---
title: REST API timeouts · Cloudflare Browser Rendering docs
description: >-
  Browser Rendering uses several independent timers to manage how long different
  parts of a request can take.

  If any of these timers exceed their limit, the request returns a timeout
  error.
lastUpdated: 2025-10-15T23:37:51.000Z
chatbotDeprioritize: false
source_url:
  html: https://developers.cloudflare.com/browser-rendering/reference/timeouts/
  md: https://developers.cloudflare.com/browser-rendering/reference/timeouts/index.md
---

Browser Rendering uses several independent timers to manage how long different parts of a request can take. If any of these timers exceed their limit, the request returns a timeout error.

Each timer controls a specific part of the rendering lifecycle — from page load, to selector load, to action.

| Timer | Scope | Default | Max |
| - | - | - | - |
| `goToOptions.timeout` | Time to wait for the page to load before timeout. | 30 s | 60 s |
| `goToOptions.waitUntil` | Time until page load considered complete: `load` = full page load, including resources, like images and stylesheets. `Event.domcontentloaded` = waits until the DOM content has been fully loaded, fires before the page `load` event. `Event.networkidle0` = there are no active network connections for at least 500 ms. `Event.networkidle2` = there are no more than two active network connections for at least 500 ms. | — | — |
| `waitForSelector` | Time to wait for a specific element (any CSS selector) to appear on the page. | null | 60 s |
| `waitForTimeout` | Additional amount of time to wait after the page has loaded to proceed with actions. | null | 60 s |
| `actionTimeout` | Time to wait for the action itself (for example: a screenshot, PDF, or scrape) to complete after the page has loaded. | null | 5 min |
| `PDFOptions.timeout` | Same as `actionTimeout`, but only applies to the [/pdf endpoint](https://developers.cloudflare.com/browser-rendering/rest-api/pdf-endpoint/). | 30 s | 5 min |

## Notes and recommendations

You can set multiple timers — as long as one is complete, the request will fire.

If you are not getting the expected output:

* Try increasing `goToOptions.timeout` (up to 60 s).
* If waiting for a specific element, use `waitForSelector`. Otherwise, use `goToOptions.waitUntil` set to `networkidle2` to ensure the page has finished loading dynamic content.
* If you are getting a `422`, it may be the action itself (ex: taking a screenshot, extracting the html content) that takes a long time. Try increasing the `actionTimeout` instead.
