BullMQ Job Queues in Node.js: Background Processing Done Right (2026 Guide)

#backend #node #typescript #redis

Your API endpoint sends an email, generates a PDF, and resizes an image. Response time: 8 seconds. Users rage-quit. Move heavy work to a background queue.

Basic Queue Setup

import { Queue, Worker } from "bullmq";
import IORedis from "ioredis";
const connection = new IORedis({ maxRetriesPerRequest: null });

// Producer: add jobs to the queue
const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection });
await emailQueue.add("welcome", { to: "user@example.com", subject: "Welcome\!", template: "welcome" });

// Consumer: process jobs
const worker = new Worker("email", async (job) => {
  await sendEmail(job.data);
}, { connection, concurrency: 5 });
worker.on("completed", (job) => console.log(job.id, "done"));
worker.on("failed", (job, err) => console.error(job.id, err.message));

Job Options That Matter

await emailQueue.add("password-reset", { to, token }, {
  priority: 1,                    // Lower number = higher priority
  attempts: 3,                    // Retry up to 3 times
  backoff: { type: "exponential", delay: 2000 },
  removeOnComplete: { count: 1000 },  // Keep last 1000 completed
  removeOnFail: { age: 7 * 24 * 3600 },  // Keep failures for 7 days
});

Delayed and Recurring Jobs

// Delayed: run in 30 minutes
await emailQueue.add("reminder", data, { delay: 30 * 60 * 1000 });

// Recurring: every day at 9am
await emailQueue.upsertJobScheduler("daily-digest", {
  pattern: "0 9 * * *",
}, { name: "digest", data: {} });