diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index de10853f..f074414b 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1560,6 +1560,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "flume",
  "futures",
  "futures-concurrency",
+ "futures-timer",
  "once_cell",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
@@ -2199,6 +2200,12 @@ version = "0.3.28"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "76d3d132be6c0e6aa1534069c705a74a5997a356c0dc2f86a47765e5617c5b65"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "futures-timer"
+version = "3.0.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e64b03909df88034c26dc1547e8970b91f98bdb65165d6a4e9110d94263dbb2c"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "futures-util"
 version = "0.3.28"
diff --git a/apis/python/node/src/lib.rs b/apis/python/node/src/lib.rs
index 19f61264..611c0a19 100644
--- a/apis/python/node/src/lib.rs
+++ b/apis/python/node/src/lib.rs
@@ -57,12 +57,13 @@ impl Node {
     ///                 case "image":
     /// ```
     #[allow(clippy::should_implement_trait)]
-    pub fn next(&mut self, py: Python) -> PyResult<Option<PyEvent>> {
-        self.__next__(py)
+    pub fn next(&mut self, py: Python, timeout: Option<f32>) -> PyResult<Option<PyEvent>> {
+        let event = py.allow_threads(|| self.events.recv(timeout));
+        Ok(event)
     }
 
     pub fn __next__(&mut self, py: Python) -> PyResult<Option<PyEvent>> {
-        let event = py.allow_threads(|| self.events.recv());
+        let event = py.allow_threads(|| self.events.recv(None));
         Ok(event)
     }
 
@@ -156,9 +157,12 @@ enum Events {
 }
 
 impl Events {
-    fn recv(&mut self) -> Option<PyEvent> {
+    fn recv(&mut self, timeout: Option<f32>) -> Option<PyEvent> {
         match self {
-            Events::Dora(events) => events.recv().map(PyEvent::from),
+            Events::Dora(events) => match timeout {
+                Some(timeout) => events.recv_timeout(timeout).map(PyEvent::from),
+                None => events.recv().map(PyEvent::from),
+            },
             Events::Merged(events) => futures::executor::block_on(events.next()).map(PyEvent::from),
         }
     }
diff --git a/apis/rust/node/Cargo.toml b/apis/rust/node/Cargo.toml
index d13f4583..f5fe00bb 100644
--- a/apis/rust/node/Cargo.toml
+++ b/apis/rust/node/Cargo.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ arrow = { workspace = true }
 arrow-schema = { workspace = true }
 futures = "0.3.28"
 futures-concurrency = "7.3.0"
+futures-timer = "3.0.2"
 dora-arrow-convert = { workspace = true }
 aligned-vec = "0.5.0"
 
diff --git a/apis/rust/node/src/event_stream/mod.rs b/apis/rust/node/src/event_stream/mod.rs
index 48e7ecaa..cf403f30 100644
--- a/apis/rust/node/src/event_stream/mod.rs
+++ b/apis/rust/node/src/event_stream/mod.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
-use std::sync::Arc;
+use std::{sync::Arc, time::Duration};
 
 pub use event::{Event, MappedInputData, RawData};
-use futures::{Stream, StreamExt};
+use futures::{
+    future::{select, Either},
+    Stream, StreamExt,
+};
+use futures_timer::Delay;
 
 use self::{
     event::SharedMemoryData,
@@ -104,11 +108,28 @@ impl EventStream {
 
     /// wait for the next event on the events stream.
     pub fn recv(&mut self) -> Option<Event> {
-        futures::executor::block_on(self.recv_async())
+        futures::executor::block_on(self.recv_async(None))
+    }
+
+    /// wait for the next event on the events stream until timeout
+    pub fn recv_timeout(&mut self, secs: f32) -> Option<Event> {
+        futures::executor::block_on(self.recv_async(Some(secs)))
     }
 
-    pub async fn recv_async(&mut self) -> Option<Event> {
-        self.receiver.next().await.map(Self::convert_event_item)
+    pub async fn recv_async(&mut self, secs: Option<f32>) -> Option<Event> {
+        let receive_event = self.receiver.next();
+        match secs {
+            None => receive_event.await,
+            Some(secs) => {
+                match select(Delay::new(Duration::from_secs_f32(secs)), receive_event).await {
+                    Either::Left((_elapsed, _)) => {
+                        Some(EventItem::TimedoutError(eyre!("Receiver timed out")))
+                    }
+                    Either::Right((event, _)) => event,
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        .map(Self::convert_event_item)
     }
 
     fn convert_event_item(item: EventItem) -> Event {
@@ -161,6 +182,9 @@ impl EventStream {
             EventItem::FatalError(err) => {
                 Event::Error(format!("fatal event stream error: {err:?}"))
             }
+            EventItem::TimedoutError(err) => {
+                Event::Error(format!("Timeout event stream error: {err:?}"))
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/apis/rust/node/src/event_stream/thread.rs b/apis/rust/node/src/event_stream/thread.rs
index 7ee13427..05480d5c 100644
--- a/apis/rust/node/src/event_stream/thread.rs
+++ b/apis/rust/node/src/event_stream/thread.rs
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ pub enum EventItem {
         ack_channel: flume::Sender<()>,
     },
     FatalError(eyre::Report),
+    TimedoutError(eyre::Report),
 }
 
 pub struct EventStreamThreadHandle {