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How to pause/sleep in shell commands on macOS, Linux, and Windows — use this when the agent needs to wait before running the next command.
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| name | cross-platform-shell-delay-sleep-wait |
| description | How to pause/sleep in shell commands on macOS, Linux, and Windows — use this when the agent needs to wait before running the next command. |
| last_updated | "2026-02-13T00:00:00.000Z" |
When the agent needs to wait for a period of time (e.g., waiting for a port to release, a process to exit, or a file to become available), use the correct delay command for the user's platform.
| Platform | Command | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| macOS / Linux | sleep <seconds> | POSIX standard; supports decimals (sleep 0.5) |
| Windows (cmd.exe) | timeout /t <seconds> /nobreak | Built-in; /nobreak prevents user from skipping |
| Windows (PowerShell) | Start-Sleep -Seconds <seconds> | Native cmdlet; also supports -Milliseconds |
Use && to chain a delay before the next command:
macOS / Linux:
sleep 2 && npm run dev
Windows (cmd.exe):
timeout /t 2 /nobreak && npm run dev
Windows (PowerShell):
Start-Sleep -Seconds 2; npm run dev
When Node.js is available (always true in this Electron project), this works on all platforms:
node -e "setTimeout(() => {}, 5000)"
Or inline before another command (use && on macOS/Linux/cmd, ; in PowerShell):
node -e "setTimeout(() => process.exit(), 2000)" && npm run dev
The codebase already uses a standard pattern for async delays:
const sleep = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
await sleep(2000);
See src/main/services/demoModeService.ts for the canonical example of platform-branching with process.platform.
Branch on process.platform when spawning shell commands:
const delay = process.platform === 'win32'
? 'timeout /t 2 /nobreak &&'
: 'sleep 2 &&';