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Wait Time - CI/CD Glossary Definition

Wait time is the idle stretch where a change sits in a queue, for a runner, a review, an approval, doing nothing.

Wait time is the portion of a change lifecycle spent idle in a queue rather than being actively worked on, such as waiting for a runner, review, or approval.

Wait time usually dwarfs active work time, which is why reducing queues often speeds delivery more than working faster.

In CI

A common CI wait is queue time before a runner is available; capacity, warm pools, and concurrency limits directly affect it.

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