How do I create a timer in Godot?

Question

How do I create a timer in Godot which destroys the script's object after a given amount of time? I am looking to remove bullets from a game after a while to reduce lag.

Answer 1

There is a Timer node that you can use. You can add it as a child, set the wait time (in seconds) - you could set it as one shot, and auto start - connect the "timeout" signal to your script, and on the method call queue_free to have the Node (and children, which includes the Timer) freed safely.

---

You can do that from code too, if that is what you prefer. So, let us go over what I just said, but instead of doing it from the editor, let us see the equivalent code:

Create a Timer, add it as a child:

var timer := Timer.new()
add_child(timer)

Set the wait time (in seconds):

timer.wait_time = 1.0

Set as oneshot:

timer.one_shot = true

Instead of setting it to auto start (which would be timer.autostart = true), let us start it:

timer.start()

Connect the "timeout" signal to a method. In this case, I'll call the method "_on_timer_timeout":

timer.timeout.connect(_on_timer_timeout)

func _on_timer_timeout() -> void:
    pass

Note: it is also possible to the signal by name

timer.connect("timeout", _on_timer_timeout)

func _on_timer_timeout() -> void:
    pass

See also:

• How to upgrade connect from Godot 3 to Godot 4
• Connecting a signal via code
• Signal.connect
• Object.connect

Then in that method _on_timer_timeout, you can call queue_free:

timer.timeout.connect(_on_timer_timeout)

func _on_timer_timeout() -> void:
    queue_free()

Answer 2

Edit: I stand corrected, the best approach is to use a callback like Theraot's answer says:

func _on_timer_timeout_funcname() -> void:
    # Do stuff here...
    queue_free() # removes this node from scene

var timer := Timer.new()
timer.wait_time = 1.0 # 1 second
timer.one_shot = true # don't loop, run once
timer.autostart = true # start timer when added to a scene
timer.connect("timeout", self, "_on_timer_timeout_funcname")
return add_child(timer)

I'm leaving my answer below here for people who are more comfortable with a sequential approach, but it can be a bit more tricky to deal with.

---

In Godot 4, there's an easy way to do this:

# Do some action
await get_tree().create_timer(1.0).timeout # waits for 1 second
# Do something afterwards
queue_free() # Deletes this node (self) at the end of the frame

Important: if you do this in the _process() or _physics_process() functions, more timers get created every frame, which causes several runs to occur all at once before then running the following code. To handle this, simply track whether a timed event is happening.

Example in the _process() with simple attack logic:

var attack_started = false;

func _process(delta):
    if attack_started:
        print("Not attacking, attack code running in background")
        return
    else:
        attack_started = true
        prepare_attack()
        await get_tree().create_timer(1.0).timeout # wait for 1 second
        begin_attack()
        attack_started = false

This await keyword works with everything that emits signals, including collision events!

FYI: yield was replaced with await in Godot 4, and await really just waits for a signal/callback to complete:

await object.signal

get_tree().create_timer(5.0) will create a timer that runs for 5 seconds, and then has a timeout callback/signal you can tap into.