# Is it possible to change the start\_delay on a Temporal workflow in the Python SDK?

**URL:** <https://community.temporal.io/t/is-it-possible-to-change-the-start-delay-on-a-temporal-workflow-in-the-python-sdk/17227>\
**Category:** Community Support\
**Tags:** python-sdk\
**Created:** [April 24, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://community.temporal.io/t/is-it-possible-to-change-the-start-delay-on-a-temporal-workflow-in-the-python-sdk/17227 "2025-04-24T18:51:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@mfry](https://community.temporal.io/u/mfry)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://community.temporal.io/t/is-it-possible-to-change-the-start-delay-on-a-temporal-workflow-in-the-python-sdk/17227/1 "2025-04-24T18:51:14Z")

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We currently start our workflows like below. However, we might want to change the actual start time of our workflow to be sooner or later based on business logic, so I was wondering if it’s possible to update the `start_delay` on the Temporal workflow. Thanks!

```auto
handle = await self._temporal_client.start_workflow(
                        NameOfWorkflow.run,
                        workflow_args,
                        id=str(workflow_id),
                        task_queue="service-name",
                        start_delay=max(
                            instance(transition.timestamp, tz="UTC") - now(tz="UTC"),
                            duration(seconds=0),
                        ),
                    )

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![maxim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.temporal.io/maxim/32/8_2.png) [@maxim](https://community.temporal.io/u/maxim)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://community.temporal.io/t/is-it-possible-to-change-the-start-delay-on-a-temporal-workflow-in-the-python-sdk/17227/2 "2025-04-25T19:55:18Z")

</div>

The code you posted does not update the delay of an already running workflow. It calculates the delay before starting the workflow. Is it what you want?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@mfry](https://community.temporal.io/u/mfry)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://community.temporal.io/t/is-it-possible-to-change-the-start-delay-on-a-temporal-workflow-in-the-python-sdk/17227/3 "2025-04-25T20:07:31Z")

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Hi @maxim yes, my current code calculates the delay before starting the workflow.

I was wondering after this code runs, is there a way for me to adjust the amount of time delayed before starting the workflow.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![maxim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.temporal.io/maxim/32/8_2.png) [@maxim](https://community.temporal.io/u/maxim)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://community.temporal.io/t/is-it-possible-to-change-the-start-delay-on-a-temporal-workflow-in-the-python-sdk/17227/4 "2025-04-26T15:40:45Z")

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There is no currently API for this. The recommended approach is to not use delay but a timer inside the workflow and update the timer based on a signal. See [samples-python/updatable\_timer at main · temporalio/samples-python · GitHub](https://github.com/temporalio/samples-python/tree/main/updatable_timer)