Suspendable Nodes

NodeTool has no suspend/resume API. There is no SuspendableState, no SuspendableNode interface, no suspendWorkflow(), and no WorkflowSuspendedError. RunResult.status (packages/kernel/src/runner.ts) is "completed" | "failed" | "cancelled", and JobStatus (packages/protocol/src/messages.ts) adds only "pending", "running", and "error" — none of them is "suspended". A node cannot pause a run and be resumed later.

packages/models/src/run-event.ts does declare RunSuspended, NodeSuspended, and NodeResumed event types, but nothing in the runtime emits them.

For a run that needs to wait on something external, the shapes that do exist are trigger nodes (packages/kernel/src/trigger-wakeup.ts delivers an event to a registered trigger and starts a run), the webhook route (POST /api/webhooks/:token), and the interactive escalation path — a run started with interactive: true parks on a failing node and waits for the caller’s verdict (see Workflow Supervisor).

The Built-in WaitNode (a delay, not a suspension)

Important: WaitNode (nodetool.triggers.Wait, in packages/automation-nodes/src/nodes/triggers.ts) does not suspend anything. It is a simple in-process delay: process() sleeps for timeout_seconds via setTimeout, then passes its input through. The run stays alive and in memory for the whole delay. Use it for rate-limiting and fixed delays.

import { WaitNode } from "@nodetool-ai/automation-nodes";

// A node that delays for a fixed number of seconds, then forwards `input`.
const waitNode = new WaitNode();
waitNode.timeout_seconds = 5;  // Seconds to wait (0 = no wait, pass through immediately)
waitNode.input = { request_id: "REQ-123" };

WaitNode Properties

Property	Type	Default	Description
`timeout_seconds`	`number`	`0`	Seconds to wait before continuing. `0` = no wait (pass through immediately).
`input`	`any`	`""`	Input data passed through to the output after the delay

WaitNode Output

After the delay, the WaitNode outputs:

{
  data: { /* input data passed through */ },
  resumed_at: "2026-03-16T12:00:00.000Z",  // ISO timestamp after the delay
  waited_seconds: 5.0                        // Actual seconds slept
}

The output field names (resumed_at, waited_seconds) read like suspension semantics, but they only reflect the setTimeout delay — nothing was suspended.

Suspendable Nodes

Suspendable Nodes

The Built-in WaitNode (a delay, not a suspension)

WaitNode Properties

WaitNode Output

See Also