# Block step timeout **URL:** \ **Category:** Features Requests\ **Created:** [May 3, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://forum.buildkite.community/t/block-step-timeout/464 "2019-05-03T13:15:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![krohmag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@krohmag](https://forum.buildkite.community/u/krohmag)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2019, 1:15pm UTC](https://forum.buildkite.community/t/block-step-timeout/464/1 "2019-05-03T13:15:13Z")
Coming from a Jenkins world, Buildkite’s Block step seems much more versatile than Jenkins’ Input step. However, Buildkite’s Block step is lacking a timeout, so if the block is never resolved, the job just ‘hangs’ indefinitely - it’s not using an agent, but it leaves cruft in the repo’s pipeline view. Having a timeout in place on the Block step could open up a variety of useful options for users: - Jobs get cancelled after the timeout. - The default option is executed after the timeout. - The notion of a polyphasic deploy pipeline - we only intend to deploy to integration right now, but our pipeline is capable of deploying all the way to production if we desire. So we can do our integration deploy successfully, and the pipeline can reflect a successful build despite the pipeline not being utilized to completion. ---
**Author:** ![anon46008679](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/da6949/32.png) [@anon46008679](https://forum.buildkite.community/u/anon46008679)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2019, 10:15am UTC](https://forum.buildkite.community/t/block-step-timeout/464/2 "2019-09-11T10:15:51Z")
Original GitHub feedback issue: [https://github.com/buildkite/feedback/issues/474](https://github.com/buildkite/feedback/issues/474) ---
**Author:** ![arkaitzj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.buildkite.community/arkaitzj/32/1081_2.png) [@arkaitzj](https://forum.buildkite.community/u/arkaitzj)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://forum.buildkite.community/t/block-step-timeout/464/3 "2022-05-30T14:48:35Z")
Seems to be a problem for release pipelines when somebody has to accept manually the deployment, if they don’t and forget it stays there forever. Then some other time after many releases, somebody opens the wrong pipeline hits continue and last years release gets deployed! ---
**Author:** ![paula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.buildkite.community/paula/32/954_2.png) [@paula](https://forum.buildkite.community/u/paula)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://forum.buildkite.community/t/block-step-timeout/464/4 "2022-05-30T14:58:06Z")
Hey @arkaitzj! Thanks for your feedback! This is a feature that is on our backlog and we hope to work on this soon 🙏 Best! ---
**Author:** ![Juhui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/76d3ee/32.png) [@Juhui](https://forum.buildkite.community/u/Juhui)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 10:08pm UTC](https://forum.buildkite.community/t/block-step-timeout/464/5 "2023-09-07T22:08:01Z")
Hi, I wonder if there is any update on this topic? ---
**Author:** ![paula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.buildkite.community/paula/32/954_2.png) [@paula](https://forum.buildkite.community/u/paula)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 10:13pm UTC](https://forum.buildkite.community/t/block-step-timeout/464/6 "2023-09-07T22:13:35Z")
Hey @Juhui! Welcome to the community! We don’t have an update yet 😕 we worked on other priorities and we didn’t have the time to properly work on this feature, but it’s still in our backlog. ---
**Author:** ![jonathanyeong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ebca7d/32.png) [@jonathanyeong](https://forum.buildkite.community/u/jonathanyeong)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://forum.buildkite.community/t/block-step-timeout/464/7 "2026-03-31T18:51:04Z")
It’s been a couple more years, wondering if this feature has been implemented? Or is there a workaround? ---
**Author:** ![ivanna](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.buildkite.community/ivanna/32/1410_2.png) [@ivanna](https://forum.buildkite.community/u/ivanna)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 7:10pm UTC](https://forum.buildkite.community/t/block-step-timeout/464/8 "2026-03-31T19:10:13Z")
Thank you for checking Jonathan. No — Buildkite doesn’t currently support a native timeout on `block` steps, so you can’t use something like `timeout_in_minutes`there. If you need similar behavior, the common workaround is to handle it outside of the block step — for example, running a scheduled job or small service that uses the Buildkite API to cancel builds that have been blocked longer than a certain time limit. This feature still in our backlog.