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Queues enable asynchronous message processing for background tasks, webhooks, and event-driven workflows. Publish messages from agents and consume them with workers or webhook destinations.

When to Use Queues

Pattern	Best For
Queues	Background jobs, webhooks, event-driven processing, decoupled services
Durable Streams	Large exports, audit logs, streaming data
Key-Value	Fast lookups, caching, configuration

Use queues when you need to:

Process tasks asynchronously (email sending, report generation)
Decouple services with reliable message delivery
Deliver webhooks to external endpoints
Handle bursty workloads with rate limiting
Retry failed operations with exponential backoff

Access Patterns

Context	Access	Details
Agents	`ctx.queue`	See examples below
Routes	`c.var.queue`	See Using in Routes
Standalone	`createAgentContext()`	See Standalone Usage

Same API Everywhere

The Queue API is identical in all contexts. ctx.queue.publish() and c.var.queue.publish() work the same way.

Queue Types

Type	Behavior
`worker`	Each message is processed by exactly one consumer. Use for background jobs.
`pubsub`	Messages are broadcast to all subscribers. Use for event notifications.

Publishing Messages

Publish messages from agents using ctx.queue.publish():

import { createAgent } from '@agentuity/runtime';
 
const agent = createAgent('OrderProcessor', {
  handler: async (ctx, input) => {
    // Queue an email to be sent asynchronously
    const result = await ctx.queue.publish('email-queue', {
      to: input.customerEmail,
      subject: 'Order Confirmed',
      orderId: input.orderId,
    });
 
    ctx.logger.info('Email queued', { messageId: result.id });
 
    return { success: true, messageId: result.id };
  },
});

Publish Options

const agent = createAgent('TaskScheduler', {
  handler: async (ctx, input) => {
    await ctx.queue.publish('task-queue', input.task, {
      // Attach metadata for filtering or routing
      metadata: { priority: 'high', region: 'us-west' },
 
      // Guarantee ordering for messages with the same key
      partitionKey: input.customerId,
 
      // Prevent duplicate messages
      idempotencyKey: `task-${input.taskId}-v1`,
 
      // Auto-expire after 1 hour
      ttl: 3600,
    });
 
    return { queued: true };
  },
});

Option	Description
`metadata`	Key-value pairs for routing or filtering
`partitionKey`	Messages with the same key are processed in order
`idempotencyKey`	Prevents duplicate messages if the same key is published again
`ttl`	Time-to-live in seconds before the message expires

Publish Result

interface QueuePublishResult {
  id: string;         // Unique message ID (msg_...)
  offset: number;     // Sequential position in the queue
  publishedAt: string; // ISO 8601 timestamp
}

Synchronous Publishing

Use sync: true when you need to wait for the message to be persisted before returning:

import { createAgent } from '@agentuity/runtime';
 
const agent = createAgent('CriticalProcessor', {
  handler: async (ctx, input) => {
    // Wait for message to be persisted
    const result = await ctx.queue.publish('critical-tasks', {
      taskId: input.taskId,
      payload: input.data,
    }, {
      sync: true,
    });
 
    ctx.logger.info('Task queued synchronously', { taskId: input.taskId });
    return { status: 'queued', messageId: result.id };
  },
});

Sync Mode Performance

Synchronous publishing blocks until the message is persisted. Use it only when you need confirmation that the message was accepted. For most use cases, async publishing is faster and more resilient.

Using in Routes

Routes have the same queue access via c.var.queue:

import { createRouter } from '@agentuity/runtime';
 
const router = createRouter();
 
router.post('/webhook/stripe', async (c) => {
  const event = await c.req.json();
 
  // Queue webhook for async processing
  await c.var.queue.publish('stripe-webhooks', {
    type: event.type,
    data: event.data,
  });
 
  // Return 200 immediately (Stripe expects fast responses)
  return c.json({ received: true });
});
 
export default router;

Webhook Pattern

Use queues for webhooks that need quick acknowledgment. Return 200 immediately, then process the payload asynchronously.

Standalone Usage

Use queues from background jobs with createAgentContext():

import { createApp, createAgentContext } from '@agentuity/runtime';
 
await createApp();
 
// Scheduled job to send daily reports
async function sendDailyReports() {
  const ctx = createAgentContext({ trigger: 'cron' });
 
  await ctx.invoke(async () => {
    const users = await getActiveUsers();
 
    for (const user of users) {
      await ctx.queue.publish('email-reports', {
        userId: user.id,
        reportType: 'daily',
      });
    }
 
    ctx.logger.info('Queued daily reports', { count: users.length });
  });
}

See Running Agents Without HTTP for more patterns.

Error Handling

import { QueueNotFoundError, QueueValidationError } from '@agentuity/core';
 
const agent = createAgent('SafePublisher', {
  handler: async (ctx, input) => {
    try {
      await ctx.queue.publish('notifications', input.notification);
      return { success: true };
    } catch (error) {
      if (error instanceof QueueNotFoundError) {
        ctx.logger.error('Queue does not exist', { queue: 'notifications' });
        return { success: false, error: 'Queue not found' };
      }
      if (error instanceof QueueValidationError) {
        ctx.logger.error('Invalid message', { field: error.field });
        return { success: false, error: 'Validation failed' };
      }
      throw error;
    }
  },
});

Queue Management

Create and manage queues using the CLI or @agentuity/server package.

CLI Commands

# Create a worker queue
agentuity cloud queue create --name order-processing --type worker
 
# Create a pubsub queue for broadcasting
agentuity cloud queue create --name events --type pubsub
 
# List all queues
agentuity cloud queue list
 
# Get queue details and stats
agentuity cloud queue get order-processing
 
# Pause/resume processing
agentuity cloud queue pause order-processing
agentuity cloud queue resume order-processing
 
# Delete a queue
agentuity cloud queue delete order-processing

For programmatic queue management, see SDK Utilities for External Apps.

Consuming Messages

Webhook Destinations

Configure webhook destinations to automatically deliver messages to HTTP endpoints. Set these up in the App or programmatically.

Webhook destinations support:

Custom headers and authentication
Configurable timeouts (up to 30 seconds)
Retry policies with exponential backoff

Pull-Based Consumption

For workers that pull and process messages, see Pull-Based Consumption. This pattern is useful for long-running workers that need fine-grained control over message processing.

Dead Letter Queue

Messages that exceed the retry limit are moved to the dead letter queue (DLQ). Inspect and replay failed messages:

# List failed messages
agentuity cloud queue dlq order-processing
 
# Replay a message back to the queue
agentuity cloud queue dlq replay order-processing --message-id msg_abc123
 
# Purge all DLQ messages
agentuity cloud queue dlq purge order-processing

For programmatic DLQ access, see Dead Letter Queue Operations.

HTTP Ingestion Sources

Create public HTTP endpoints to ingest data into queues from external services. Configure these in the App or programmatically.

Auth Type	Description
`none`	No authentication
`basic`	HTTP Basic Auth (`username:password`)
`header`	Custom header value (`Bearer token`)

Queue Settings

Configure queue behavior when creating or updating:

Setting	Default	Description
`default_ttl_seconds`	null	Message expiration (null = never)
`default_visibility_timeout_seconds`	30	Processing timeout before message returns to queue
`default_max_retries`	5	Attempts before moving to DLQ
`default_retry_backoff_ms`	1000	Initial retry delay
`default_retry_max_backoff_ms`	60000	Maximum retry delay
`default_retry_multiplier`	2.0	Exponential backoff multiplier
`max_in_flight_per_client`	10	Concurrent messages per consumer
`retention_seconds`	2592000	How long to keep acknowledged messages (30 days)

Validation Limits

Limit	Value
Queue name length	1-256 characters
Queue name format	Lowercase letters, digits, underscores, hyphens. Must start with letter or underscore.
Payload size	1 MB max
Partition key length	256 characters max
Idempotency key length	256 characters max
Batch size	1000 messages max

Best Practices

Use idempotency keys for operations that shouldn't be duplicated (payments, emails)
Set appropriate TTLs for time-sensitive messages
Use partition keys when message ordering matters within a group
Monitor DLQ regularly to catch and fix processing failures
Configure webhook retry policies to handle transient failures gracefully

Next Steps

Durable Streams: Streaming storage for large exports
Key-Value Storage: Fast caching and configuration
Background Tasks: Patterns for async processing
Webhook Handler: Receiving external webhooks

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Queues

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