Queue consumer
A worker process that reads from a queue and processes each job. In n8n, the queue consumer polls a Redis queue for pending workflow jobs. Scaling means adding more consumers each processes jobs in parallel, increasing throughput linearly.
Expert insight
A queue consumer that crashes mid-message without acknowledging it back to the queue can either lose that message or, depending on the queue's configuration, redeliver it indefinitely, workflows consuming from a queue need explicit handling for both partial failure and the possibility of receiving the same message more than once.
In a real workflow
A worker takes jobs from the queue one by one and acknowledges each when done.
Common mistakes
- Acknowledging before the work is finished.
- One slow job blocking all others.
Complexity level
Requires some familiarity with automation concepts.
Related terms
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