Workflow Timeout

In this chapter, you'll learn how to set a timeout for steps that wait for an external action.

What is a Step Timeout?#

By default, a workflow doesn't have a timeout. It continues its execution until it's finished or an error occurs.

An async step waits for its status to be set from outside, which can take a long time or never happen. You can configure a timeout for such a step, to indicate how long it can wait. If the step's status isn't set before the timeout passes, the step fails, and the workflow is reverted: the compensation functions of the steps that ran are called.

Configure Step Timeout#

The step's Timeout option is a number indicating the timeout in seconds. You set it with the step's Config method, as explained in the Workflows chapter.

For example:

// waitStep is an async step that waits for its status to be set from
// outside. It fails if that takes longer than two seconds.
var waitStep = composer.CreateStep("wait-step",
	func(ctx composer.StepExecutionContext, _ any) (composer.StepResponse[any], error) {
		// an empty response: the step waits
		return composer.StepResponse[any]{}, nil
	}, nil).Config("", composer.StepOptions{
	Async:   true,
	Timeout: 2, // seconds
})

// MyWorkflow runs waitStep.
var MyWorkflow = composer.CreateWorkflow("wait-workflow",
	func(e *composer.Execution, _ any) (any, error) {
		return waitStep.Run(e, nil)
	})

This step is async, and its function returns an empty response, so it waits for its status. If its status isn't set within two seconds, it fails.

Learn how to set the status of an async step in the Long-Running Workflows chapter.

Timeout Error#

The step fails with a *composer.TransactionStepTimeoutError whose message is Timeout error. Since the workflow is long-running, you don't receive the error from Run. Subscribe to the workflow's execution to receive it in the errors of the onFinish event, as explained in the Long-Running Workflows chapter.

Limitations#

• The timeout only applies to async steps, which wait for their status. A step that isn't async finishes when its function returns.
• MedusaGo doesn't have a timeout option for the whole workflow. To limit how long a workflow's execution lasts, set a timeout on the async steps that can wait.