Delay
A delay step pauses the Automation for a specified duration before continuing to the next step.
Common use cases:
- Email sequences: Space out emails in an onboarding series.
- Cooldowns: Prevent sending too many emails in a short period.
- Follow-ups: Give users time to take action before sending a reminder.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”You can configure a "Time Delay" duration using natural language.
The delay step accepts a single duration field with a human-readable time value.
import { Resend } from 'resend';const resend = new Resend('re_xxxxxxxxx');const { data, error } = await resend.automations.create({ name: 'Welcome Series', steps: [ { key: 'start', type: 'trigger', config: { eventName: 'user.created' }, }, { key: 'wait_1_day', type: 'delay', config: { duration: '1 day' }, }, ], connections: [{ from: 'start', to: 'wait_1_day', type: 'default' }],});$resend = Resend::client('re_xxxxxxxxx');$resend->automations->create([ 'name' => 'Welcome Series', 'steps' => [ [ 'key' => 'start', 'type' => 'trigger', 'config' => ['event_name' => 'user.created'], ], [ 'key' => 'wait_1_day', 'type' => 'delay', 'config' => ['duration' => '1 day'], ], ], 'connections' => [['from' => 'start', 'to' => 'wait_1_day', 'type' => 'default']],]);import resendresend.api_key = "re_xxxxxxxxx"params: resend.Automations.CreateParams = { "name": "Welcome Series", "steps": [ { "key": "start", "type": "trigger", "config": {"event_name": "user.created"}, }, { "key": "wait_1_day", "type": "delay", "config": {"duration": "1 day"}, }, ], "connections": [{"from": "start", "to": "wait_1_day", "type": "default"}],}resend.Automations.create(params)require "resend"Resend.api_key = "re_xxxxxxxxx"params = { name: "Welcome Series", steps: [ { key: "start", type: "trigger", config: { event_name: "user.created" }, }, { key: "wait_1_day", type: "delay", config: { duration: "1 day" }, }, ], connections: [{ from: "start", to: "wait_1_day", type: "default" }],}Resend::Automations.create(params)package mainimport "github.com/resend/resend-go/v4"func main() { client := resend.NewClient("re_xxxxxxxxx") params := &resend.CreateAutomationRequest{ Name: "Welcome Series", Steps: []resend.AutomationStep{ { Key: "start", Type: resend.AutomationStepTypeTrigger, Config: map[string]any{ "event_name": "user.created", }, }, { Key: "wait_1_day", Type: resend.AutomationStepTypeDelay, Config: map[string]any{ "duration": "1 day", }, }, }, Connections: []resend.AutomationConnection{ {From: "start", To: "wait_1_day", Type: resend.AutomationConnectionTypeDefault}, }, } client.Automations.Create(params)}use resend_rs::{ types::{ AutomationStatus, Connection, ConnectionType, CreateAutomationOptions, DelayStepConfig, Step, TriggerStepConfig, }, Resend, Result,};#[tokio::main]async fn main() -> Result<()> { let resend = Resend::new("re_xxxxxxxxx"); let opts = CreateAutomationOptions { name: "Welcome Series".to_owned(), steps: vec![ Step::Trigger { key: "start".to_owned(), config: TriggerStepConfig { event_name: "user.created".to_owned(), }, }, Step::Delay { key: "wait_1_day".to_owned(), config: DelayStepConfig { duration: "1 day".to_owned(), }, }, ], connections: vec![Connection::new("start", "wait_1_day").with_type(ConnectionType::Default)], status: AutomationStatus::Disabled, }; let _automation = resend.automations.create(opts).await?; Ok(())}import com.resend.*;import com.resend.core.exception.ResendException;import com.resend.services.automations.model.AutomationConnection;import com.resend.services.automations.model.AutomationStep;import com.resend.services.automations.model.ConnectionType;import com.resend.services.automations.model.CreateAutomationOptions;import com.resend.services.automations.model.CreateAutomationResponseSuccess;public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) throws ResendException { Resend resend = new Resend("re_xxxxxxxxx"); CreateAutomationOptions options = CreateAutomationOptions.builder() .name("Welcome Series") .steps( AutomationStep.trigger("start") .eventName("user.created") .build(), AutomationStep.delay("wait_1_day") .duration("1 day") .build() ) .connections( AutomationConnection.builder() .from("start") .to("wait_1_day") .type(ConnectionType.DEFAULT) .build() ) .build(); CreateAutomationResponseSuccess data = resend.automations().create(options); }}using Resend;using System.Text.Json;IResend resend = ResendClient.Create( "re_xxxxxxxxx" );var startConfig = JsonSerializer.SerializeToElement( new { event_name = "user.created" } );var delayConfig = JsonSerializer.SerializeToElement( new { duration = "1 day" } );var resp = await resend.AutomationCreateAsync( new AutomationCreateData(){ Name = "Welcome Series", Steps = new List<AutomationStepData> { new AutomationStepData { Ref = "start", Type = "trigger", Config = startConfig }, new AutomationStepData { Ref = "wait_1_day", Type = "delay", Config = delayConfig }, }, Connections = new List<AutomationEdge> { new AutomationEdge { From = "start", To = "wait_1_day", EdgeType = "default" }, },} );curl -X POST 'https://api.resend.com/automations' \ -H 'Authorization: Bearer re_xxxxxxxxx' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -d '{ "name": "Welcome Series", "steps": [{ "key": "start", "type": "trigger", "config": { "event_name": "user.created" } }, { "key": "wait_1_day", "type": "delay", "config": { "duration": "1 day" } }], "connections": [ { "from": "start", "to": "wait_1_day", "type": "default" } ]}'resend automations create --name "Welcome Series" --file ./automation.jsonExample durations: "30 minutes", "1 hour", "12 hours", "1 day", "3 days", "1 week".
Configuration
Section titled “Configuration”config.duration(string, required) — The delay duration in natural language (e.g."1 hour","3 days"). Maximum: 30 days.
{
"key": "wait_1_hour",
"type": "delay",
"config": {
"duration": "1 hour"
}
}