Delay Shape

The Delay shape represents a waiting period, pause, or time delay in your process. It indicates that the flow pauses for a specific duration before continuing.

What is a Delay Shape?

The Delay shape represents:

• Waiting periods
• Timed pauses
• Sleep operations
• Scheduled delays
• Rate limiting
• Cooldown periods

According to ISO 5807, this shape indicates a delay or wait state in the process.

When to Use

Use the Delay shape for:

• Timed waits: "Wait 5 seconds", "Sleep 1000ms"
• Cooldowns: "Wait before retry", "Rate limit delay"
• Scheduled pauses: "Wait until midnight", "Pause until condition"
• Timeouts: "Wait for response (30s)", "Timeout period"
• Batch processing: "Wait for batch interval"

Visual Appearance

In DiagramKit.AI, the Delay shape appears as:

• Dimensions: 140×80 pixels
• Color: Light red (#fef2f2)
• Border: Red (#dc2626)
• Shape: Rounded rectangle (capsule-like)

Best Practices

✅ Good Usage

[Send API request]
   ↓
<Response received?>
  ↙              ↘
Yes              No
 ↓                ↓
[Process        [Wait 1 second]
 response]         ↓
                 <Timeout?>
                  ↙      ↘
                Yes      No
                 ↓        ↓
              [Fail]  (retry)

• Specify duration (5s, 100ms, 1 hour)
• Indicate why waiting
• Show timeout conditions
• Use in retry logic

❌ Avoid

• ❌ Processing: "Process data" (use Process)
• ❌ Too vague: "Wait" (how long?)
• ❌ Without duration: "Delay" (specify time)
• ❌ User waiting (that's not a delay)

Common Examples

Example 1: Retry Logic

[Attempt connection]
   ↓
<Success?>
  ↙      ↘
Yes      No
 ↓        ↓
[End]  [Increment
        retry count]
          ↓
       <Retries < 3?>
         ↙       ↘
       Yes       No
        ↓         ↓
    [Wait       [Give up]
     5 seconds]   ↓
        ↓        [End]
    (retry connection)

Example 2: Rate Limiting

[Make API call]
   ↓
[Increment call counter]
   ↓
<Calls > limit?>
  ↙          ↘
Yes          No
 ↓            ↓
[Wait       [Continue]
 1 minute]
 ↓
[Reset counter]
 ↓
[Continue]

Example 3: Scheduled Task

[Start scheduler]
   ↓
   ┌←←←←←←←←←←←←┐
   ↓            ↑
[Execute task] ↑
   ↓            ↑
[Wait 1 hour]  ↑
   └→→→→→→→→→→→→┘

AI Prompt Tips

add delay of 5 seconds
insert wait state for 1 minute
create delay before retry

Related Shapes

• Process - For operations before/after delay
• Decision - For timeout checks
• Connector - For retry loops
• Start/End - For timeout termination