adoc

@@ -64,6 +64,11 @@ on a test class. See xref:testing/annotations/integration-junit-jupiter.adoc#int
 | The maximum size of the context cache in the _Spring TestContext Framework_. See
 xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/caching.adoc[Context Caching].
 
+| `spring.test.context.failure.threshold`
+| The failure threshold for errors encountered while attempting to load an `ApplicationContext`
+in the _Spring TestContext Framework_. See
+xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/failure-threshold.adoc[Context Failure Threshold].
+
 | `spring.test.enclosing.configuration`
 | The default _enclosing configuration inheritance mode_ to use if
 `@NestedTestConfiguration` is not present on a test class. See

framework-docs/modules/ROOT/pages/testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management.adoc

@@ -119,5 +119,6 @@ advanced use cases.
 * xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/dynamic-property-sources.adoc[Context Configuration with Dynamic Property Sources]
 * xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/web.adoc[Loading a `WebApplicationContext`]
 * xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/caching.adoc[Context Caching]
+* xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/failure-threshold.adoc[Context Failure Threshold]
 * xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/hierarchies.adoc[Context Hierarchies]
 

framework-docs/modules/ROOT/pages/testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/failure-threshold.adoc

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+[[testcontext-ctx-management-failure-threshold]]
+= Context Failure Threshold
+
+As of Spring Framework 6.1, a context _failure threshold_ policy is in place which helps
+avoid repeated attempts to load a failing `ApplicationContext`. By default, the failure
+threshold is set to `1` which means that only one attempt will be made to load an
+`ApplicationContext` for a given context cache key (see
+xref:testing/testcontext-framework/ctx-management/caching.adoc[Context Caching]). Any
+subsequent attempt to load the `ApplicationContext` for the same context cache key will
+result in an immediate `IllegalStateException` with an error message which explains that
+the attempt was preemptively skipped. This behavior allows individual test classes and
+test suites to fail faster by avoiding repeated attempts to load an `ApplicationContext`
+that will never successfully load -- for example, due to a configuration error or a missing
+external resource that prevents the context from loading in the current environment.
+
+You can configure the context failure threshold from the command line or a build script
+by setting a JVM system property named `spring.test.context.failure.threshold` with a
+positive integer value. As an alternative, you can set the same property via the
+xref:appendix.adoc#appendix-spring-properties[`SpringProperties`] mechanism.
+
+NOTE: If you wish to effectively disable the context failure threshold, you can set the
+property to a very large value. For example, from the command line you could set the
+system property via `-Dspring.test.context.failure.threshold=1000000`.