diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d6d0dc3..76195d2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ The flags you'll actually reach for:
 | `--scroll` | `false` | Auto-scroll each page to trigger lazy loading |
 | `--workers` | `4` | How many pages to render at once |
 | `--no-robots` | `false` | Ignore `robots.txt` (be nice) |
+| `--crawl-delay` | `0s` | Override robots.txt `Crawl-delay` between page starts |
 | `-f, --force` | `false` | Delete any existing mirror for the host first |
 | `--chrome` | | Path to the Chrome/Chromium binary |
 
diff --git a/cli/clone.go b/cli/clone.go
index 47ce799..a3b402a 100644
--- a/cli/clone.go
+++ b/cli/clone.go
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ type cloneFlags struct {
 	scopePrefix    string
 	exclude        []string
 	noRobots       bool
+	crawlDelay     time.Duration
 	noSitemap      bool
 	headful        bool
 	keepNoscript   bool
@@ -84,6 +85,7 @@ func newCloneCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	fs.StringVar(&f.scopePrefix, "scope-prefix", "", "only crawl pages whose path starts with this prefix")
 	fs.StringSliceVar(&f.exclude, "exclude", nil, "path prefixes to skip (repeatable)")
 	fs.BoolVar(&f.noRobots, "no-robots", false, "ignore robots.txt (be careful and polite)")
+	fs.DurationVar(&f.crawlDelay, "crawl-delay", 0, "override robots.txt Crawl-delay between page starts (0 = use robots.txt)")
 	fs.BoolVar(&f.noSitemap, "no-sitemap", false, "do not seed URLs from sitemap.xml")
 	fs.BoolVar(&f.headful, "headful", false, "run Chrome with a visible window (debugging)")
 	fs.BoolVar(&f.keepNoscript, "keep-noscript", false, "unwrap <noscript> content instead of dropping it")
@@ -102,6 +104,9 @@ func runClone(ctx context.Context, arg string, f *cloneFlags) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid url %q: %w", arg, err)
 	}
+	if f.crawlDelay < 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("--crawl-delay must be >= 0")
+	}
 
 	cfg := clone.DefaultConfig()
 	cfg.OutDir = f.out
@@ -139,6 +144,7 @@ func runClone(ctx context.Context, arg string, f *cloneFlags) error {
 	cfg.ScopePrefix = f.scopePrefix
 	cfg.ExcludePaths = f.exclude
 	cfg.RespectRobots = !f.noRobots
+	cfg.CrawlDelay = f.crawlDelay
 	cfg.FollowSitemap = !f.noSitemap
 	cfg.Headless = !f.headful
 	cfg.KeepNoscript = f.keepNoscript
diff --git a/clone/cloner.go b/clone/cloner.go
index f13851d..2940e77 100644
--- a/clone/cloner.go
+++ b/clone/cloner.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/tamnd/kage/sanitize"
 	"github.com/tamnd/kage/urlx"
 	"golang.org/x/net/html"
+	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
 )
 
 // Logf is an optional sink for human-readable progress lines.
@@ -43,9 +44,12 @@ type Cloner struct {
 	mu         sync.Mutex
 	seenAssets map[string]bool
 	enqueued   int // pages offered to the queue
-	wg         sync.WaitGroup
-	pageJobs   chan pageItem
-	assetJobs  chan assetItem
+
+	crawlLimiter *rate.Limiter
+
+	wg        sync.WaitGroup
+	pageJobs  chan pageItem
+	assetJobs chan assetItem
 
 	muContent   sync.Mutex
 	seenContent map[string]string // sha-256 of page bytes -> first path written
@@ -144,6 +148,7 @@ func (c *Cloner) Run(ctx context.Context) (Result, error) {
 	defer func() { _ = c.pool.Close() }()
 
 	c.loadRobots(ctx)
+	c.setupCrawlDelayLimiter()
 
 	// Start workers.
 	var workers sync.WaitGroup
@@ -218,6 +223,19 @@ func (c *Cloner) loadRobots(ctx context.Context) {
 	c.robots = robots.Parse(string(data), "kage")
 }
 
+func (c *Cloner) setupCrawlDelayLimiter() {
+	delay := c.cfg.CrawlDelay
+	if delay <= 0 && c.cfg.RespectRobots && c.robots != nil {
+		delay = c.robots.CrawlDelay
+	}
+	if delay <= 0 {
+		c.crawlLimiter = nil
+		return
+	}
+
+	c.crawlLimiter = rate.NewLimiter(rate.Every(delay), 1)
+}
+
 // seedSitemaps adds in-scope sitemap URLs (from robots and the default path) to
 // the frontier.
 func (c *Cloner) seedSitemaps(ctx context.Context) {
@@ -252,6 +270,9 @@ func (c *Cloner) processPage(ctx context.Context, j pageItem) {
 		c.stats.skipped.Add(1)
 		return
 	}
+	if !c.waitForCrawlDelay(ctx) {
+		return
+	}
 
 	res, err := c.pool.Render(ctx, j.u.String())
 	if err != nil {
@@ -324,6 +345,15 @@ func (c *Cloner) processPage(ctx context.Context, j pageItem) {
 	c.stats.recordPage(c.pagePathKey(j.u), deduped)
 }
 
+// waitForCrawlDelay spaces page render starts.
+func (c *Cloner) waitForCrawlDelay(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	if c.crawlLimiter == nil {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	return c.crawlLimiter.Wait(ctx) == nil
+}
+
 // processAsset downloads one asset, rewriting CSS references on the way, and
 // writes it to its deterministic local path.
 func (c *Cloner) processAsset(ctx context.Context, j assetItem) {
diff --git a/clone/cloner_test.go b/clone/cloner_test.go
index 5474e36..5ef038f 100644
--- a/clone/cloner_test.go
+++ b/clone/cloner_test.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/tamnd/kage/browser"
+	"github.com/tamnd/kage/robots"
 	"github.com/tamnd/kage/urlx"
 )
 
@@ -178,6 +179,56 @@ func TestPageKeyCollapsesDuplicates(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestCrawlDelaySpacesPageStarts(t *testing.T) {
+	seed, _ := urlx.ParseSeed("https://ex.com")
+	cfg := DefaultConfig()
+	cfg.RespectRobots = true
+	c := New(seed, cfg, nil)
+	c.robots = &robots.Matcher{CrawlDelay: 20 * time.Millisecond}
+	c.setupCrawlDelayLimiter()
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	if !c.waitForCrawlDelay(ctx) {
+		t.Fatal("first crawl-delay wait returned false")
+	}
+
+	start := time.Now()
+	if !c.waitForCrawlDelay(ctx) {
+		t.Fatal("second crawl-delay wait returned false")
+	}
+	if elapsed := time.Since(start); elapsed < 15*time.Millisecond {
+		t.Fatalf("second crawl-delay wait = %v, want at least 15ms", elapsed)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestCrawlDelayFlagOverridesRobots(t *testing.T) {
+	seed, _ := urlx.ParseSeed("https://ex.com")
+	cfg := DefaultConfig()
+	cfg.RespectRobots = true
+	cfg.CrawlDelay = 20 * time.Millisecond
+	c := New(seed, cfg, nil)
+	c.robots = &robots.Matcher{CrawlDelay: time.Minute}
+	c.setupCrawlDelayLimiter()
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 200*time.Millisecond)
+	defer cancel()
+	if !c.waitForCrawlDelay(ctx) {
+		t.Fatal("first crawl-delay wait returned false")
+	}
+
+	start := time.Now()
+	if !c.waitForCrawlDelay(ctx) {
+		t.Fatal("second crawl-delay wait returned false")
+	}
+	elapsed := time.Since(start)
+	if elapsed < 15*time.Millisecond {
+		t.Fatalf("second crawl-delay wait = %v, want at least 15ms", elapsed)
+	}
+	if elapsed > 150*time.Millisecond {
+		t.Fatalf("second crawl-delay wait = %v, override likely ignored", elapsed)
+	}
+}
+
 func mustURL(t *testing.T, raw string) *url.URL {
 	t.Helper()
 	u, err := url.Parse(raw)
diff --git a/clone/config.go b/clone/config.go
index 477e4a5..97d7eed 100644
--- a/clone/config.go
+++ b/clone/config.go
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	ExcludePaths      []string
 
 	RespectRobots  bool
+	CrawlDelay     time.Duration // override robots.txt Crawl-delay when > 0
 	FollowSitemap  bool
 	Headless       bool
 	KeepNoscript   bool
diff --git a/docs/content/reference/cli.md b/docs/content/reference/cli.md
index 14d5585..c3b6f4c 100644
--- a/docs/content/reference/cli.md
+++ b/docs/content/reference/cli.md
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ images, and fonts, and writes a browsable mirror to `<out>/<host>/`.
 | Flag | Default | Meaning |
 |------|---------|---------|
 | `--no-robots` | `false` | Ignore `robots.txt` |
+| `--crawl-delay` | `0s` | Override robots.txt `Crawl-delay` between page starts (0 = use robots.txt) |
 | `--no-sitemap` | `false` | Do not seed URLs from `sitemap.xml` |
 | `--user-agent` | Chrome UA | User-Agent for asset and robots fetches |
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index c98cdcf..5a2b0ac 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/webview/webview_go v0.0.0-20240831120633-6173450d4dd6
 	golang.org/x/image v0.42.0
 	golang.org/x/net v0.56.0
+	golang.org/x/time v0.15.0
 )
 
 require (
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 37fd3b7..4be5fec 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -123,6 +123,8 @@ golang.org/x/sys v0.46.0 h1:noSf2Fq6F8DBgS+LysIkx7rIExoNHJsxOAtPp4rthXw=
 golang.org/x/sys v0.46.0/go.mod h1:4GL1E5IUh+htKOUEOaiffhrAeqysfVGipDYzABqnCmw=
 golang.org/x/text v0.38.0 h1:sXmwo9DwP3OK9EZ7PqAdaooSGozfl/3a6/xJcbzPRhE=
 golang.org/x/text v0.38.0/go.mod h1:YXZt3QhHUKYT53r2lLKFIVi6Ao1jdzrTR/KQ09qyxF4=
+golang.org/x/time v0.15.0 h1:bbrp8t3bGUeFOx08pvsMYRTCVSMk89u4tKbNOZbp88U=
+golang.org/x/time v0.15.0/go.mod h1:Y4YMaQmXwGQZoFaVFk4YpCt4FLQMYKZe9oeV/f4MSno=
 golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20191204190536-9bdfabe68543 h1:E7g+9GITq07hpfrRu66IVDexMakfv52eLZ2CXBWiKr4=
 golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20191204190536-9bdfabe68543/go.mod h1:I/5z698sn9Ka8TeJc9MKroUUfqBBauWjQqLJ2OPfmY0=
 google.golang.org/protobuf v1.34.2 h1:6xV6lTsCfpGD21XK49h7MhtcApnLqkfYgPcdHftf6hg=