diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index 3c4f7b4..42c1f10 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ inputs:
     description: '[Internal] The location to store the mutex repo'
     required: false
     default: '/run/gh-action-mutex/repo'
+  timeout:
+    description: 'timeout in seconds to return exist code 1'
+    required: false
+    default: '0'
 runs:
   using: 'docker'
   image: 'Dockerfile'
@@ -39,6 +43,7 @@ runs:
     ARG_REPOSITORY: ${{ inputs.repository }}
     ARG_REPO_TOKEN: ${{ inputs.repo-token }}
     ARG_DEBUG: ${{ inputs.debug }}
+    ARG_TIMEOUT: ${{ inputs.timeout }}
   entrypoint: '/scripts/lock.sh'
   post-entrypoint: '/scripts/unlock.sh'
 
diff --git a/rootfs/scripts/lock.sh b/rootfs/scripts/lock.sh
index 1be1b0c..393c3a6 100755
--- a/rootfs/scripts/lock.sh
+++ b/rootfs/scripts/lock.sh
@@ -19,15 +19,14 @@ __ticket_id="$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$(date +%s)-$(( $RANDOM % 1000 ))"
 # $GITHUB_STATE does NOT exist in the post-entry, so $GITHUB_WORKSPACE is used instead to share the info between entry and post-entry
 # https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-commands-for-github-actions#sending-values-to-the-pre-and-post-actions
 # https://docs.github.com/en/actions/creating-actions/metadata-syntax-for-github-actions#runspre-entrypoint
-# The file `.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$ARG_BRANCH` is used to share the info between entry and post-entry
-# As $GITHUB_RUN_ID doesn't exist in GitHub Action, 
-# $ARG_BRANCH is used to concatenate to the file name to avoid the conflict between jobs in the same run
-echo "ticket_id=$__ticket_id" > "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$ARG_BRANCH"
-cat "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$ARG_BRANCH"
+# The file `.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$GITHUB_JOB` is used to share the info between entry and post-entry
+# $GITHUB_JOB is used to concatenate to the file name to avoid the conflict between jobs in the same run
+echo "ticket_id=$__ticket_id" > "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$GITHUB_JOB"
+cat "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$GITHUB_JOB"
 
 set_up_repo "$__repo_url"
 enqueue $ARG_BRANCH $__mutex_queue_file $__ticket_id
-wait_for_lock $ARG_BRANCH $__mutex_queue_file $__ticket_id
+wait_for_lock $ARG_BRANCH $__mutex_queue_file $__ticket_id $ARG_TIMEOUT
 
 echo "Lock successfully acquired"
 
diff --git a/rootfs/scripts/unlock.sh b/rootfs/scripts/unlock.sh
index ba34a2e..674cd94 100755
--- a/rootfs/scripts/unlock.sh
+++ b/rootfs/scripts/unlock.sh
@@ -13,12 +13,12 @@ cd "$ARG_CHECKOUT_LOCATION"
 
 __mutex_queue_file=mutex_queue
 __repo_url="https://x-access-token:$ARG_REPO_TOKEN@$ARG_GITHUB_SERVER/$ARG_REPOSITORY"
-cat "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$ARG_BRANCH"
-export $(grep -v '^#' $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$ARG_BRANCH | xargs -0)
+cat "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$GITHUB_JOB"
+export $(grep -v '^#' $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$GITHUB_JOB | xargs -0)
 __ticket_id=$ticket_id
 
 set_up_repo "$__repo_url"
 dequeue $ARG_BRANCH $__mutex_queue_file $__ticket_id
 
-rm -f "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$ARG_BRANCH"
+rm -f "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.$GITHUB_RUN_ID-$GITHUB_JOB"
 echo "Successfully unlocked"
diff --git a/rootfs/scripts/utils.sh b/rootfs/scripts/utils.sh
index 3c3a5ec..a9d8186 100644
--- a/rootfs/scripts/utils.sh
+++ b/rootfs/scripts/utils.sh
@@ -61,15 +61,18 @@ enqueue() {
 	fi
 }
 
+total_sleep_time=0
 # Wait for the lock to become available
 # args:
 #   $1: branch
 #   $2: queue_file
 #   $3: ticket_id
+#   $4: timeout in minuts
 wait_for_lock() {
 	__branch=$1
 	__queue_file=$2
 	__ticket_id=$3
+	__timeout=$4
 
 	update_branch $__branch
 
@@ -79,6 +82,12 @@ wait_for_lock() {
 		if [ "$cur_lock" != "$__ticket_id" ]; then
 			echo "[$__ticket_id] Waiting for lock - Current lock assigned to [$cur_lock]"
 			sleep 5
+			total_sleep_time=$((total_sleep_time + 5))
+			echo "It has been waiting for $total_sleep_time seconds zzz"
+			if [[ $__timeout -gt 0 && $total_sleep_time -gt $__timeout ]]; then
+				echo "[$__ticket_id] Total sleep time exceeded $__timeout seconds, exiting with code 1"
+				exit 1
+			fi
 			wait_for_lock $@
 		fi
 	else