> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.bullmq.net/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.bullmq.net/http-api/queues/adding-jobs/delayed-jobs.md).

# Delayed jobs

Delayed jobs are jobs that will wait the specified amount of time before they are made available to any existing worker.

A delayed job is simply added to a queue by specifying the "delay" option, which accepts the number of milliseconds to wait before being processed.

{% hint style="info" %}
Note that if the workers are busy processing other jobs, the delay job may experience more delay than specified, even though delayed jobs are always placed at the front of the queue bypassing all existing jobs.
{% endhint %}

Lets expand our job options interface with `delay`:&#x20;

```typescript
interface JobOpts {
  delay: number; // Milliseconds
  // ... More opts
}
```

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Curl" %}

```powershell
curl --location 'http://mydomain.dev/queues/my-queue/jobs' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer my-secret-token' \
--data '[{
	"name": "paint-red",
        "data": {},
        "opts": {
        "delay": 5000
}]'
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

The above snippet will add a job to the queue that will wait 5 seconds before it is attempted by an available worker.


---

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