---
title: Add backend fetch timeout
summary: null
url: >-
  https://www.fastly.com/documentation/reference/changes/2026/01/add-backend-fetch-timeout
---

The [Backend API](https://www.fastly.com/documentation/reference/api/services/backend/)  now supports a `fetch_timeout` parameter that limits how long Fastly waits for a complete response. Connections that exceed this timeout are aborted and return a synthetic `503` response.