# Wait & Execute Script

> Add a fixed delay between steps or execute a shell script.

Source: https://docs.ktestify.xyz/docs/write-tests/actions/wait-and-script

## `And wait for {int} seconds`

Pauses test execution for a fixed number of seconds. Useful when your pipeline has a known processing lag and you want to give it time before asserting output.

```gherkin
And wait for 5 seconds
```

:::caution[Prefer timeout tuning]
Hard waits make tests slow and brittle. Where possible, use [`consumerReadTimeout`](../advanced/timeout-tuning) in your assertion step instead.
:::

---

## `When script is executed`

Executes a shell or any shebang-compatible script as part of your test scenario. KTestify reads the script's shebang line to determine the interpreter and runs it via `ProcessBuilder`, inheriting stdout/stderr.

```gherkin
When script is executed
  | scriptPath          | scriptArgs     |
  | ./scripts/reset.sh  | arg1,arg2,arg3 |
```

| Column | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `scriptPath` | `string` | ✅ | Path to the script file (absolute or relative to working directory) |
| `scriptArgs` | `string` | ❌ | Comma-separated argument list passed to the script |

The step **fails** if the script exits with a non-zero exit code.

### Multiple scripts in one step

Add multiple rows to run several scripts in sequence, in row order. Execution **fails fast**, the step stops at the first script that exits non-zero:

```gherkin
When script is executed
  | scriptPath           | scriptArgs |
  | ./scripts/step-1.sh  |            |
  | ./scripts/step-2.sh  | arg1       |
```

There is no topic concept for script steps, so no same-topic guard rail applies here (unlike producer/assertion steps, see [Multi-row DataTables](../advanced/multi-row-datatables)).

### Example: trigger a downstream reset before consuming

```gherkin
Scenario: Processed orders appear after reset
  When script is executed
    | scriptPath             |
    | ./scripts/reset-app.sh |
  And wait for 2 seconds
  Then expected record from file
    | topicAlias | file          |
    | orders-out | expected.json |
```

### Also available as `And execute script`

```gherkin
And execute script
  | scriptPath   | scriptArgs    |
  | ./check.sh   | param1,param2 |
```

This form is syntactically identical, `When` vs `And` is Gherkin convention only.