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Delay nodes pause the journey before continuing to the next node. Use delays to space out messages, wait for users to take action, or schedule follow-ups.

Configuration

Interval Type

Toggle between two modes:
  • Duration — Wait for a relative period of time. Set a numeric value and a unit: Minutes, Hours, Days, or Months. The delay is relative to when the run reaches the node, not when the journey was invoked.
  • Until — Wait until a specific date and time. A date-time picker lets you select the exact moment. Useful for holding messages until a launch date or a scheduled window.

Dynamic Interval

Enable the Dynamic Interval toggle to set the delay value from a field in the journey context instead of a hardcoded value. When enabled, the time picker is replaced by a field selector where you choose a trigger schema field, profile field, or fetch response field. This lets your application control the delay at runtime. For example, a trigger schema field called follow_up_delay could contain an ISO 8601 duration like PT2H (2 hours), or an until field could contain a datetime string.

Conditions

Like other nodes, delay nodes support optional conditions. If the conditions are not met when the run reaches the delay, the node is skipped.

Common Patterns

Onboarding sequences: Send a welcome email immediately, then delay 24 hours before checking whether the user completed setup. Reminder chains: Delay 3 days after an initial notification, then check delivery status or user action before sending a follow-up. Scheduled delivery: Use the “Until” interval type to hold a message until a launch date or event start time.
Delays are often paired with branch nodes to check whether a user took an action during the wait period. For example: delay 24 hours, then branch on whether the user completed onboarding.

Run Inspection

In Run Inspection, click a delay node to see its step details: the delay length (as an ISO 8601 duration like P1D), the expectedDelayValue (the exact datetime the delay will release), and the started/completed timestamps. While the pause is active, the status shows “Waiting.” Once the delay expires, it transitions to “Processed” and the run continues.

What’s Next