var timer = null; function handleRequest(request, response) { response.processAsync(); timer = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/timer;1"] .createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsITimer); timer.initWithCallback(function() { response.setStatusLine(null, 200, "OK"); response.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/plain", false); response.write("hello"); response.finish(); }, 3000 /* milliseconds */, Components.interfaces.nsITimer.TYPE_ONE_SHOT); }