diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index ba1b7a5..55bbd97 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ const (
 	defaultBackupsToRetain                 = 2
 	defaultGitLabMinimumProjectAccessLevel = 20
 	defaultEarlyErrorBackOffSeconds        = 5
+	defaultHTTPClientRequestTimeout        = 300 * time.Second
 
 	pathSep = string(os.PathSeparator)
 
@@ -35,20 +36,20 @@ const (
 	idleConnTimeout = 30 * time.Second
 
 	// env vars
-	envPath                  = "PATH"
-	envSobaLogLevel          = "SOBA_LOG"
-	envSobaWebHookURL        = "SOBA_WEBHOOK_URL"
-	envSobaWebHookFormat     = "SOBA_WEBHOOK_FORMAT"
-	envSobaEarlyErrorBackOff = "SOBA_EARLY_ERROR_BACKOFF"
-	envGitBackupInterval     = "GIT_BACKUP_INTERVAL"
-	envGitBackupDir          = "GIT_BACKUP_DIR"
-	envGitHubAPIURL          = "GITHUB_APIURL"
-	envGitHubBackups         = "GITHUB_BACKUPS"
-	envAzureDevOpsOrgs       = "AZURE_DEVOPS_ORGS"
-	envAzureDevOpsUserName   = "AZURE_DEVOPS_USERNAME"
-	envAzureDevOpsPAT        = "AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT"
-	envAzureDevOpsCompare    = "AZURE_DEVOPS_COMPARE"
-	envAzureDevOpsBackups    = "AZURE_DEVOPS_BACKUPS"
+	envPath                = "PATH"
+	envSobaLogLevel        = "SOBA_LOG"
+	envSobaWebHookURL      = "SOBA_WEBHOOK_URL"
+	envSobaWebHookFormat   = "SOBA_WEBHOOK_FORMAT"
+	envGitBackupInterval   = "GIT_BACKUP_INTERVAL"
+	envGitBackupDir        = "GIT_BACKUP_DIR"
+	envGitRequestTimeout   = "GIT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT"
+	envGitHubAPIURL        = "GITHUB_APIURL"
+	envGitHubBackups       = "GITHUB_BACKUPS"
+	envAzureDevOpsOrgs     = "AZURE_DEVOPS_ORGS"
+	envAzureDevOpsUserName = "AZURE_DEVOPS_USERNAME"
+	envAzureDevOpsPAT      = "AZURE_DEVOPS_PAT"
+	envAzureDevOpsCompare  = "AZURE_DEVOPS_COMPARE"
+	envAzureDevOpsBackups  = "AZURE_DEVOPS_BACKUPS"
 	// nolint:gosec
 	envGitHubToken          = "GITHUB_TOKEN"
 	envGitHubOrgs           = "GITHUB_ORGS"
@@ -330,7 +331,6 @@ func displayStartupConfig() {
 	}
 
 	// output azure devops config
-	// output github config
 	if azureDevOpsUserName := os.Getenv(envAzureDevOpsUserName); azureDevOpsUserName != "" {
 		if ghOrgs := strings.ToLower(os.Getenv(envAzureDevOpsOrgs)); ghOrgs != "" {
 			logger.Printf("Azure DevOps Organistations: %s", ghOrgs)
@@ -354,6 +354,17 @@ func run() error {
 
 	logger.Println("using git executable:", gitExecPath)
 
+	ok, reqTimeout, err := getRequestTimeout()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if ok {
+		logger.Printf("using defined request timeout: %s", reqTimeout.String())
+	} else {
+		logger.Printf("using default request timeout: %s", reqTimeout.String())
+	}
+
 	backupDIR, backupDIRKeyExists := os.LookupEnv(envGitBackupDir)
 	if !backupDIRKeyExists || backupDIR == "" {
 		return fmt.Errorf("environment variable %s must be set", envGitBackupDir)
@@ -367,7 +378,7 @@ func run() error {
 
 	backupDIR = strings.TrimSuffix(backupDIR, "\n")
 
-	_, err := os.Stat(backupDIR)
+	_, err = os.Stat(backupDIR)
 	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, fmt.Sprintf("specified backup directory \"%s\" does not exist", backupDIR))
 	}
@@ -415,6 +426,21 @@ func formatIntervalDuration(m int) string {
 	return time.Duration(int64(m) * int64(time.Minute)).String()
 }
 
+func getRequestTimeout() (bool, time.Duration, error) {
+	eReqTimeout := os.Getenv(envGitRequestTimeout)
+
+	if eReqTimeout != "" {
+		reqTimeoutInt, err := strconv.Atoi(eReqTimeout)
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, defaultHTTPClientRequestTimeout, fmt.Errorf("%s value \"%s\" should be the maximum seconds to wait for a response, defined as an integer", envGitRequestTimeout, eReqTimeout)
+		}
+
+		return true, time.Duration(reqTimeoutInt) * time.Second, nil
+	}
+
+	return false, defaultHTTPClientRequestTimeout, nil
+}
+
 func getOrgsListFromEnvVar(envVar string) []string {
 	orgsList := os.Getenv(envVar)
 
@@ -446,9 +472,12 @@ func getHTTPClient(logLevel string) *retryablehttp.Client {
 	}
 
 	rc := retryablehttp.NewClient()
+
+	_, reqTimeout, _ := getRequestTimeout()
+
 	rc.HTTPClient = &http.Client{
 		Transport: tr,
-		Timeout:   300 * time.Second,
+		Timeout:   reqTimeout,
 	}
 
 	if !strings.EqualFold(logLevel, "debug") {
diff --git a/main_test.go b/main_test.go
index 9bab887..9139ac3 100644
--- a/main_test.go
+++ b/main_test.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"slices"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/jonhadfield/githosts-utils"
 
@@ -311,6 +312,25 @@ func TestAzureDevOpsRepositoryBackupWithBackupsToKeepAsOne(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, run())
 }
 
+func TestGetRequestTimeout(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv(envGitRequestTimeout, "600")
+	ok, timeout, err := getRequestTimeout()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.True(t, ok)
+	require.Equal(t, 600*time.Second, timeout)
+
+	t.Setenv(envGitRequestTimeout, "invalid")
+	ok, timeout, err = getRequestTimeout()
+	require.False(t, ok)
+	require.Error(t, err)
+
+	t.Setenv(envGitRequestTimeout, "")
+	ok, timeout, err = getRequestTimeout()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.False(t, ok)
+	require.Equal(t, defaultHTTPClientRequestTimeout, timeout)
+}
+
 func TestPublicGithubRepositoryBackupWithBackupsToKeepAsOne(t *testing.T) {
 	if os.Getenv(envGitHubToken) == "" {
 		t.Skipf(skipGitHubTestMissingToken, envGitHubToken)
diff --git a/notify.go b/notify.go
index 3144799..b000d21 100644
--- a/notify.go
+++ b/notify.go
@@ -2,13 +2,14 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/slack-go/slack"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/slack-go/slack"
+
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-retryablehttp"
 	"gitlab.com/tozd/go/errors"
 )