Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for configuring a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) for wireless communication. A method that may be performed by a base station (BS) includes transmitting one or more parameters corresponding to a time period for the RIS to adapt to user equipment (UE) configuration information, the UE configuration information for configuring the RIS for RIS-assisted communication between the BS and a UE, the one or more parameters comprising a number of symbols indicative of a duration of time. The method also includes transmitting, via the RIS and separately from transmitting the one or more parameters, a control channel to the UE scheduling communication of a data channel with the UE via the RIS. The method also includes communicating, via the RIS, the data channel with the UE the duration of time after transmitting the control channel to the UE.