tl-pg-boss

PostgreSQL-backed job queue for Node.js with exactly-once delivery, cron scheduling, and transactional safety.

When to Use

• "Add background jobs to my app"
• "I need a job queue but already use Postgres"
• "Set up cron jobs / scheduled tasks"
• "Process async work with retries"
• User mentions: job queue, background processing, task scheduling, worker

When to Consider Alternatives

For managed background jobs with dashboard UI, consider Trigger.dev instead. pg-boss is best when:

• You want self-hosted, PostgreSQL-native job queues
• You already have Postgres and don't want external dependencies
• You need transactional job enqueuing (same transaction as your data writes)
• Cost matters (pg-boss is free, managed services charge per job)

Trigger.dev is better when:

• You need a polished dashboard out of the box
• You want managed infrastructure with auto-scaling
• Your team prefers a hosted SaaS experience
• You need complex workflows with visual orchestration

Outcomes

• Patch: pg-boss installed and configured with typed job handlers
• Artifact: Job definitions with proper queue setup
• Decision: Queue structure, job patterns, monitoring approach

---

Requirements

Requirement	Version
Node.js	22.12+
PostgreSQL	13+
Privilege	CREATE on database

---

Installation

pnpm add pg-boss

Auto-creates pgboss schema on first start(). No manual migrations needed.

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Core Concepts

SKIP LOCKED

PostgreSQL's SKIP LOCKED provides exactly-once delivery without distributed transactions.

Always Call start()

Critical: Every process must call start(), even producers.

const boss = new PgBoss(connectionString);
await boss.start(); // Required in EVERY process

Even with multiple processes calling start(), only one runs supervision.

One Queue Per Job Type

await boss.createQueue("send-email");
await boss.createQueue("process-image");

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Basic Setup

import { PgBoss } from "pg-boss";

const boss = new PgBoss({
  connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
  schema: "pgboss",
});

boss.on("error", console.error);
await boss.start();
await boss.createQueue("my-queue");

---

Job Patterns

Send a Job

const jobId = await boss.send("my-queue", { userId: "123" });

Send with Options

await boss.send("my-queue", payload, {
  retryLimit: 3,
  retryDelay: 60,
  expireInMinutes: 30,
  priority: 1,
});

Full options: See references/send-options.md

Delayed Job

await boss.send("my-queue", payload, {
  startAfter: new Date(Date.now() + 60000),
});

Cron Scheduling

await boss.schedule("daily-report", "0 9 * * *", { type: "daily" });

Unschedule (Remove Cron)

await boss.unschedule("daily-report");

Schedule management: See references/schedule-management.md

---

Worker Patterns

Basic Worker

await boss.work("my-queue", async ([job]) => {
  console.log(`Processing ${job.id}`);
  // Auto-completes on return, throw to fail
});

Note: Callback receives an array even with batchSize: 1.

Batch Processing

await boss.work("bulk-import", { batchSize: 10 }, async (jobs) => {
  for (const job of jobs) {
    await processItem(job.data);
  }
});

Typed Jobs

interface EmailJob {
  to: string;
  subject: string;
}

await boss.send<EmailJob>("send-email", { to: "user@example.com", subject: "Hi" });

await boss.work<EmailJob>("send-email", async ([job]) => {
  await sendEmail(job.data.to, job.data.subject);
});

TypeScript patterns: See references/typescript-patterns.md

---

Queue Configuration

Dead Letter Queue

await boss.createQueue("my-queue", { deadLetter: "my-queue-dlq" });
await boss.createQueue("my-queue-dlq");

Retention

await boss.createQueue("my-queue", { retentionMinutes: 60 * 24 });

---

Fastify Integration

import Fastify from "fastify";
import { PgBoss } from "pg-boss";

const fastify = Fastify();
const boss = new PgBoss(process.env.DATABASE_URL);

fastify.decorate("boss", boss);

fastify.addHook("onReady", async () => {
  boss.on("error", fastify.log.error.bind(fastify.log));
  await boss.start();
  await boss.createQueue("my-queue");
  await boss.work("my-queue", handler);
});

fastify.addHook("onClose", async () => {
  await boss.stop({ graceful: true });
});

---

Monitoring

Dashboard

pnpm add @pg-boss/dashboard
DATABASE_URL="postgres://..." npx pg-boss-dashboard

Quick SQL

-- Pending by queue
SELECT name, COUNT(*) FROM pgboss.job WHERE state = 'created' GROUP BY name;

-- Failed jobs
SELECT * FROM pgboss.job WHERE state = 'failed' ORDER BY completedon DESC LIMIT 20;

Full monitoring: See references/monitoring.md

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Sharp Edges

Gotcha	Solution
Must call start() everywhere	Even producers need it
Jobs array in worker	Use ([job]) not (job)
No LISTEN/NOTIFY	Polling only, set pollingIntervalSeconds
Schema needs CREATE privilege	Or use CLI: npx pg-boss migrate --dry-run
Once completed, can't fail	Don't mix work() with manual fail()
No pauseQueue() in v10	Use unschedule() + direct SQL
Schedules re-register on restart	Code calls schedule() on init; unschedule is temporary

---

Best Practices

1. Set expiration to prevent zombies: expireInMinutes: 30
2. Archive aggressively with retention policies
3. Idempotent handlers using upserts
4. Graceful shutdown: boss.stop({ graceful: true })

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Observability

See Observability for Prometheus gauge/counter setup with prom-client and Prometheus alerting rules for queue backlog and failure rate.

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Testing Patterns

See Testing Patterns for unit testing job handlers, integration testing with a real PostgreSQL database, and mocking pg-boss in vitest.

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Kubernetes Deployment

See Kubernetes Deployment for a worker Deployment manifest with resource limits, liveness probe, preStop hook, and the SIGTERM graceful-shutdown handler.

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Verification

1. boss.start() completes without error
2. boss.createQueue() succeeds
3. boss.send() returns a job ID
4. Worker processes the job
5. Job state changes to completed

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References

Quilted Skills

• triggerdotdev/skills/trigger-tasks — Workflow patterns
• omer-metin/skills-for-antigravity/pg-boss — SKIP LOCKED principles

First-Party Documentation

• pg-boss GitHub — Official repository
• pg-boss API Docs — API reference
• pg-boss Dashboard — Web UI

PostgreSQL Resources

• PostgreSQL SKIP LOCKED — Locking semantics
• PostgreSQL Advisory Locks — Application-level locks
• Connection Pooling with PgBouncer — Connection management

Alternative Solutions

• Graphile Worker — PostgreSQL queue alternative
• Trigger.dev — Managed background jobs
• BullMQ — Redis-based alternative

Skill References

• references/send-options.md — Full send options
• references/typescript-patterns.md — BaseJob, JobManager
• references/monitoring.md — Dashboard + SQL queries
• references/advanced-patterns.md — Singleton, throttling, pub/sub
• references/schedule-management.md — Cron schedules, unschedule, pause patterns
• references/wordpress-migration.md — WP-Cron & Action Scheduler mapping

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Attribution

Source	Author	Contribution
pg-boss	Tim Gilbert (@timgit)	Core library, official docs
TypeScript Deep Dive	Shayan (@ImSh4yy)	BaseJob class, JobManager pattern
pg-boss-admin-dashboard	Lyubomir Petrov (@lpetrov)	Alternative dashboard with JMESPath