# GoodJob
[](https://rubygems.org/gems/good_job)
[](https://github.com/bensheldon/good_job/actions)
[](https://www.ruby-toolbox.com/projects/good_job)
GoodJob is a multithreaded, Postgres-based, ActiveJob backend for Ruby on Rails.
**Inspired by [Delayed::Job](https://github.com/collectiveidea/delayed_job) and [Que](https://github.com/que-rb/que), GoodJob is designed for maximum compatibility with Ruby on Rails, ActiveJob, and Postgres to be simple and performant for most workloads.**
- **Designed for ActiveJob.** Complete support for [async, queues, delays, priorities, timeouts, and retries](https://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/active_job_basics.html) with near-zero configuration.
- **Built for Rails.** Fully adopts Ruby on Rails [threading and code execution guidelines](https://guides.rubyonrails.org/threading_and_code_execution.html) with [Concurrent::Ruby](https://github.com/ruby-concurrency/concurrent-ruby).
- **Backed by Postgres.** Relies upon Postgres integrity, session-level Advisory Locks to provide run-once safety and stay within the limits of `schema.rb`, and LISTEN/NOTIFY to reduce queuing latency.
- **For most workloads.** Targets full-stack teams, economy-minded solo developers, and applications that enqueue 1-million jobs/day and more.
For more of the story of GoodJob, read the [introductory blog post](https://island94.org/2020/07/introducing-goodjob-1-0).
๐ Comparison of GoodJob with other job queue backends (click to expand)
| | Queues, priority, retries | Database | Concurrency | Reliability/Integrity | Latency |
|-----------------|---------------------------|---------------------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|--------------------------|
| **GoodJob** | โ
Yes | โ
Postgres | โ
Multithreaded | โ
ACID, Advisory Locks | โ
Postgres LISTEN/NOTIFY |
| **Que** | โ
Yes | ๐ถ๏ธ Postgres, requires `structure.sql` | โ
Multithreaded | โ
ACID, Advisory Locks | โ
Postgres LISTEN/NOTIFY |
| **Delayed Job** | โ
Yes | โ
Postgres | ๐ด Single-threaded | โ
ACID, record-based | ๐ถ Polling |
| **Sidekiq** | โ
Yes | ๐ด Redis | โ
Multithreaded | ๐ด Crashes lose jobs | โ
Redis BRPOP |
| **Sidekiq Pro** | โ
Yes | ๐ด Redis | โ
Multithreaded | โ
Redis RPOPLPUSH | โ
Redis RPOPLPUSH |
## Table of contents
- [Set up](#set-up)
- [Compatibility](#compatibility)
- [Configuration](#configuration)
- [Command-line options](#command-line-options)
- [`good_job start`](#good_job-start)
- [`good_job cleanup_preserved_jobs`](#good_job-cleanup_preserved_jobs)
- [Configuration options](#configuration-options)
- [Global options](#global-options)
- [Dashboard](#dashboard)
- [API-only Rails applications](#api-only-rails-applications)
- [Live Polling](#live-polling)
- [ActiveJob concurrency](#activejob-concurrency)
- [How concurrency controls work](#how-concurrency-controls-work)
- [Cron-style repeating/recurring jobs](#cron-style-repeatingrecurring-jobs)
- [Updating](#updating)
- [Upgrading minor versions](#upgrading-minor-versions)
- [Upgrading v2 to v3](#upgrading-v2-to-v3)
- [Upgrading v1 to v2](#upgrading-v1-to-v2)
- [Go deeper](#go-deeper)
- [Exceptions, retries, and reliability](#exceptions-retries-and-reliability)
- [Exceptions](#exceptions)
- [Retries](#retries)
- [ActionMailer retries](#actionmailer-retries)
- [Timeouts](#timeouts)
- [Optimize queues, threads, and processes](#optimize-queues-threads-and-processes)
- [Database connections](#database-connections)
- [Production setup](#production-setup)
- [Execute jobs async / in-process](#execute-jobs-async--in-process)
- [Migrate to GoodJob from a different ActiveJob backend](#migrate-to-goodjob-from-a-different-activejob-backend)
- [Monitor and preserve worked jobs](#monitor-and-preserve-worked-jobs)
- [Write tests](#write-tests)
- [PgBouncer compatibility](#pgbouncer-compatibility)
- [CLI HTTP health check probes](#cli-http-health-check-probes)
- [Contribute](#contribute)
- [Gem development](#gem-development)
- [Development setup](#development-setup)
- [Rails development harness](#rails-development-harness)
- [Running tests](#running-tests)
- [Release](#release)
- [License](#license)
## Set up
1. Add `good_job` to your application's Gemfile and install the gem:
```sh
bundle add good_job
```
1. Run the GoodJob install generator. This will generate a database migration to create a table for GoodJob's job records:
```bash
bin/rails g good_job:install
```
Run the migration:
```bash
bin/rails db:migrate
```
Optional: If using Rails' multiple databases with the `migrations_paths` configuration option, use the `--database` option:
```bash
bin/rails g good_job:install --database animals
bin/rails db:migrate:animals
```
1. Configure the ActiveJob adapter:
```ruby
# config/application.rb or config/environments/{RAILS_ENV}.rb
config.active_job.queue_adapter = :good_job
```
1. Inside of your application, queue your job ๐:
```ruby
YourJob.perform_later
```
GoodJob supports all ActiveJob features:
```ruby
YourJob.set(queue: :some_queue, wait: 5.minutes, priority: 10).perform_later
```
1. In development, GoodJob executes jobs immediately in a separate thread ("async" mode). In production, GoodJob provides different options:
- By default, GoodJob separates job enqueuing from job execution so that jobs can be scaled independently of the web server. Use the GoodJob command-line tool to execute jobs:
```bash
bundle exec good_job start
```
Ideally the command-line tool should be run on a separate machine or container from the web process. For example, on Heroku:
```Procfile
web: rails server
worker: bundle exec good_job start
```
The command-line tool supports a variety of options, see the reference below for command-line configuration.
- GoodJob can also be configured to execute jobs within the web server process to save on resources. This is useful for low-workloads when economy is paramount.
```bash
GOOD_JOB_EXECUTION_MODE=async rails server
```
Additional configuration is likely necessary, see the reference below for configuration.
## Compatibility
- **Ruby on Rails:** 6.0+
- **Ruby:** Ruby 2.5+. JRuby 9.2.13+
- **Postgres:** 10.0+
## Configuration
### Command-line options
There several top-level commands available through the `good_job` command-line tool.
Configuration options are available with `help`.
#### `good_job start`
`good_job start` executes queued jobs.
```bash
$ bundle exec good_job help start
Usage:
good_job start
Options:
[--queues=QUEUE_LIST] # Queues or pools to work from. (env var: GOOD_JOB_QUEUES, default: *)
[--max-threads=COUNT] # Default number of threads per pool to use for working jobs. (env var: GOOD_JOB_MAX_THREADS, default: 5)
[--poll-interval=SECONDS] # Interval between polls for available jobs in seconds (env var: GOOD_JOB_POLL_INTERVAL, default: 1)
[--max-cache=COUNT] # Maximum number of scheduled jobs to cache in memory (env var: GOOD_JOB_MAX_CACHE, default: 10000)
[--shutdown-timeout=SECONDS] # Number of seconds to wait for jobs to finish when shutting down before stopping the thread. (env var: GOOD_JOB_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT, default: -1 (forever))
[--enable-cron] # Whether to run cron process (default: false)
[--daemonize] # Run as a background daemon (default: false)
[--pidfile=PIDFILE] # Path to write daemonized Process ID (env var: GOOD_JOB_PIDFILE, default: tmp/pids/good_job.pid)
[--probe-port=PORT] # Port for http health check (env var: GOOD_JOB_PROBE_PORT, default: nil)
Executes queued jobs.
All options can be configured with environment variables.
See option descriptions for the matching environment variable name.
== Configuring queues
Separate multiple queues with commas; exclude queues with a leading minus;
separate isolated execution pools with semicolons and threads with colons.
```
#### `good_job cleanup_preserved_jobs`
`good_job cleanup_preserved_jobs` destroys preserved job records. See `GoodJob.preserve_job_records` for when this command is useful.
```bash
$ bundle exec good_job help cleanup_preserved_jobs
Usage:
good_job cleanup_preserved_jobs
Options:
[--before-seconds-ago=SECONDS] # Destroy records finished more than this many seconds ago (env var: GOOD_JOB_CLEANUP_PRESERVED_JOBS_BEFORE_SECONDS_AGO, default: 1209600 (14 days))
Destroys preserved job records.
By default, GoodJob destroys job records when the job is performed and this
command is not necessary.
However, when `GoodJob.preserve_job_records = true`, the jobs will be
preserved in the database. This is useful when wanting to analyze or
inspect job performance.
If you are preserving job records this way, use this command regularly
to destroy old records and preserve space in your database.
```
### Configuration options
ActiveJob configuration depends on where the code is placed:
- `config.active_job.queue_adapter = :good_job` within `config/application.rb` or `config/environments/*.rb`.
- `ActiveJob::Base.queue_adapter = :good_job` within an initializer (e.g. `config/initializers/active_job.rb`).
GoodJob configuration can be placed within Rails `config` directory for all environments (`config/application.rb`), within a particular environment (e.g. `config/environments/development.rb`), or within an initializer (e.g. `config/initializers/good_job.rb`).
Configuration examples:
```ruby
# config/initializers/good_job.rb OR config/application.rb OR config/environments/{RAILS_ENV}.rb
Rails.application.configure do
# Configure options individually...
config.good_job.preserve_job_records = true
config.good_job.retry_on_unhandled_error = false
config.good_job.on_thread_error = -> (exception) { Raven.capture_exception(exception) }
config.good_job.execution_mode = :async
config.good_job.queues = '*'
config.good_job.max_threads = 5
config.good_job.poll_interval = 30 # seconds
config.good_job.shutdown_timeout = 25 # seconds
config.good_job.enable_cron = true
config.good_job.cron = { example: { cron: '0 * * * *', class: 'ExampleJob' } }
# ...or all at once.
config.good_job = {
preserve_job_records: true,
retry_on_unhandled_error: false,
on_thread_error: -> (exception) { Raven.capture_exception(exception) },
execution_mode: :async,
queues: '*',
max_threads: 5,
poll_interval: 30,
shutdown_timeout: 25,
enable_cron: true,
cron: {
example: {
cron: '0 * * * *',
class: 'ExampleJob'
},
},
}
end
```
Available configuration options are:
- `execution_mode` (symbol) specifies how and where jobs should be executed. You can also set this with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_EXECUTION_MODE`. It can be any one of:
- `:inline` executes jobs immediately in whatever process queued them (usually the web server process). This should only be used in test and development environments.
- `:external` causes the adapter to enqueue jobs, but not execute them. When using this option (the default for production environments), youโll need to use the command-line tool to actually execute your jobs.
- `:async` (or `:async_server`) executes jobs in separate threads within the Rails web server process (`bundle exec rails server`). It can be more economical for small workloads because you donโt need a separate machine or environment for running your jobs, but if your web server is under heavy load or your jobs require a lot of resources, you should choose `:external` instead. When not in the Rails web server, jobs will execute in `:external` mode to ensure jobs are not executed within `rails console`, `rails db:migrate`, `rails assets:prepare`, etc.
- `:async_all` executes jobs in separate threads in _any_ Rails process.
- `queues` (string) sets queues or pools to execute jobs. You can also set this with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_QUEUES`.
- `max_threads` (integer) sets the default number of threads per pool to use for working jobs. You can also set this with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_MAX_THREADS`.
- `poll_interval` (integer) sets the number of seconds between polls for jobs when `execution_mode` is set to `:async`. You can also set this with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_POLL_INTERVAL`. A poll interval of `-1` disables polling completely.
- `max_cache` (integer) sets the maximum number of scheduled jobs that will be stored in memory to reduce execution latency when also polling for scheduled jobs. Caching 10,000 scheduled jobs uses approximately 20MB of memory. You can also set this with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_MAX_CACHE`.
- `shutdown_timeout` (float) number of seconds to wait for jobs to finish when shutting down before stopping the thread. Defaults to forever: `-1`. You can also set this with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT`.
- `enable_cron` (boolean) whether to run cron process. Defaults to `false`. You can also set this with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_ENABLE_CRON`.
- `cron` (hash) cron configuration. Defaults to `{}`. You can also set this as a JSON string with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_CRON`
- `cleanup_discarded_jobs` (boolean) whether to destroy discarded jobs when cleaning up preserved jobs using the `$ good_job cleanup_preserved_jobs` CLI command or calling `GoodJob.cleanup_preserved_jobs`. Defaults to `true`. Can also be set with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_CLEANUP_DISCARDED_JOBS`. _This configuration is only used when {GoodJob.preserve_job_records} is `true`._
- `cleanup_preserved_jobs_before_seconds_ago` (integer) number of seconds to preserve jobs when using the `$ good_job cleanup_preserved_jobs` CLI command or calling `GoodJob.cleanup_preserved_jobs`. Defaults to `1209600` (14 days). Can also be set with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_CLEANUP_PRESERVED_JOBS_BEFORE_SECONDS_AGO`. _This configuration is only used when {GoodJob.preserve_job_records} is `true`._
- `cleanup_interval_jobs` (integer) Number of jobs a Scheduler will execute before cleaning up preserved jobs. Defaults to `1000`. Can also be set with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_JOBS`.
- `cleanup_interval_seconds` (integer) Number of seconds a Scheduler will wait before cleaning up preserved jobs. Defaults to `600` (10 minutes). Can also be set with the environment variable `GOOD_JOB_CLEANUP_INTERVAL_SECONDS`.
- `inline_execution_respects_schedule` (boolean) Opt-in to future behavior of inline execution respecting scheduled jobs. Defaults to `false`.
- `logger` ([Rails Logger](https://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveSupport/Logger.html)) lets you set a custom logger for GoodJob. It should be an instance of a Rails `Logger` (Default: `Rails.logger`).
- `preserve_job_records` (boolean) keeps job records in your database even after jobs are completed. (Default: `true`)
- `retry_on_unhandled_error` (boolean) causes jobs to be re-queued and retried if they raise an instance of `StandardError`. Be advised this may lead to jobs being repeated infinitely ([see below for more on retries](#retries)). Instances of `Exception`, like SIGINT, will *always* be retried, regardless of this attributeโs value. (Default: `true`)
- `on_thread_error` (proc, lambda, or callable) will be called when an Exception. It can be useful for logging errors to bug tracking services, like Sentry or Airbrake. Example:
```ruby
config.good_job.on_thread_error = -> (exception) { Raven.capture_exception(exception) }
```
By default, GoodJob configures the following execution modes per environment:
```ruby
# config/environments/development.rb
config.active_job.queue_adapter = :good_job
config.good_job.execution_mode = :async
# config/environments/test.rb
config.active_job.queue_adapter = :good_job
config.good_job.execution_mode = :inline
# config/environments/production.rb
config.active_job.queue_adapter = :good_job
config.good_job.execution_mode = :external
```
### Global options
Good Jobโs general behavior can also be configured via attributes directly on the `GoodJob` module:
- **`GoodJob.active_record_parent_class`** (string) The ActiveRecord parent class inherited by GoodJob's ActiveRecord model `GoodJob::Job` (defaults to `"ActiveRecord::Base"`). Configure this when using [multiple databases with ActiveRecord](https://guides.rubyonrails.org/active_record_multiple_databases.html) or when other custom configuration is necessary for the ActiveRecord model to connect to the Postgres database. _The value must be a String to avoid premature initialization of ActiveRecord._
Youโll generally want to configure these in `config/initializers/good_job.rb`, like so:
```ruby
# config/initializers/good_job.rb
GoodJob.active_record_parent_class = "ApplicationRecord"
```
The following options are also configurable via accessors, but you are encouraged to use the configuration attributes instead because these may be deprecated and removed in the future:
- **`GoodJob.logger`** ([Rails Logger](https://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveSupport/Logger.html)) lets you set a custom logger for GoodJob. It should be an instance of a Rails `Logger`.
- **`GoodJob.preserve_job_records`** (boolean) keeps job records in your database even after jobs are completed. (Default: `true`)
- **`GoodJob.retry_on_unhandled_error`** (boolean) causes jobs to be re-queued and retried if they raise an instance of `StandardError`. Be advised this may lead to jobs being repeated infinitely ([see below for more on retries](#retries)). Instances of `Exception`, like SIGINT, will *always* be retried, regardless of this attributeโs value. (Default: `false`)
- **`GoodJob.on_thread_error`** (proc, lambda, or callable) will be called when an Exception. It can be useful for logging errors to bug tracking services, like Sentry or Airbrake.
### Dashboard
_๐ง GoodJob's dashboard is a work in progress. Please contribute ideas and code on [Github](https://github.com/bensheldon/good_job/issues)._
GoodJob includes a Dashboard as a mountable `Rails::Engine`.
1. Mount the engine in your `config/routes.rb` file. The following will mount it at `http://example.com/good_job`.
```ruby
# config/routes.rb
# ...
mount GoodJob::Engine => 'good_job'
```
1. Configure authentication. Because jobs can potentially contain sensitive information, you should authorize access. For example, using Devise's `authenticate` helper, that might look like:
```ruby
# config/routes.rb
# ...
authenticate :user, ->(user) { user.admin? } do
mount GoodJob::Engine => 'good_job'
end
```
Another option is using basic auth like this:
```ruby
# config/initializers/good_job.rb
GoodJob::Engine.middleware.use(Rack::Auth::Basic) do |username, password|
ActiveSupport::SecurityUtils.secure_compare(Rails.application.credentials.good_job_username, username) &&
ActiveSupport::SecurityUtils.secure_compare(Rails.application.credentials.good_job_password, password)
end
```
_To view finished (successful) and discarded (failed) jobs on the Dashboard, GoodJob must be configured to preserve job records. Preservation is enabled by default._
**Troubleshooting the Dashboard:** Some applications are unable to autoload the Goodjob Engine. To work around this, explicitly require the Engine at the top of your `config/application.rb` file, immediately after Rails is required and before Bundler requires the Rails' groups.
```ruby
# config/application.rb
require_relative 'boot'
require 'rails/all'
require 'good_job/engine' # <= Add this line
# ...
```
#### API-only Rails applications
API-only Rails applications may not have all of the required Rack middleware for the GoodJob Dashboard to function. To re-add the middlware:
```ruby
# config/application.rb
module MyApp
class Application < Rails::Application
#...
config.middleware.use Rack::MethodOverride
config.middleware.use ActionDispatch::Flash
config.middleware.use ActionDispatch::Cookies
config.middleware.use ActionDispatch::Session::CookieStore
end
end
```
#### Live Polling
The Dashboard can be set to automatically refresh by checking "Live Poll" in the Dashboard header, or by setting `?poll=10` with the interval in seconds (default 30 seconds).
### ActiveJob concurrency
GoodJob can extend ActiveJob to provide limits on concurrently running jobs, either at time of _enqueue_ or at _perform_. Limiting concurrency can help prevent duplicate, double or unecessary jobs from being enqueued, or race conditions when performing, for example when interacting with 3rd-party APIs.
```ruby
class MyJob < ApplicationJob
include GoodJob::ActiveJobExtensions::Concurrency
good_job_control_concurrency_with(
# Maximum number of unfinished jobs to allow with the concurrency key
total_limit: 1,
# Or, if more control is needed:
# Maximum number of jobs with the concurrency key to be
# concurrently enqueued (excludes performing jobs)
enqueue_limit: 2,
# Maximum number of jobs with the concurrency key to be
# concurrently performed (excludes enqueued jobs)
perform_limit: 1,
# Note: Under heavy load, the total number of jobs may exceed the
# sum of `enqueue_limit` and `perform_limit` because of race conditions
# caused by imperfectly disjunctive states. If you need to constrain
# the total number of jobs, use `total_limit` instead. See #378.
# A unique key to be globally locked against.
# Can be String or Lambda/Proc that is invoked in the context of the job.
# Note: Arguments passed to #perform_later can be accessed through ActiveJob's `arguments` method
# which is an array containing positional arguments and, optionally, a kwarg hash.
key: -> { "Unique-#{arguments.first}-#{arguments.last[:version]}" } # MyJob.perform_later("Alice", version: 'v2') => "Unique-Alice-v2"
)
def perform(first_name)
# do work
end
end
```
When testing, the resulting concurrency key value can be inspected:
```ruby
job = MyJob.perform_later("Alice")
job.good_job_concurrency_key #=> "Unique-Alice"
```
#### How concurrency controls work
GoodJob's concurrency control strategy for `perform_limit` is "optimistic retry with an incremental backoff". The [code is readable](https://github.com/bensheldon/good_job/blob/main/lib/good_job/active_job_extensions/concurrency.rb).
- "Optimistic" meaning that the implementation's performance trade-off assumes that collisions are atypical (e.g. two users enqueue the same job at the same time) rather than regular (e.g. the system enqueues thousands of colliding jobs at the same time).
- "Retry with an incremental backoff" means that when `perform_limit` is exceeded, the job will raise a `GoodJob::ActiveJobExtensions::Concurrency::ConcurrencyExceededError` which is caught by a `retry_on` handler which re-schedules the job to execute in the near future with an incremental backoff.
### Cron-style repeating/recurring jobs
GoodJob can enqueue jobs on a recurring basis that can be used as a replacement for cron.
Cron-style jobs are run on every GoodJob process (e.g. CLI or `async` execution mode) when `config.good_job.enable_cron = true`, but GoodJob's cron uses unique indexes to ensure that only a single job is enqeued at the given time interval.
Cron-format is parsed by the [`fugit`](https://github.com/floraison/fugit) gem, which has support for seconds-level resolution (e.g. `* * * * * *`) and natural language parsing (e.g. `every second`).
```ruby
# config/environments/application.rb or a specific environment e.g. production.rb
# Enable cron in this process; e.g. only run on the first Heroku worker process
config.good_job.enable_cron = ENV['DYNO'] == 'worker.1' # or `true` or via $GOOD_JOB_ENABLE_CRON
# Configure cron with a hash that has a unique key for each recurring job
config.good_job.cron = {
# Every 15 minutes, enqueue `ExampleJob.set(priority: -10).perform_later(42, name: "Alice")`
frequent_task: { # each recurring job must have a unique key
cron: "*/15 * * * *", # cron-style scheduling format by fugit gem
class: "ExampleJob", # reference the Job class with a string
args: [42, "life"], # positional arguments to pass; can also be a proc e.g. `-> { [Time.now] }`
kwargs: { name: "Alice" }, # keyword arguments to pass; can also be a proc e.g. `-> { { name: NAMES.sample } }`
set: { priority: -10 }, # additional ActiveJob properties; can also be a lambda/proc e.g. `-> { { priority: [1,2].sample } }`
description: "Something helpful", # optional description that appears in Dashboard (coming soon!)
},
another_task: {
cron: "0 0,12 * * *",
class: "AnotherJob",
},
# etc.
}
```
### Updating
GoodJob follows semantic versioning, though updates may be encouraged through deprecation warnings in minor versions.
#### Upgrading minor versions
Upgrading between minor versions (e.g. v1.4 to v1.5) should not introduce breaking changes, but can introduce new deprecation warnings and database migration notices.
To perform upgrades to the GoodJob database tables:
1. Generate new database migration files:
```bash
bin/rails g good_job:update
```
Optional: If using Rails' multiple databases with the `migrations_paths` configuration option, use the `--database` option:
```bash
bin/rails g good_job:update --database animals
```
1. Run the database migration locally
```bash
bin/rails db:migrate
```
1. Commit the migration files and resulting `db/schema.rb` changes.
1. Deploy the code, run the migrations against the production database, and restart server/worker processes.
#### Upgrading v2 to v3
GoodJob v3 is operationally identical to v2; upgrading to GoodJob v3 should be simple. If you are already using `>= v2.9+` no other changes are necessary.
1. Upgrade to `v2.99.x`, following the minor version upgrade process, running any remaining database migrations (`rails g good_job:update`) and addressing deprecation warnings.
1. Upgrade from `v2.99.x` to `v3.x`
Notable changes:
- Defaults to preserve job records, and automatically delete them after 14 days.
- Defaults to discarding failed jobs, instead of immediately retrying them.
- `:inline` execution mode respects job schedules. Tests can invoke `GoodJob.perform_inline` to execute jobs.
- `GoodJob::Adapter` can no longer can be initialized with custom execution options (`queues:`, `max_threads:`, `poll_interval:`).
- Renames `GoodJob::ActiveJobJob` to `GoodJob::Job`.
- Removes support for Rails 5.2.
#### Upgrading v1 to v2
GoodJob v2 introduces a new Advisory Lock key format that is operationally different than the v1 advisory lock key format; it's therefore necessary to perform a simple, but staged production upgrade. If you are already using `>= v1.12+` no other changes are necessary.
1. Upgrade your production environment to `v1.99.x` following the minor version upgrade process, including database migrations. `v1.99` is a transitional release that is safely compatible with both `v1.x` and `v2.0.0` because it uses both `v1`- and `v2`-formatted advisory locks.
1. Address any deprecation warnings generated by `v1.99`.
1. Upgrade your production environment to `v1.99.x` to `v2.0.x` again following the _minor_ upgrade process.
Notable changes:
- Renames `:async_server` execution mode to `:async`; renames prior `:async` execution mode to `:async_all`.
- Sets default Development environment's execution mode to `:async` with disabled polling.
- Excludes performing jobs from `enqueue_limit`'s count in `GoodJob::ActiveJobExtensions::Concurrency`.
- Triggers `GoodJob.on_thread_error` for unhandled ActiveJob exceptions.
- Renames `GoodJob.reperform_jobs_on_standard_error` accessor to `GoodJob.retry_on_unhandled_error`.
- Renames `GoodJob::Adapter.shutdown(wait:)` argument to `GoodJob::Adapter.shutdown(timeout:)`.
- Changes Advisory Lock key format from `good_jobs[ROW_ID]` to `good_jobs-[ACTIVE_JOB_ID]`.
- Expects presence of columns `good_jobs.active_job_id`, `good_jobs.concurrency_key`, `good_jobs.concurrency_key`, and `good_jobs.retried_good_job_id`.
## Go deeper
### Exceptions, retries, and reliability
GoodJob guarantees that a completely-performed job will run once and only once. GoodJob fully supports ActiveJob's built-in functionality for error handling, retries and timeouts.
#### Exceptions
ActiveJob provides [tools for rescuing and retrying exceptions](https://guides.rubyonrails.org/active_job_basics.html#exceptions), including `retry_on`, `discard_on`, `rescue_from` that will rescue exceptions before they get to GoodJob.
If errors do reach GoodJob, you can assign a callable to `GoodJob.on_thread_error` to be notified. For example, to log errors to an exception monitoring service like Sentry (or Bugsnag, Airbrake, Honeybadger, etc.):
```ruby
# config/initializers/good_job.rb
GoodJob.on_thread_error = -> (exception) { Raven.capture_exception(exception) }
```
#### Retries
By default, GoodJob relies on ActiveJob's retry functionality.
ActiveJob can be configured to retry an infinite number of times, with an exponential backoff. Using ActiveJob's `retry_on` prevents exceptions from reaching GoodJob:
```ruby
class ApplicationJob < ActiveJob::Base
retry_on StandardError, wait: :exponentially_longer, attempts: Float::INFINITY
# ...
end
```
When using `retry_on` with _a limited number of retries_, the final exception will not be rescued and will raise to GoodJob's error handler. To avoid this, pass a block to `retry_on` to handle the final exception instead of raising it to GoodJob:
```ruby
class ApplicationJob < ActiveJob::Base
retry_on StandardError, attempts: 5 do |_job, _exception|
# Log error, do nothing, etc.
end
# ...
end
```
When using `retry_on` with an infinite number of retries, exceptions will never be raised to GoodJob, which means `GoodJob.on_thread_error` will never be called. To report log or report exceptions to an exception monitoring service (e.g. Sentry, Bugsnag, Airbrake, Honeybadger, etc), create an explicit exception wrapper. For example:
```ruby
class ApplicationJob < ActiveJob::Base
retry_on StandardError, wait: :exponentially_longer, attempts: Float::INFINITY
retry_on SpecialError, attempts: 5 do |_job, exception|
Raven.capture_exception(exception)
end
around_perform do |_job, block|
block.call
rescue StandardError => e
Raven.capture_exception(e)
raise
end
# ...
end
```
By default, jobs will not be retried unless `retry_on` is configured. This can be overridden by setting `GoodJob.retry_on_unhandled_error` to `true`; GoodJob will then retry the failing job immediately and infinitely, potentially causing high load.
#### ActionMailer retries
Any configuration in `ApplicationJob` will have to be duplicated on `ActionMailer::MailDeliveryJob` because ActionMailer uses that custom class which inherits from `ActiveJob::Base`, rather than your application's `ApplicationJob`.
You can use an initializer to configure `ActionMailer::MailDeliveryJob`, for example:
```ruby
# config/initializers/good_job.rb
ActionMailer::MailDeliveryJob.retry_on StandardError, wait: :exponentially_longer, attempts: Float::INFINITY
# With Sentry (or Bugsnag, Airbrake, Honeybadger, etc.)
ActionMailer::MailDeliveryJob.around_perform do |_job, block|
block.call
rescue StandardError => e
Raven.capture_exception(e)
raise
end
```
Note, that `ActionMailer::MailDeliveryJob` is a default since Rails 6.0. Be sure that your app is using that class, as it
might also be configured to use (deprecated now) `ActionMailer::DeliveryJob`.
### Timeouts
Job timeouts can be configured with an `around_perform`:
```ruby
class ApplicationJob < ActiveJob::Base
JobTimeoutError = Class.new(StandardError)
around_perform do |_job, block|
# Timeout jobs after 10 minutes
Timeout.timeout(10.minutes, JobTimeoutError) do
block.call
end
end
end
```
### Optimize queues, threads, and processes
By default, GoodJob creates a single thread execution pool that will execute jobs from any queue. Depending on your application's workload, job types, and service level objectives, you may wish to optimize execution resources. For example, providing dedicated execution resources for transactional emails so they are not delayed by long-running batch jobs. Some options:
- Multiple isolated execution pools within a single process:
For moderate workloads, multiple isolated thread execution pools offers a good balance between congestion management and economy.
A pool is configured with the following syntax `:`:
- ``: either `queue1,queue2` (only those queues), `+queue1,queue2` (only those queues, and processed in order), `*` (all) or `-queue1,queue2` (all except those queues).
- ``: a count overriding for this specific pool the global `max-threads`.
Pool configurations are separated with a semicolon (;) in the `queues` configuration
```bash
$ bundle exec good_job \
--queues="transactional_messages:2;batch_processing:1;-transactional_messages,batch_processing:2;*" \
--max-threads=5
```
This configuration will result in a single process with 4 isolated thread execution pools.
- `transactional_messages:2`: execute jobs enqueued on `transactional_messages`, with up to 2 threads.
- `batch_processing:1` execute jobs enqueued on `batch_processing`, with a single thread.
- `-transactional_messages,batch_processing`: execute jobs enqueued on _any_ queue _excluding_ `transactional_messages` or `batch_processing`, with up to 2 threads.
- `*`: execute jobs on any queue, with up to 5 threads (as configured by `--max-threads=5`).
When a pool is performing jobs from multiple queues, jobs will be performed from specified queues, ordered by priority and creation time. To perform jobs from queues in the queues' given order, use the `+` modifier. In this example, jobs in `batch_processing` will be performed only when there are no jobs in `transactional_messages`:
```bash
bundle exec good_job --queues="+transactional_messages,batch_processing"
```
Configuration can be injected by environment variables too:
```bash
$ GOOD_JOB_QUEUES="transactional_messages:2;batch_processing:1;-transactional_messages,batch_processing:2;*" \
GOOD_JOB_MAX_THREADS=5 \
bundle exec good_job
```
- Multiple processes:
While multiple isolated thread execution pools offer a way to provide dedicated execution resources, those resources are bound to a single machine. To scale them independently, define several processes.
For example, this configuration on Heroku allows to customize the dyno count (instances), or type (CPU/RAM), per process type:
```procfile
# Procfile
# Separate process types
worker: bundle exec good_job --max-threads=5
transactional_worker: bundle exec good_job --queues="transactional_messages" --max-threads=2
batch_worker: bundle exec good_job --queues="batch_processing" --max-threads=1
```
To optimize for CPU performance at the expense of greater memory and system resource usage, while keeping a single process type (and thus a single dyno), combine several processes and wait for them:
```procfile
# Procfile
# Combined multi-process
combined_worker: bundle exec good_job --max-threads=5 & bundle exec good_job --queues="transactional_messages" --max-threads=2 & bundle exec good_job --queues="batch_processing" --max-threads=1 & wait -n
```
Keep in mind, queue operations and management is an advanced discipline. This stuff is complex, especially for heavy workloads and unique processing requirements. Good job ๐
### Database connections
Each GoodJob execution thread requires its own database connection that is automatically checked out from Railsโ connection pool. For example:
```yaml
# config/database.yml
pool: <%= ENV.fetch("RAILS_MAX_THREADS", 5).to_i + 3 + ENV.fetch("GOOD_JOB_MAX_THREADS", 5).to_i %>
```
To calculate the total number of the database connections you'll need:
- 1 connection dedicated to the scheduler aka `LISTEN/NOTIFY`
- 1 connection per query pool thread e.g. `--queues=mice:2;elephants:1` is 3 threads. Pool thread size defaults to `--max-threads`
- (optional) 2 connections for Cron scheduler if you're running it
- (optional) 1 connection per subthread, if your application makes multithreaded database queries within a job
- When running `:async`, you must also add the number of threads by the webserver
The queue process will not crash if the connections pool is exhausted, instead it will report an exception (eg. `ActiveRecord::ConnectionTimeoutError`).
#### Production setup
When running GoodJob in a production environment, you should be mindful of:
- [Execution mode](execute-jobs-async--in-process)
- [Database connection pool size](#database-connections)
- [Health check probes](#cli-http-health-check-probes) and potentially the [instrumentation support](#monitor-and-preserve-worked-jobs)
The recommended way to monitor the queue in production is:
- have an exception notifier callback (see `on_thread_error`)
- if possible, run the queue as a dedicated instance and use available HTTP health check probes instead of pid-based monitoring
- keep an eye on the number of jobs in the queue (abnormal high number of unscheduled jobs means the queue could be underperforming)
- consider performance monitoring services which support the built-in Rails instrumentation (eg. Sentry, Skylight, etc.)
### Execute jobs async / in-process
GoodJob can execute jobs "async" in the same process as the web server (e.g. `bin/rails s`). GoodJob's async execution mode offers benefits of economy by not requiring a separate job worker process, but with the tradeoff of increased complexity. Async mode can be configured in two ways:
- Via Rails configuration:
```ruby
# config/environments/production.rb
config.active_job.queue_adapter = :good_job
# To change the execution mode
config.good_job.execution_mode = :async
# Or with more configuration
config.good_job = {
execution_mode: :async,
max_threads: 4,
poll_interval: 30
}
```
- Or, with environment variables:
```bash
GOOD_JOB_EXECUTION_MODE=async GOOD_JOB_MAX_THREADS=4 GOOD_JOB_POLL_INTERVAL=30 bin/rails server
```
Depending on your application configuration, you may need to take additional steps:
- Ensure that you have enough database connections for both web and job execution threads:
```yaml
# config/database.yml
pool: <%= ENV.fetch("RAILS_MAX_THREADS", 5).to_i + ENV.fetch("GOOD_JOB_MAX_THREADS", 4).to_i %>
```
- When running Puma with workers (`WEB_CONCURRENCY > 0`) or another process-forking web server, GoodJob's threadpool schedulers should be stopped before forking, restarted after fork, and cleanly shut down on exit. Stopping GoodJob's scheduler pre-fork is recommended to ensure that GoodJob does not continue executing jobs in the parent/controller process. For example, with Puma:
```ruby
# config/puma.rb
before_fork do
GoodJob.shutdown
end
on_worker_boot do
GoodJob.restart
end
on_worker_shutdown do
GoodJob.shutdown
end
MAIN_PID = Process.pid
at_exit do
GoodJob.shutdown if Process.pid == MAIN_PID
end
```
GoodJob is compatible with Puma's `preload_app!` method.
For Passenger:
```Ruby
if defined? PhusionPassenger
PhusionPassenger.on_event :starting_worker_process do |forked|
# If `forked` is true, we're in smart spawning mode.
# https://www.phusionpassenger.com/docs/advanced_guides/in_depth/ruby/spawn_methods.html#smart-spawning-hooks
if forked
GoodJob.logger.info { 'Starting Passenger worker process.' }
GoodJob.restart
end
end
PhusionPassenger.on_event :stopping_worker_process do
GoodJob.logger.info { 'Stopping Passenger worker process.' }
GoodJob.shutdown
end
end
# GoodJob also starts in the Passenger preloader process. This one does not
# trigger the above events, thus we catch it with `Kernel#at_exit`.
PRELOADER_PID = Process.pid
at_exit do
if Process.pid == PRELOADER_PID
GoodJob.logger.info { 'Passenger AppPreloader shutting down.' }
GoodJob.shutdown
end
end
```
If you are using cron-style jobs, you might also want to look at your Passenger configuration, especially at [`passenger_pool_idle_time`](https://www.phusionpassenger.com/library/config/nginx/reference/#passenger_pool_idle_time) and [`passenger_min_instances`](https://www.phusionpassenger.com/library/config/nginx/reference/#passenger_min_instances) to make sure there's always at least once process running that can execute cron-style scheduled jobs. See also [Passenger's optimization guide](https://www.phusionpassenger.com/library/config/nginx/optimization/#minimizing-process-spawning) for more information.
### Migrate to GoodJob from a different ActiveJob backend
If your application is already using an ActiveJob backend, you will need to install GoodJob to enqueue and perform newly created jobs _and_ finish performing pre-existing jobs on the previous backend.
1. Enqueue newly created jobs on GoodJob either entirely by setting `ActiveJob::Base.queue_adapter = :good_job` or progressively via individual job classes:
```ruby
# jobs/specific_job.rb
class SpecificJob < ApplicationJob
self.queue_adapter = :good_job
# ...
end
```
1. Continue running executors for both backends. For example, on Heroku it's possible to run [two processes](https://help.heroku.com/CTFS2TJK/how-do-i-run-multiple-processes-on-a-dyno) within the same dyno:
```procfile
# Procfile
# ...
worker: bundle exec que ./config/environment.rb & bundle exec good_job & wait -n
```
1. Once you are confident that no unperformed jobs remain in the previous ActiveJob backend, code and configuration for that backend can be completely removed.
### Monitor and preserve worked jobs
GoodJob is fully instrumented with [`ActiveSupport::Notifications`](https://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/active_support_instrumentation.html#introduction-to-instrumentation).
By default, GoodJob will preserve job records for 14 days after they are run, regardless of whether they succeed or raised an exception.
To instead delete job records immediately after they are finished:
```ruby
# config/initializers/good_job.rb
config.good_job.preserve_job_records = false # defaults to true; can also be `false` or `:on_unhandled_error`
```
GoodJob will automatically delete preserved job records after 14 days. The retention period, as well as the frequency GoodJob checks for deletable records can be configured:
```ruby
config.good_job.cleanup_preserved_jobs_before_seconds_ago = 14.days.to_i
config.good_job.cleanup_interval_jobs = 1_000 # Number of executed jobs between deletion sweeps.
config.good_job.cleanup_interval_seconds = 10.minutes.to_i # Number of seconds between deletion sweeps.
```
It is also possible to manually trigger a cleanup of preserved job records:
- For example, in a Rake task:
```ruby
GoodJob.cleanup_preserved_jobs # Will use default retention period
GoodJob.cleanup_preserved_jobs(older_than: 7.days) # custom retention period
```
- For example, using the `good_job` command-line utility:
```bash
bundle exec good_job cleanup_preserved_jobs --before-seconds-ago=86400
```
### Write tests
By default, GoodJob uses its inline adapter in the test environment; the inline adapter is designed for the test environment. When enquing a job with GoodJob's inline adapter, the job will be executed immediately on the current thread; unhandled exceptions will be raised.
In GoodJob 2.0, the inline adapter will execute future scheduled jobs immediately. In the next major release, GoodJob 3.0, the inline adapter will not execute future scheduled jobs and instead enqueue them in the database.
To opt into this behavior immediately set: `config.good_job.inline_execution_respects_schedule = true`
To perform jobs inline at any time, use `GoodJob.perform_inline`. For example, using time helpers within an integration test:
```ruby
MyJob.set(wait: 10.minutes).perform_later
travel_to(15.minutes.from_now) { GoodJob.perform_inline }
```
_Note: Rails `travel`/`travel_to` time helpers do not have millisecond precision, so you must leave at least 1 second between the schedule and time traveling for the job to be executed. This [behavior may change in Rails 7.1](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/44088)._
### PgBouncer compatibility
GoodJob is not compatible with PgBouncer in _transaction_ mode, but is compatible with PgBouncer's _connection_ mode. GoodJob uses connection-based advisory locks and LISTEN/NOTIFY, both of which require full database connections.
A workaround to this limitation is to make a direct database connection available to GoodJob. With Rails 6.0's support for [multiple databases](https://guides.rubyonrails.org/active_record_multiple_databases.html), a direct connection to the database can be configured:
1. Define a direct connection to your database that is not proxied through PgBouncer, for example:
```yml
# config/database.yml
production:
primary:
url: postgres://pgbouncer_host/my_database
primary_direct:
url: postgres://database_host/my_database
```
1. Create a new ActiveRecord base class that uses the direct database connection
```ruby
# app/models/application_direct_record.rb
class ApplicationDirectRecord < ActiveRecord::Base
self.abstract_class = true
connects_to database: :primary_direct
end
```
1. Configure GoodJob to use the newly created ActiveRecord base class:
```ruby
# config/initializers/good_job.rb
GoodJob.active_record_parent_class = "ApplicationDirectRecord"
```
### CLI HTTP health check probes
GoodJob's CLI offers an http health check probe to better manage process lifecycle in containerized environments like Kubernetes:
```bash
# Run the CLI with a health check on port 7001
good_job start --probe-port=7001
# or via an environment variable
GOOD_JOB_PROBE_PORT=7001 good_job start
# Probe the status
curl localhost:7001/status
curl localhost:7001/status/started
curl localhost:7001/status/connected
```
Multiple health checks are available at different paths:
- `/` or `/status`: the CLI process is running
- `/status/started`: the multithreaded job executor is running
- `/status/connected`: the database connection is established
This can be configured, for example with Kubernetes:
```yaml
spec:
containers:
- name: good_job
image: my_app:latest
env:
- name: RAILS_ENV
value: production
- name: GOOD_JOB_PROBE_PORT
value: 7001
command:
- good_job
- start
ports:
- name: probe-port
containerPort: 7001
startupProbe:
httpGet:
path: "/status/started"
port: probe-port
failureThreshold: 30
periodSeconds: 10
livenessProbe:
httpGet:
path: "/status/connected"
port: probe-port
failureThreshold: 1
periodSeconds: 10
```
## Contribute
All contributions, from feedback to code and beyond, are welcomed and appreciated ๐
- Review the [Prioritized Project Backlog](https://github.com/bensheldon/good_job/projects/1).
- Open a new Issue or contribute to an [existing Issue](https://github.com/bensheldon/good_job/issues). Questions or suggestions are fantastic.
- Participate according to our [Code of Conduct](/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md).
- Financially support the project via [Sponsorship](https://github.com/sponsors/bensheldon).
For gem development and debugging information, please review the [README's Gem Development section](/README.md#gem-development).
### Gem development
#### Development setup
```bash
# Clone the repository locally
git clone git@github.com:bensheldon/good_job.git
# Set up the gem development environment
bin/setup
```
#### Rails development harness
A Rails application exists within `spec/test_app` that is used for development, test, and GoodJob Demo environments.
```bash
# Run a local development webserver
bin/rails s
# Disable job execution and cron for cleaner console output
GOOD_JOB_ENABLE_CRON=0 GOOD_JOB_EXECUTION_MODE=external bin/rails s
# Open the Rails console
bin/rails c
```
For developing locally within another Ruby on Rails project:
```bash
# Within Ruby on Rails project directory
# Ensure that the Gemfile is set to git with a branch e.g.
# gem "good_job", git: "https://github.com/bensheldon/good_job.git", branch: "main"
# Then, override the Bundle config to point to the local filesystem's good_job repository
bundle config local.good_job /path/to/local/good_job/repository
# Confirm that the local copy is used
bundle install
# => Using good_job 0.1.0 from https://github.com/bensheldon/good_job.git (at /Users/You/Projects/good_job@dc57fb0)
```
#### Running tests
Tests can be run against the primary development environment:
```bash
# Set up the gem development environment
bin/setup
# Run the tests
bin/rspec
```
Environment variables that may help with debugging:
- `LOUD=1`: display all stdout/stderr output from all sources. This is helpful because GoodJob wraps some tests with `quiet { }` for cleaner test output, but it can hinder debugging.
- `SHOW_BROWSER=1`: Run system tests headfully with Chrome/Chromedriver. Use `binding.irb` in the system tests to pause.
Appraisal can be used to run a test matrix of multiple versions of Rails:
```bash
# Install Appraisal matrix of gemfiles
bin/appraisal
# Run tests against matrix
bin/appraisal bin/rspec
```
### Release
Package maintainers can release this gem by running:
```bash
# Sign into rubygems
$ gem signin
# Add a .env file with the following:
# CHANGELOG_GITHUB_TOKEN= # Github Personal Access Token
# Update version number, changelog, and create git commit:
$ bundle exec rake release_good_job[minor] # major,minor,patch
# ..and follow subsequent directions.
```
## License
The gem is available as open source under the terms of the [MIT License](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT).