# How to configure Delay Step (/platform/workflow/add-and-configure-steps/configure-action-steps/delay)

Learn how to use delay step to pause workflow execution.

import { Accordion, Accordions } from 'fumadocs-ui/components/accordion';

After adding a Delay step to a workflow, it pauses workflow execution for a specified duration or until a scheduled time, then resumes execution with the next step. You can add a Delay step anywhere in a workflow, before or after any other step to control when subsequent steps run.

This page focuses on how to configure the Delay step for your use case.

<Callout>To learn when to use Delay step in a workflow, refer to the [Delay step overview](/platform/workflow/add-and-configure-steps#delay).</Callout>

## Delivery behavior and scheduling

Delay supports delivery-aware execution:

* Notifications sent after a delay can respect a subscriber’s delivery schedule.
* Notifications are delivered using the subscriber’s time zone if a `timezone` attribute is set.
* If no time zone is available, UTC is used.

<Callout type="info">
  Changing the step content after triggering the workflow with delay step will affect the existing pending delayed notification content.
</Callout>

## Adding a delay step

You can add a delay step anywhere in a workflow, before or after any other step. When the workflow reaches the delay step, execution pauses for the configured duration and then resumes with the next step.

## Delay types

Delay types are used to define how long the workflow execution should be delayed before proceeding. These delay types are:

### Fixed delay

A fixed delay pauses workflow execution for a static duration. Use this when the delay length is known in advance and does not change.

You can specify fixed delays in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months.

![Fixed delay example](/images/workflows/add-and-configure-steps/action-steps/delay/fixed-delay.gif)

### Scheduled delay

A scheduled delay pauses workflow execution until a specific date and time, based on the subscriber’s time zone.

You can configure scheduled delays to resume execution:

* **Minute**: Resume at a specific minute.
* **Hour**: Resume at a specific hour and minute.
* **Day**: Resume at a specific time of day.
* **Week**: Resume on specific days of the week at a given time.
* **Month**: Resume on specific days of the month at a given time.

<iframe width="100%" height="400" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S5vdsvJDNxA" title="Learn how to use Scheduled delay in Novu workflow" frameBorder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; fullscreen" allowFullScreen />

In the example above, the scheduled delay pauses workflow execution until the current day at either 10:00 AM or 11:00 AM, at 23, 24, or 25 minutes past the hour, based on the subscriber’s time zone.

### Dynamic delay

A dynamic delay, also called a variable-based delay, determines the delay duration using a variable from the event payload. This allows the delay to change per workflow execution.

The variable can be defined in one of the following formats:

* **ISO-8601 timestamp**: Example: `2027-01-01T12:00:00Z`. This value should be for future date and time.
* **Duration object**: Example: `{ "amount": 30, "unit": "minutes" }`. This value should be for future date and time. Here *amount* is the number of units to delay and *unit* is the time unit. *unit* can be **seconds**, **minutes**, **hours**, **days**, **weeks**, or **months**.

![Dynamic delay example](/images/workflows/add-and-configure-steps/action-steps/delay/dynamic-delay.png)

In this example, the `delayTill` variable is used to pause the workflow until the future date and time specified in the `delayTill` variable.

<Tabs items={['ISO Date', "Duration object"]}>
  <Tab value="ISO Date">
    ```json
    {
      "delayTill": "2027-01-01T12:00:00Z"
    }
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab value="Duration object">
    ```json
    {
      "delayTill": {
        "amount": 30,
        "unit": "minutes"
      }
    }
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

If a dynamic delay using an ISO date is added as the first step in a workflow, it effectively schedules the workflow execution to start at the specified time.

## Extend to subscriber’s schedule

When enabled, delayed execution respects the [subscriber’s delivery schedule](/platform/inbox/features/schedule).

If the delay completes outside the subscriber’s available delivery window, execution resumes during the next available time slot. This option is disabled by default.

## FAQs

### If delay step fails, will the workflow continue to the next step?

No, workflow execution will stop immediately if the delay step fails due to an error. Common errors are:

* Invalid ISO date format.
* Invalid duration object format.
* Past datetime is specified.