Bullmq

BullMQ Skill

Redis-based robust queue system for Node.js.

Ecosystem Graph Preview

graph LR
  bullmq["bullmq"]:::core
  classDef core fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:4px;
  bullmq -- "depends on" --> redis
  bullmq -- "alternative to" --> rabbitmq
  bullmq -- "integrates with" --> nestjs
  rabbitmq -- "alternative to" --> bullmq

Recommended Next Skills

• rabbitmq (Score: 0.8) Why: Direct relationship, Both are Messaging, Can deploy to docker
• nestjs (Score: 0.6) Why: Direct relationship, Can deploy to docker
• redis (Score: 0.5) Why: Direct relationship

Quick Start

BullMQ leverages Redis Lua scripts to provide an incredibly fast, transactional task queue natively in TypeScript.

npm install bullmq ioredis

Production Patterns

Sandboxed Processors

For CPU-intensive tasks (image resizing, PDF generation), use BullMQ Sandboxed Processors. This forces the worker to execute in a separate Node.js child process, preventing the heavy task from blocking your API's main event loop.

Architecture & Scaling

Redis MaxMemory

BullMQ queues can grow infinitely if consumers crash. Ensure your Redis instance is configured with a strict maxmemory limit and an eviction policy like noeviction (which causes BullMQ to gracefully pause adding jobs) to prevent OOM crashes.

Error Recovery

Configure automatic retries with exponential backoff on your jobs (attempts: 3, backoff: { type: 'exponential', delay: 1000 }) to handle transient third-party API failures gracefully.

Security Notes

Because BullMQ stores task payloads in Redis, never pass raw sensitive data (credit cards, unhashed passwords) in the job.data object. Pass a database ID and fetch the sensitive data securely within the worker.

References

• BullMQ Docs

Why use this skill

Use this when your agent works with bullmq — structured patterns beat pasted docs and prevent common hallucinations.

AI pitfalls

• Referencing CLI flags or config keys that do not exist
• Using outdated major versions of tools
• Skipping lockfile or version pinning in examples

Production checklist

• Secrets in environment variables, not source code
• Error handling and logging in place
• Rate limits and timeouts configured

Related skills

• redis — depends on
• rabbitmq — alternative to
• nestjs — integrates with

Last Verified: 2026-07-02