CURLOPT_SERVER_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT(3)

💅 CURLOPT_SERVER_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT(3) 💅

okay bestie, so this is a page from the Library Functions Manual and it's literally about the CURLOPT_SERVER_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT option — no cap, it's the time you're allowed to wait for a server response ✨

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🎀 NAME 🎀

CURLOPT_SERVER_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT — how long you're allowed to sit there waiting for a server to respond, basically the "how long do I leave them on read" setting 😭

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_SERVER_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT,
                          long timeout);

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so you pass a long here. it tells libcurl: after you've sent a command, don't wait longer than timeout seconds for a response 🕐. if nothing comes back within that window, the connection is considered dead and the transfer fails — like, fully over, the vibe check did not pass 💀.

and listen, if you're also using CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3), the recommendation is to set CURLOPT_SERVER_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT(3) to something smaller than CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3). nesting those timeouts correctly is the move 🫶

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👑 DEFAULT 👑

60 seconds ⏳ (yes, a whole minute, she's patient)

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🌈 PROTOCOLS 🌈

this functionality affects ftp, imap, pop3, scp, sftp and smtp 🦋

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🍓 EXAMPLE 🍓

int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode result;
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "ftp://example.com/slow.txt");
    /* wait no more than 23 seconds */
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SERVER_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT, 23L);
    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);

    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
  }
}

look at her go, setting the timeout to 23L because 23 is that number 💖

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🧚 HISTORY 🧚

this option was formerly known as CURLOPT_FTP_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT — she rebranded, iconic behavior 👑

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⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

added in curl 7.20.0 🎀

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💜 RETURN VALUE 💜

curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error 💅

CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK — slay 🎉 — and non-zero means an error occurred, so go check libcurl-errors(3) for the tea 🙈

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT(3)
• CURLOPT_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT(3)
• CURLOPT_SERVER_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT_MS(3)
• CURLOPT_TIMEOUT(3)

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🫶 this gem is from libcurl, dated 2026-10-12 — go forth and set your timeouts responsibly, mwah 💋✨