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Delay

Sometimes you need to wait a specific amount of time before the next step of your workflow proceeds. Pipedream supports this in one of two ways:
  1. The built-in Delay actions
  2. The $.flow.delay function in Node.js
. For example, we at Pipedream use this functionality to delay welcome emails to our customers until they’ve had a chance to use the product.

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Delay actions

You can pause your workflow without writing code using the Delay actions:
  1. Click the + button below any step
  2. Search for the Delay app
  3. Select the Delay Workflow action
  4. Configure the action to delay any amount of time, up to one year

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$.flow.delay

If you need to delay a workflow within Node.js code, or you need detailed control over how delays occur, see the docs on $.flow.delay.

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The state of delayed executions

Delayed executions can hold one of three states:
  • Paused: The execution is within the delay window, and the workflow is still paused
  • Resumed: The workflow has been resumed at the end of its delay window automatically, or resumed manually
  • Cancelled: The execution was cancelled manually
You’ll see the current state of an execution by viewing its event data.

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Cancelling or resuming execution manually

The Delay actions and $.flow.delay return two URLs each time they run:
These URLs are specific to a single execution of your workflow. While the workflow is paused, you can load these in your browser or send an HTTP request to either:
  • Hitting the cancel_url will immediately cancel that execution
  • Hitting the resume_url will immediately resume that execution early
If you use $.flow.delay, you can send these URLs to your own system to handle cancellation / resumption. You can even email your customers to let them cancel / resume workflows that run on their behalf.