Web Request Action timeout at 20,000 ms

[sartipaz]

Hello, Im trying to use the OpenAI Assistants API from activepieces (zapier alternative) as you dont support it yet. The problem is that using that API takes a long time, almost a minute and my Web Request Action timesout at 20,000 ms.

Is there a way to move that hardcoded 20000 to a env var so it can be set in the docker compose, that way we will have more flexibility in setting that timeout from the docker image or with an .env

I found 20 not commented instances of the .timeout(20000) in the whole repo, but I don´t know which one I need to change...

Thank you

[sponzillo]

Hi @sartipaz , we are releasing a new Web Request version for next week with customizable timeout option.

Thanks for your patience.

Andrea

[jheeanny]

The 20-second timeout in Web Request Action is typically caused by:

1. Target endpoint is slow or not responding - Check if the external API is actually responding within 20s
2. Network connectivity issues - Firewall, DNS, or proxy blocking the request
3. Large request/response payloads - Could exceed limits before timeout

Troubleshooting steps:

• Test the endpoint with curl -v from the Tiledesk server: curl -X POST -d '{"test":"data"}' -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://your-api.com/webhook
• Increase timeout if possible (check action configuration)
• Ensure the endpoint returns quickly; if processing takes longer, consider async patterns (respond immediately, process later)
• Check Tiledesk server logs for more detailed error output (look for the full error trace before it gets truncated)
• Verify the Action URL is correct and accessible from the Tiledesk container/network

Could you share:

• The target URL you are calling
• Is it an internal or external service?
• Do you see any errors in the Tiledesk server logs (not just the UI)?

[jheeanny]

The 20s timeout is hardcoded in the Web Request Action implementation. To make it configurable, you could:

1. Identify the specific file that implements the Web Request Action (likely something like packages/actions/src/web-request.ts or similar). Search for the class that performs the HTTP request and look for .timeout(20000) on the request call.

2. Replace the hardcoded value with an environment variable, e.g. process.env.WEB_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS || 20000.

3. Build a custom Docker image with that change.

Alternatively, you can override the action’s configuration if the platform supports per‑action timeout settings (does Tiledesk expose that in the UI?).

As a quick workaround, you could also break the long-running API call into multiple shorter steps or use a queue pattern.

If you share the exact file paths where you found the 20 occurrences, I can help identify which one controls the Web Request Action.