# Wait

### Overview

The **Wait** Data Operation delays a Data Flow for the specified number of seconds. It can be used when a delay is required by an external service, or to rate-limit certain actions like outgoing emails.

### Use Cases

* Wait for a long-running external API process to complete before continuing a Data Flow
* If an error occurs when using an external API, wait 10 seconds before retrying
* When sending many emails, wait for 1 second between each one to avoid being marked as spam

### Data Operation Properties

#### Duration in Seconds

A [Number](../variable-data-types/the-number-variable-data-type) specifying how many seconds to wait. This must be a whole number.

Duration cannot be lower than 1, and cannot be higher than 60.

### Results

If the duration is valid, the Wait Data Operation will wait for the given number of seconds, then return an object with **success**as **TRUE**. If the duration is invalid, the operation will return a message describing why the duration is invalid.
