Wait for Event

A wait-until step holds the Automation until a specific event is received. Unlike a delay, which resumes after a fixed time, this step resumes when something happens in your application. Common use cases:

Payment: Wait for a payment to succeed before sending a receipt.
Adoption: Wait for a user to complete an action to unlock a feature.
Verification: Wait for the user to verify their email before continuing.

How it works

Using the dashboard
Using the API

Add a Wait for event step and configure the event to wait for.

Add a wait_for_event step to your Automation’s steps array.

import { Resend } from 'resend';

const resend = new Resend('re_xxxxxxxxx');

const { data, error } = await resend.automations.create({
  name: 'Verification Reminder',
  steps: [
    {
      key: 'start',
      type: 'trigger',
      config: { eventName: 'user.created' },
    },
    {
      key: 'verification',
      type: 'wait_for_event',
      config: {
        eventName: 'email.verified',
        timeout: '1 day',
      },
    },
  ],
  connections: [{ from: 'start', to: 'verification', type: 'default' }],
});

$resend = Resend::client('re_xxxxxxxxx');

$resend->automations->create([
  'name' => 'Verification Reminder',
  'steps' => [
    [
      'key' => 'start',
      'type' => 'trigger',
      'config' => ['event_name' => 'user.created'],
    ],
    [
      'key' => 'verification',
      'type' => 'wait_for_event',
      'config' => [
        'event_name' => 'email.verified',
        'timeout' => '24 hours',
      ],
    ],
  ],
  'connections' => [['from' => 'start', 'to' => 'verification', 'type' => 'default']],
]);

import resend

resend.api_key = "re_xxxxxxxxx"

params: resend.Automations.CreateParams = {
  "name": "Verification Reminder",
  "steps": [
    {
      "key": "start",
      "type": "trigger",
      "config": {"event_name": "user.created"},
    },
    {
      "key": "verification",
      "type": "wait_for_event",
      "config": {
        "event_name": "email.verified",
        "timeout": "24 hours",
      },
    },
  ],
  "connections": [{"from": "start", "to": "verification", "type": "default"}],
}

resend.Automations.create(params)

require "resend"

Resend.api_key = "re_xxxxxxxxx"

params = {
  name: "Verification Reminder",
  steps: [
    {
      key: "start",
      type: "trigger",
      config: { event_name: "user.created" },
    },
    {
      key: "verification",
      type: "wait_for_event",
      config: {
        event_name: "email.verified",
        timeout: "24 hours",
      },
    },
  ],
  connections: [{ from: "start", to: "verification", type: "default" }],
}

Resend::Automations.create(params)

package main

import "github.com/resend/resend-go/v3"

func main() {
	client := resend.NewClient("re_xxxxxxxxx")

	params := &resend.CreateAutomationRequest{
		Name: "Verification Reminder",
		Steps: []resend.AutomationStep{
			{
				Key:  "start",
				Type: resend.AutomationStepTypeTrigger,
				Config: map[string]any{
					"event_name": "user.created",
				},
			},
			{
				Key:  "verification",
				Type: resend.AutomationStepTypeWaitForEvent,
				Config: map[string]any{
					"event_name": "email.verified",
					"timeout":    "24 hours",
				},
			},
		},
		Connections: []resend.AutomationConnection{
			{From: "start", To: "verification", Type: resend.AutomationConnectionTypeDefault},
		},
	}

	client.Automations.Create(params)
}

use resend_rs::{
  types::{
    AutomationStatus, Connection, ConnectionType, CreateAutomationOptions, Step, TriggerStepConfig,
    WaitForEventStepConfig,
  },
  Resend, Result,
};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<()> {
  let resend = Resend::new("re_xxxxxxxxx");

  let opts = CreateAutomationOptions {
    name: "Verification Reminder".to_owned(),
    steps: vec![
      Step::Trigger {
        key: "start".to_owned(),
        config: TriggerStepConfig {
          event_name: "user.created".to_owned(),
        },
      },
      Step::WaitForEvent {
        key: "verification".to_owned(),
        config: WaitForEventStepConfig {
          event_name: "email.verified".to_owned(),
          timeout: Some("24 hours".to_owned()),
          filter_rule: None,
        },
      },
    ],
    connections: vec![Connection::new("start", "verification").with_type(ConnectionType::Default)],
    status: AutomationStatus::Disabled,
  };
  let _automation = resend.automations.create(opts).await?;

  Ok(())
}

import com.resend.*;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Resend resend = new Resend("re_xxxxxxxxx");

        CreateAutomationOptions options = CreateAutomationOptions.builder()
                .name("Verification Reminder")
                .steps(
                    AutomationStep.trigger("start")
                        .eventName("user.created")
                        .build(),
                    AutomationStep.waitForEvent("verification")
                        .eventName("email.verified")
                        .timeoutSeconds(86400)
                        .build()
                )
                .connections(
                    AutomationConnection.builder()
                        .from("start")
                        .to("verification")
                        .type(ConnectionType.DEFAULT)
                        .build()
                )
                .build();

        CreateAutomationResponseSuccess data = resend.automations().create(options);
    }
}

using Resend;
using System.Text.Json;

IResend resend = ResendClient.Create( "re_xxxxxxxxx" );

var startConfig = JsonSerializer.SerializeToElement( new { event_name = "user.created" } );
var waitConfig = JsonSerializer.SerializeToElement( new
{
    event_name = "email.verified",
    timeout = "1 day",
} );

var resp = await resend.AutomationCreateAsync( new AutomationCreateData()
{
    Name = "Verification Reminder",
    Steps = new List<AutomationStepData>
    {
        new AutomationStepData { Ref = "start", Type = "trigger", Config = startConfig },
        new AutomationStepData { Ref = "verification", Type = "wait_for_event", Config = waitConfig },
    },
    Connections = new List<AutomationEdge>
    {
        new AutomationEdge { From = "start", To = "verification", EdgeType = "default" },
    },
} );

curl -X POST 'https://api.resend.com/automations' \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer re_xxxxxxxxx' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d '{
  "name": "Verification Reminder",
  "steps": [{
    "key": "start",
    "type": "trigger",
    "config": { "event_name": "user.created" }
  }, {
    "key": "verification",
    "type": "wait_for_event",
    "config": {
      "event_name": "email.verified"
    }
  }],
  "connections": [
    { "from": "start", "to": "verification", "type": "default" }
  ]
}'

resend automations create --name "Verification Reminder" --file ./automation.json

Timeouts

When you set a timeout, the step will stop waiting after that duration. This prevents Automations from waiting indefinitely. When a wait-until step times out, it produces two possible connection types:

Connection type	When it’s used
`event_received`	The event arrived before the timeout
`timeout`	The timeout elapsed without receiving the event

You can create different paths depending on whether the user took action within an given time period.

{
  "key": "payment",
  "type": "wait_for_event",
  "config": {
    "event_name": "payment.completed",
    "timeout": "3 days"
  }
}

The maximum timeout is 30 days.

Filter rules

Use filter_rule to match events that meet only specific criteria. This is useful when the same event name might be sent with different payloads. For example, to wait specifically for a successful payment:

{
  "key": "payment",
  "type": "wait_for_event",
  "config": {
    "event_name": "payment.completed",
    "filter_rule": {
      "type": "rule",
      "field": "event.status",
      "operator": "eq",
      "value": "succeeded"
    }
  }
}

The filter rule supports the same operators as condition steps.

Configuration

config.event_name

string

required

The name of the event to wait for.

config.timeout

string

The maximum time to wait before timing out (e.g. "3 days", "1 hour"). Maximum: 30 days.

config.filter_rule

object

An optional rule object to filter incoming events.

Example

{
  "key": "wait_for_purchase",
  "type": "wait_for_event",
  "config": {
    "event_name": "purchase.completed",
    "timeout": "3 days"
  }
}

​How it works

​Timeouts

​Filter rules

​Configuration

How it works

Timeouts

Filter rules

Configuration