The Pause node pauses your workflow for a set amount of time. It’s like pressing pause on a video - everything stops, then continues after the time is up.
When to Use
Avoiding overload - Wait between requests so you don’t get blockedTrying again later - Wait a bit before retrying something that failedScheduling - Pause until a specific timeChecking status - Wait between checks to see if something is doneSpacing out messages - Don’t send everything at once
Example: Rate-Limited API Calls Respect API rate limits when making multiple calls:
├── Loop (over items) │ ├── HTTP Request (call API) │ ├── Condition ({{loop_1.isLast}}) │ │ └── Unmet: Pause (1 second)
This adds a 1-second delay between API calls, avoiding rate limits.
Example: Retry with Backoff Retry a failed operation after waiting:
Make the initial request
Use an HTTP Request node to call the API.
Check for errors
Add a Condition to check if it failed.
Retry with delay
On failure: ├── Condition (success?) │ ├── Met: Continue │ └── Unmet: │ ├── Update Variable (retryCount += 1) │ ├── Condition (retryCount < 3) │ │ ├── Met: │ │ │ └── Pause ({{retryCount * 5}} seconds) │ │ │ → [Loop back to HTTP Request] │ │ └── Unmet: Alert (max retries exceeded)
Example: Scheduled Follow-Up Send a follow-up email after a delay:
├── External API (send initial email) ├── Pause (2 days) ├── Condition (customer replied?) │ ├── Met: (don't send follow-up) │ └── Unmet: External API (send follow-up email)
Example: Polling for Completion Wait for an async operation to complete:
├── HTTP Request (start long-running job, get jobId) ├── Update Variable (status = "pending") ├── Loop (while status != "completed") │ ├── Pause (30 seconds) │ ├── HTTP Request (check job status) │ ├── Update Variable (status = response.status) │ ├── Condition (status == "completed" OR status == "failed") │ │ └── Met: [exit loop]
Duration Examples Configuration Total Wait 30 seconds 30 seconds 5 minutes 5 minutes 2 hours 2 hours 1 day 24 hours
Using resumeAt Instead of a duration, specify an exact time:
{ "resumeAt" : "2024-03-15T09:00:00Z" }
The workflow resumes at exactly that time.
Dynamic resume time: resumeAt: {{execute_code_1.result.scheduledTime}}
Where Execute Code calculates when to resume:
from datetime import datetime, timedelta # Resume tomorrow at 9 AM tomorrow = datetime.now() + timedelta( days = 1 ) resume_time = tomorrow.replace( hour = 9 , minute = 0 , second = 0 ) return { "scheduledTime" : resume_time.isoformat()}
Pause vs. Scheduled Trigger Feature Pause Scheduled Trigger When to use Delay within a workflow Schedule workflow start Duration Single delay Repeating schedule Context Has access to previous node data Starts fresh Use case ”Wait 5 min, then continue" "Run every morning at 9”
Use Pause for delays mid-workflow. Use Scheduled Trigger to schedule when workflows start.
Maximum Pause Duration Very long sleep durations (days/weeks) keep the workflow execution in memory. For long delays, consider:
Ending the workflow and using a Scheduled Trigger
Storing state in a variable and using On Variable Update
Using an external scheduler to trigger a webhook
Practical limits:
Up to 1 hour - Works wellUp to 24 hours - Generally reliableLonger - Consider alternative approaches
Tips For rate limiting in loops, check isLast before sleeping to avoid an unnecessary delay after the final item.
Use exponential backoff for retries: Pause for 2^retryCount seconds (2, 4, 8, 16…) to give failing services more recovery time.
When polling, start with shorter intervals and increase them over time to balance responsiveness with API efficiency.
Settings What to call this node (shown on the canvas).
A short code to reference this node’s info.
The time unit: seconds, minutes, hours, or days.
Instead of a duration, you can specify an exact time to wake up.
Outputs How long it actually waited (in milliseconds).
When it woke up and continued.
Scheduled Trigger For scheduling when workflows start.
Loop Combine with Pause for rate-limited iterations.
