Timeout Action
Timeout Action schedules a selected action to run after a delay and can optionally work as a debouncer where repeated triggers move the execution time forward.
Delay an action until the right moment
Use Timeout Action when an event should not immediately cause a notification, restart, stop, or escalation. It creates a timer on the first trigger and runs the selected action only when the configured delay expires.
Enable Enable prolongation when the target action should run after the event stream becomes quiet. Disable it when the first trigger should schedule one delayed execution and later triggers should be ignored until that execution happens.
Select the delayed action
Set Target Action to the action that should run later, for example Send Email, Play Audio, Action on Task, Action on component, or Execute Action Group.
Choose delay behavior
Use Enable prolongation for debounce behavior. Keep it disabled for a single delayed execution after the first trigger.
Use clear millisecond values
Set Delay (ms) in milliseconds. For human-scale delays, use clear values such as 5000, 30000, 60000, or 300000.
Configuration parameters
| Parameter | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
Title | Yes | Display name of the delayed action. Use a name that describes the timer purpose, for example delayed email, restart cooldown, or stop after quiet period. | None |
Target Action | Yes | Action task that will be executed when the timeout expires. | None |
Enable prolongation | Yes | When enabled, repeated triggers before timeout expiration move the execution time forward. When disabled, repeated triggers are ignored while the timer is active. | Disabled |
Delay (ms) | Yes | Timeout in milliseconds before Target Action runs. | 1000 |
Schedule once or run after silence
The first trigger creates a timer. While that timer exists, additional triggers do not create additional target action executions. This prevents bursts of events from scheduling many identical delayed actions.
With Enable prolongation enabled, every repeated trigger moves the execution time to the current time plus Delay (ms). With prolongation disabled, repeated triggers are ignored until the delayed action has run.
Delayed trigger
Run an action later instead of immediately after the source event.
Debounce mode
Use prolongation to wait for a quiet period before running the target action.
Scheduled context
The target action runs as a scheduled action and does not automatically receive the original event variables.
Delay or debounce automation side effects
Delayed notification
Send an alert only if the situation still matters after a short delay, for example delayed email, delayed sound, delayed restart, or delayed status update.
Debounce noisy events
Enable Enable prolongation when a detector can fire many times in a burst and the target action should run only after the event stream becomes quiet for Delay (ms).
Execute once after the first event
Disable Enable prolongation when the first trigger should schedule the action and later triggers should be ignored until the delayed action runs.
Grace period before stop
Point Target Action to a stop or pause action when a task or component should be stopped only after no activity has been seen for a configured time.
Delayed recovery
Point Target Action to a restart or start action when recovery should happen after a short cooldown instead of immediately after an error event.
Alarm confirmation window
Use a short timeout before sending a loud notification or external message, giving upstream rules a chance to reduce false escalation through more specific conditions.
Operator-friendly escalation
First play a local warning or mark state, then run a stronger action later if the rule continues to trigger and prolongation keeps moving the deadline.
Operational notes
One active timer
The first trigger creates a timer. While that timer exists, additional triggers do not create additional target action executions.
Prolongation waits for silence
With Enable prolongation enabled, each repeated trigger moves the execution time to the current time plus Delay (ms). This is the usual setting for run-after-silence behavior.
Fixed delay ignores repeated triggers
With Enable prolongation disabled, repeated triggers are ignored until the scheduled target action has run. This is the usual setting for run-once-after-delay behavior.
Timeout checker frequency
The internal checker wakes periodically at roughly one tenth of the configured delay, with a minimum check interval of 10 ms. Very small timeout values can create frequent scheduler checks.
Scheduled context is new
The target action runs with a new scheduled execution context. The original event and context variables from the trigger are not automatically passed to the target action.
Target must be a running action
Target Action must be another action task. If it is removed, stopped, or failed when the timeout fires, the delayed operation will not perform as expected and the timeout action may need reconfiguration.
Action events are emitted
Timeout Action emits action state events when triggered, and the delayed target action can emit its own action state events when execution happens.
Terminal in task pipelines
When used inside a task pipeline, the action stops downstream processing after scheduling the timer. Place it as a terminal action unless stopping downstream processing is intentional.