You can reply to a user if the agent's state is

thinking

for more than 3 seconds by listening for the

agent_state_changed

event and starting a timeout when the state becomes

thinking

. If the state is still

thinking

after 3 seconds, use

session.generate_reply()

to send a brief update message to the user. Cancel the timeout when the agent leaves the

thinking

state to prevent duplicate notifications. This method ensures your users get a natural, reassuring update during any long processing period. For example:

async def on_agent_state_changed(event):
    if event.new_state == "thinking":
        # Start your timeout here (3 seconds)
        ...
    elif event.old_state == "thinking":
        # Cancel the timeout if agent stops thinking
        ...

Then, in your timeout handler, call:

await session.generate_reply(instructions=
    "You are taking a little while to process the request. Give the user a very brief update that you're still working on their request. Keep it short and natural."
)

This pattern is fully described in the LiveKit agent documentation and code examples. Sources: livekit-agents/livekit/agents/llm/utils.py | Events and error handling | LiveKit Docs | External data and RAG | LiveKit Docs | Handling RAG Delays in Voice Agents | LiveKit Docs