diff --git a/src/solidlsp/ls.py b/src/solidlsp/ls.py
index 990b1422..d0706a72 100644
--- a/src/solidlsp/ls.py
+++ b/src/solidlsp/ls.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ from solidlsp.dependency_provider import (
 from solidlsp.initialize_params import DefaultInitializeParamsBuilder, InitializeParamsBuilder
 from solidlsp.ls_config import FilenameMatcher, LanguageServerConfig, LanguageServerId
 from solidlsp.ls_exceptions import InvalidTextLocationError, SolidLSPException
-from solidlsp.ls_process import LanguageServerInterface, StdioLanguageServer
+from solidlsp.ls_process import DEFAULT_LS_REQUEST_TIMEOUT, LanguageServerInterface, StdioLanguageServer
 from solidlsp.ls_types import UnifiedSymbolInformation
 from solidlsp.ls_utils import FileUtils, PathUtils, TextUtils
 from solidlsp.lsp_protocol_handler import lsp_types
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ class SolidLanguageServer(ABC):
         cls,
         config: LanguageServerConfig,
         repository_root_path: str,
-        timeout: float | None = None,
+        timeout: float | None = DEFAULT_LS_REQUEST_TIMEOUT,
         solidlsp_settings: SolidLSPSettings | None = None,
     ) -> "SolidLanguageServer":
         """
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ class SolidLanguageServer(ABC):
         :param repository_root_path: The root path of the repository.
         :param config: language server configuration.
         :param logger: The logger to use.
-        :param timeout: the timeout for requests to the language server. If None, no timeout will be used.
+        :param timeout: the timeout, in seconds, for requests to the language server; if None, use no timeout
         :param solidlsp_settings: additional settings
         :return LanguageServer: A language specific LanguageServer instance.
         """
diff --git a/src/solidlsp/ls_process.py b/src/solidlsp/ls_process.py
index 3acec5a5..c4c1d9e7 100644
--- a/src/solidlsp/ls_process.py
+++ b/src/solidlsp/ls_process.py
@@ -35,6 +35,12 @@ from solidlsp.util import subprocess_util
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+
+DEFAULT_LS_REQUEST_TIMEOUT: float = 300.0
+"""
+Default request timeout, in seconds, when callers do not pass an explicit timeout
+"""
+
 # Per the LSP spec, `ContentModified` (-32801) means the server discarded a stale, in-flight
 # computation because the workspace changed underneath it, not that the request itself is
 # invalid. A well-behaved client is expected to retry such requests -- but only requests it has