Wait for time to pass (delay)

The Wait for time to pass (delay) building block pauses the automation or script for a set time. Use it when the next steps should run a while later, for example, to turn off a light 5 minutes after it turned on.

Using this building block from the user interface

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes and open an automation. To edit a script, open the Scripts tab and open the script.
2. In the Then do section of an automation, or the Sequence section of a script, select Add action.
3. Select Blocks, then select Wait for time to pass (delay).
4. In Duration, enter how long to wait.
5. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this building block in YAML

In YAML, use delay. You can enter the duration in several formats:

• A number of seconds, for example, 5 to wait 5 seconds, or 1.5 to wait 1.5 seconds.
• A time in HH:MM format, for example, "01:00" to wait 1 hour.
• A time in HH:MM:SS format, for example, "00:01:30" to wait 1 minute and 30 seconds.
• A mapping with days, hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds. You can combine them, and you need at least one.

alias: "Wait 5 seconds"
delay: 5

delay:
  minutes: 1

All formats accept templates. This example waits as many minutes as input_number.minute_delay is set to:

delay: "{{ states('input_number.minute_delay') | multiply(60) | int }}"

Options in YAML

Good to know

• A delay in milliseconds is at least that long, but not exact.
• A delay with a template can only be edited in YAML.
• A restart of Home Assistant stops automations and scripts that are waiting. They don’t continue after the restart.

Examples

Automation: Turn off the light 5 minutes after the last motion

When the hallway motion sensor detects motion, this automation turns on the hallway light, waits 5 minutes, and turns the light off again. The automation uses the Restart mode: each time the sensor detects new motion, the automation starts over, and the 5 minutes start again. With the default Single mode, the light turns off 5 minutes after the first motion, even if the sensor detects new motion in the meantime.

• Trigger: State changed
  • Entity: Hallway motion (binary_sensor.hallway_motion)
  • To: Detected
• Action: Turn on light
  • Target: Hallway light (light.hallway)
• Action: Wait for time to pass (delay)
  • Duration: 5 minutes
• Action: Turn off light
  • Target: Hallway light (light.hallway)
• Mode: Restart. To change it, select Menu > Change mode.

alias: "Turn off the hallway light 5 minutes after the last motion"
mode: restart
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.hallway_motion
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: light.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: light.hallway
  - delay:
      minutes: 5
  - action: light.turn_off
    target:
      entity_id: light.hallway