> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.meetgail.com/platform/workflows/guides-and-recipes/recipes/wait-and-handle-failure/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.meetgail.com/_mcp/server.

# Wait and Handle Failure

> Pause a run for a set time, and decide what happens when a step fails.

Two things come up in almost every real workflow: sometimes you want a run to
wait before it continues, and sometimes you want to decide what happens when a
step does not succeed. Here is how to do both.

## Pause a run

Use a [Delay](/platform/workflows/node-reference/logic-and-flow/delay) step to pause the
run for a set amount of time, such as waiting an hour before a follow-up text or
a day before a reminder. Add the Delay step where you want the pause, set how
long to wait, and the run picks up the next step when the time is up.

## Handle a step that fails

Some steps can fail, for example a service is down or a file is missing. Steps
that can fail offer a "handle failure?" toggle. When it is on, the step gets a
second path that the run follows when it fails, so you can react instead of
letting the whole run stop, by sending an alert, trying an alternative, or
skipping the item.

### Turn on failure handling

On a step that can fail, turn on the "handle failure?" option. A separate
failure path appears on the step.

### Build the failure path

Connect the failure path to the steps that should run when it fails, such as a
[Slack alert](/platform/workflows/guides-and-recipes/recipes/send-a-slack-alert) or a
fallback action.

> **Note**
>
> Before adding your own failure handling, know that steps already give
> themselves a fair chance: each has a time limit and retries a few times on its
> own. See
> [Timeouts & Retries](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/timeouts-retries) for how
> that works, so you only handle the failures that truly need it.

## Related

#### [Delay](/platform/workflows/node-reference/logic-and-flow/delay)

Pause a run for a set amount of time.

#### [Timeouts & Retries](/platform/workflows/core-concepts/timeouts-retries)

How steps time out and retry before they fail.

> Documentation for Gail, the AI platform for financial services. Learn how to set up GailGPT and Gail Agent to automate customer communications for insurance, banking, and finance.