Wait / Delay

Overview

The Wait / Delay block pauses workflow execution for a configurable amount of time. It's a fundamental flow-control primitive for building production-grade automations that need timing control.

When to Use

• Rate limiting — Add a pause between API calls to respect provider rate limits
• Polling patterns — Wait before checking an external system for status changes
• Timed sequences — Space out messages, emails, or notifications over time
• Cooldown periods — Add a buffer between retries or repeated operations
• External process waits — Give time for a webhook delivery, file processing, or third-party job to complete

Configuration

Limits

• Maximum delay: 1 hour (3,600 seconds)
• Minimum delay: Any positive number (e.g., 0.5 seconds)

Inputs

Both inputs support variable references, so you can use dynamic values:

Duration: {{starter.delaySeconds}}
Unit: seconds

Outputs

Examples

Basic Rate-Limited API Calls

Goal: Call an external API three times with a 2-second pause between each call.

[Starter] → [API Call 1] → [Wait: 2s] → [API Call 2] → [Wait: 2s] → [API Call 3] → [Response]

Polling for Completion

Goal: Trigger an async job, wait 30 seconds, then check its status.

[Starter] → [API: Start Job] → [Wait: 30s] → [API: Check Status] → [Condition] → [Response]

Timed Email Sequence

Goal: Send a welcome email, wait 5 minutes, then send a follow-up.

[Starter] → [Gmail: Welcome] → [Wait: 5 min] → [Gmail: Follow-up] → [Response]

Dynamic Delay

Goal: Use a variable from the starter block to control the wait time.

Set the Duration field to {{starter.waitSeconds}} and the Unit to seconds.

Tips

• Use the smallest unit that makes sense — 5 seconds is clearer than 0.083 minutes
• Keep delays short in development — use 1-second delays while testing, then increase for production
• Combine with loops — place a Wait block inside a Loop to create polling patterns with retries
• Maximum is 1 hour — for longer waits, use the Schedule trigger to fire a new workflow at a later time
• Outputs include timestamps — use startedAt and completedAt for audit logging or duration tracking