Usage - BullMQ

Creating a Queue

<?php

use BullMQ\Queue;

// Create a queue with default connection (localhost:6379)
$queue = new Queue('my-queue');

// Or with custom Redis connection
$queue = new Queue('my-queue', [
    'connection' => [
        'host' => 'redis.example.com',
        'port' => 6379,
        'password' => 'your-password',
    ],
]);

Adding Jobs

Basic Job

use BullMQ\Queue;

$queue = new Queue('email-queue');

$job = $queue->add('send-email', [
    'to' => '[email protected]',
    'subject' => 'Welcome!',
    'body' => 'Thanks for signing up.',
]);

echo "Job added with ID: " . $job->id . "\n";

Delayed Job

// Process this job after 60 seconds
$job = $queue->add('reminder', $data, [
    'delay' => 60000, // Delay in milliseconds
]);

Priority Job

// Lower number = higher priority
$job = $queue->add('urgent-task', $data, [
    'priority' => 1,
]);

Custom Job ID

$job = $queue->add('process-order', $orderData, [
    'jobId' => 'order-' . $orderId,
]);

Job with Retry Settings

$job = $queue->add('flaky-operation', $data, [
    'attempts' => 3,
    'backoff' => [
        'type' => 'exponential',
        'delay' => 1000,
    ],
]);

Job with Removal Policy

$job = $queue->add('task', $data, [
    'removeOnComplete' => true,
    'removeOnFail' => 100, // Keep last 100 failed jobs
]);

LIFO (Last In, First Out)

// Process newest jobs first
$job = $queue->add('task', $data, [
    'lifo' => true,
]);

Adding Multiple Jobs

$jobs = $queue->addBulk([
    ['name' => 'email', 'data' => ['to' => '[email protected]']],
    ['name' => 'email', 'data' => ['to' => '[email protected]']],
    ['name' => 'email', 'data' => ['to' => '[email protected]']],
]);

echo "Added " . count($jobs) . " jobs\n";

Job Options Reference

Option	Type	Description
`jobId`	string	Custom job ID
`delay`	int	Delay in milliseconds before processing
`priority`	int	Priority (lower = higher priority)
`attempts`	int	Number of retry attempts
`backoff`	array/int	Backoff strategy for retries
`lifo`	bool	Process newest jobs first
`removeOnComplete`	bool/int/array	Remove job on completion
`removeOnFail`	bool/int/array	Remove job on failure
`timestamp`	int	Job creation timestamp (ms)
`parent`	array	Parent job reference for flows

Getting Job Information

Get a Specific Job

$job = $queue->getJob('job-id');
if ($job) {
    echo "Job name: " . $job->name . "\n";
    echo "Job data: " . json_encode($job->data) . "\n";
    echo "Job state: " . $queue->getJobState($job->id) . "\n";
}

Get Jobs by State

$waitingJobs = $queue->getWaiting(0, 10);
$activeJobs = $queue->getActive(0, 10);
$delayedJobs = $queue->getDelayed(0, 10);
$completedJobs = $queue->getCompleted(0, 10);
$failedJobs = $queue->getFailed(0, 10);

Get Job Counts

$counts = $queue->getJobCounts();
echo "Waiting: " . $counts['waiting'] . "\n";
echo "Active: " . $counts['active'] . "\n";
echo "Delayed: " . $counts['delayed'] . "\n";
echo "Completed: " . $counts['completed'] . "\n";
echo "Failed: " . $counts['failed'] . "\n";

Get Count by Type

$pending = $queue->getJobCountByTypes('waiting', 'delayed');
echo "Pending jobs: " . $pending . "\n";

Get Counts by Priority

$priorityCounts = $queue->getCountsPerPriority([0, 1, 2, 3]);
echo "Priority 0: " . $priorityCounts[0] . "\n";
echo "Priority 1: " . $priorityCounts[1] . "\n";

Queue Management

Pause and Resume

// Pause the queue
$queue->pause();
echo "Queue paused: " . ($queue->isPaused() ? 'yes' : 'no') . "\n";

// Resume the queue
$queue->resume();

Remove a Job

$removed = $queue->remove('job-id');
if ($removed) {
    echo "Job removed\n";
}

Clean Old Jobs

// Clean completed jobs older than 1 hour
$cleaned = $queue->clean(
    grace: 3600000,  // 1 hour in milliseconds
    limit: 100,
    type: 'completed'
);

echo "Cleaned $cleaned jobs\n";

Retry Failed Jobs

$queue->retryJobs([
    'count' => 100,      // Max jobs to retry per iteration
    'state' => 'failed', // State to retry from: 'failed' or 'completed'
    'timestamp' => time() * 1000, // Only retry jobs before this timestamp
]);

Promote Delayed Jobs

// Move delayed jobs to waiting state
$queue->promoteJobs(['count' => 100]);

Drain the Queue

// Remove all waiting jobs
$queue->drain();

Obliterate the Queue

// Remove all queue data (use with caution!)
$queue->obliterate(['force' => true]);

Parent-Child Jobs (Flows)

// Add a child job with a parent reference
$childJob = $queue->add('child-task', $childData, [
    'parent' => [
        'id' => 'parent-job-id',
        'queue' => 'bull:parent-queue',
    ],
]);

Job States

Jobs can be in one of the following states:

waiting - Job is waiting to be processed
active - Job is currently being processed
delayed - Job is delayed and waiting for its delay to expire
completed - Job has been successfully processed
failed - Job has failed after all retry attempts
paused - Job is in a paused queue
prioritized - Job is in the prioritized set
waiting-children - Parent job waiting for child jobs to complete

Connection Management

Using a Connection Array

$queue = new Queue('my-queue', [
    'connection' => [
        'host' => 'localhost',
        'port' => 6379,
        'database' => 0,
        'password' => null,
        'username' => null,
    ],
]);

Using a Redis URI

$queue = new Queue('my-queue', [
    'connection' => 'redis://user:password@localhost:6379/0',
]);

use BullMQ\RedisConnection;

$connection = new RedisConnection([
    'host' => 'localhost',
    'port' => 6379,
]);

$queue1 = new Queue('queue-1', ['connection' => $connection]);
$queue2 = new Queue('queue-2', ['connection' => $connection]);

Custom Prefix

$queue = new Queue('my-queue', [
    'prefix' => 'myapp',
]);

Close Connection

// Close the queue connection when done
$queue->close();

Complete Example

<?php

require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use BullMQ\Queue;

// Create queue
$queue = new Queue('email-queue', [
    'connection' => [
        'host' => 'localhost',
        'port' => 6379,
    ],
]);

// Add jobs
try {
    // Simple job
    $job1 = $queue->add('welcome-email', [
        'to' => '[email protected]',
        'name' => 'John Doe',
    ]);
    echo "Added job: {$job1->id}\n";

    // Delayed job
    $job2 = $queue->add('reminder-email', [
        'to' => '[email protected]',
        'message' => 'Complete your profile!',
    ], [
        'delay' => 3600000, // 1 hour
    ]);
    echo "Added delayed job: {$job2->id}\n";

    // Priority job
    $job3 = $queue->add('urgent-email', [
        'to' => '[email protected]',
        'message' => 'Server alert!',
    ], [
        'priority' => 1,
    ]);
    echo "Added priority job: {$job3->id}\n";

    // Bulk jobs
    $bulkJobs = $queue->addBulk([
        ['name' => 'newsletter', 'data' => ['to' => '[email protected]']],
        ['name' => 'newsletter', 'data' => ['to' => '[email protected]']],
        ['name' => 'newsletter', 'data' => ['to' => '[email protected]']],
    ]);
    echo "Added " . count($bulkJobs) . " bulk jobs\n";

    // Get queue statistics
    $counts = $queue->getJobCounts();
    echo "Queue statistics:\n";
    echo "  Waiting: {$counts['waiting']}\n";
    echo "  Active: {$counts['active']}\n";
    echo "  Delayed: {$counts['delayed']}\n";

} catch (\Exception $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
} finally {
    // Clean up
    $queue->close();
}

Interoperability with Workers

Jobs added via PHP can be processed by workers in other languages:

Node.js Worker

import { Worker } from 'bullmq';

const worker = new Worker('email-queue', async job => {
  console.log(`Processing ${job.name}:`, job.data);
  // Send email...
  return { success: true };
});

Python Worker

from bullmq import Worker

async def process(job, job_token):
    print(f"Processing {job.name}: {job.data}")
    # Send email...
    return {"success": True}

worker = Worker("email-queue", process)

Elixir Worker

BullMQ.Worker.start_link(
  queue: "email-queue",
  connection: :my_redis,
  processor: fn job -> 
    IO.inspect({job.name, job.data})
    # Send email...
    {:ok, %{success: true}}
  end
)

Best Practices

Reuse connections - Share RedisConnection instances across queues
Close connections - Call $queue->close() when done
Use meaningful job names - Makes debugging easier
Set appropriate retry attempts - Not all jobs should retry infinitely
Use custom job IDs - For idempotency and deduplication
Clean old jobs - Regularly clean completed/failed jobs to save memory
Handle errors gracefully - Wrap queue operations in try-catch blocks
Use bulk operations - When adding multiple jobs, use addBulk()

Error Handling

try {
    $queue = new Queue('my-queue');
    $job = $queue->add('task', $data);
    echo "Job added: {$job->id}\n";
} catch (\RuntimeException $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
    // Log error, retry, or handle gracefully
} finally {
    if (isset($queue)) {
        $queue->close();
    }
}

View Changelog

See what’s new in the latest version

Python

Elixir

PHP

​Creating a Queue

​Adding Jobs

​Basic Job

​Delayed Job

​Priority Job

​Custom Job ID

​Job with Retry Settings

​Job with Removal Policy

​LIFO (Last In, First Out)

​Adding Multiple Jobs

​Job Options Reference

​Getting Job Information

​Get a Specific Job

​Get Jobs by State

​Get Job Counts

​Get Count by Type

​Get Counts by Priority

​Queue Management

​Pause and Resume

​Remove a Job

​Clean Old Jobs

​Retry Failed Jobs

​Promote Delayed Jobs

​Drain the Queue

​Obliterate the Queue

​Parent-Child Jobs (Flows)

​Job States

​Connection Management

​Using a Connection Array

​Using a Redis URI

​Sharing a Connection

​Custom Prefix

​Close Connection

​Complete Example

​Interoperability with Workers

​Node.js Worker

​Python Worker

​Elixir Worker

​Best Practices

​Error Handling

View Changelog

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Creating a Queue

Adding Jobs

Basic Job

Delayed Job

Priority Job

Custom Job ID

Job with Retry Settings

Job with Removal Policy

LIFO (Last In, First Out)

Adding Multiple Jobs

Job Options Reference

Getting Job Information

Get a Specific Job

Get Jobs by State

Get Job Counts

Get Count by Type

Get Counts by Priority

Queue Management

Pause and Resume

Remove a Job

Clean Old Jobs

Retry Failed Jobs

Promote Delayed Jobs

Drain the Queue

Obliterate the Queue

Parent-Child Jobs (Flows)

Job States

Connection Management

Using a Connection Array

Using a Redis URI

Sharing a Connection

Custom Prefix

Close Connection

Complete Example

Interoperability with Workers

Node.js Worker

Python Worker

Elixir Worker

Best Practices

Error Handling