Queues

Queues are the final aspect of Payload's Jobs Queue and deal with how to run your jobs. Up to this point, all we've covered is how to queue up jobs to run, but so far, we aren't actually running any jobs.

When you go to run jobs, Payload will query for any jobs that are added to the queue and then run them. By default, all queued jobs are added to the default queue.

But, imagine if you wanted to have some jobs that run nightly, and other jobs which should run every five minutes.

By specifying the queue name when you queue a new job using payload.jobs.queue(), you can queue certain jobs with queue: 'nightly', and other jobs can be left as the default queue.

Then, you could configure two different runner strategies:

A cron that runs nightly, querying for jobs added to the nightly queue
Another that runs any jobs that were added to the default queue every ~5 minutes or so

Executing jobs

As mentioned above, you can queue jobs, but the jobs won't run unless a worker picks up your jobs and runs them. This can be done in four ways:

Cron jobs

The jobs.autoRun property allows you to configure cron jobs that automatically run queued jobs at specified intervals. Note that this does not queue new jobs - only runs jobs that are already in the specified queue.

Example:

1export default buildConfig({
// Other configurations...
jobs: {
  tasks: [
    // your tasks here
  ],
  // autoRun can optionally be a function that receives `payload` as an argument
  autoRun: [
    {
      cron: '0 * * * *', // every hour at minute 0
      limit: 100, // limit jobs to process each run
      queue: 'hourly', // name of the queue
    },
    // add as many cron jobs as you want
  ],
  shouldAutoRun: async (payload) => {
    // Tell Payload if it should run jobs or not. This function is optional and will return true by default.
    // This function will be invoked each time Payload goes to pick up and run jobs.
    // If this function ever returns false, the cron schedule will be stopped.
    return true
  },
},
23})

Endpoint

You can execute jobs by making a fetch request to the /api/payload-jobs/run endpoint:

1// Here, we're saying we want to run only 100 jobs for this invocation
2// and we want to pull jobs from the `nightly` queue:
3await fetch('/api/payload-jobs/run?limit=100&queue=nightly', {
4  method: 'GET',
5  headers: {
6    Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
7  },
8})

This endpoint is automatically mounted for you and is helpful in conjunction with serverless platforms like Vercel, where you might want to use Vercel Cron to invoke a serverless function that executes your jobs.

Query Parameters

limit: The maximum number of jobs to run in this invocation (default: 10).
queue: The name of the queue to run jobs from. If not specified, jobs will be run from the default queue.
allQueues: If set to true, all jobs from all queues will be run. This will ignore the queue parameter.

Vercel Cron Example

If you're deploying on Vercel, you can add a vercel.json file in the root of your project that configures Vercel Cron to invoke the run endpoint on a cron schedule.

Here's an example of what this file will look like:

1{
"crons": [
  {
    "path": "/api/payload-jobs/run",
    "schedule": "*/5 * * * *"
  }
]
8}

The configuration above schedules the endpoint /api/payload-jobs/run to be invoked every 5 minutes.

The last step will be to secure your run endpoint so that only the proper users can invoke the runner.

To do this, you can set an environment variable on your Vercel project called CRON_SECRET, which should be a random string—ideally 16 characters or longer.

Then, you can modify the access function for running jobs by ensuring that only Vercel can invoke your runner.

1export default buildConfig({
// Other configurations...
jobs: {
  access: {
    run: ({ req }: { req: PayloadRequest }): boolean => {
      // Allow logged in users to execute this endpoint (default)
      if (req.user) return true
8
      // If there is no logged in user, then check
      // for the Vercel Cron secret to be present as an
      // Authorization header:
      const authHeader = req.headers.get('authorization')
      return authHeader === `Bearer ${process.env.CRON_SECRET}`
    },
  },
  // Other job configurations...
},
18})

This works because Vercel automatically makes the CRON_SECRET environment variable available to the endpoint as the Authorization header when triggered by the Vercel Cron, ensuring that the jobs can be run securely.

After the project is deployed to Vercel, the Vercel Cron job will automatically trigger the /api/payload-jobs/run endpoint in the specified schedule, running the queued jobs in the background.

Local API

If you want to process jobs programmatically from your server-side code, you can use the Local API:

Run all jobs:

1// Run all jobs from the `default` queue - default limit is 10
2const results = await payload.jobs.run()
3
4// You can customize the queue name and limit by passing them as arguments:
5await payload.jobs.run({ queue: 'nightly', limit: 100 })
6
7// Run all jobs from all queues:
8await payload.jobs.run({ allQueues: true })
9
10// You can provide a where clause to filter the jobs that should be run:
11await payload.jobs.run({
12  where: { 'input.message': { equals: 'secret' } },
13})

Run a single job:

1const results = await payload.jobs.runByID({
2  id: myJobID,
3})

Bin script

Finally, you can process jobs via the bin script that comes with Payload out of the box. By default, this script will run jobs from the default queue, with a limit of 10 jobs per invocation:

1pnpm payload jobs:run

You can override the default queue and limit by passing the --queue and --limit flags:

1pnpm payload jobs:run --queue myQueue --limit 15

If you want to run all jobs from all queues, you can pass the --all-queues flag:

1pnpm payload jobs:run --all-queues

In addition, the bin script allows you to pass a --cron flag to the jobs:run command to run the jobs on a scheduled, cron basis:

1pnpm payload jobs:run --cron "*/5 * * * *"

You can also pass --handle-schedules flag to the jobs:run command to make it schedule jobs according to configured schedules:

1pnpm payload jobs:run --cron "*/5 * * * *" --queue myQueue --handle-schedules # This will both schedule jobs according to the configuration and run them

Processing Order

By default, jobs are processed first in, first out (FIFO). This means that the first job added to the queue will be the first one processed. However, you can also configure the order in which jobs are processed.

Jobs Configuration

You can configure the order in which jobs are processed in the jobs configuration by passing the processingOrder property. This mimics the Payload sort property that's used for functionality such as payload.find().

1export default buildConfig({
// Other configurations...
jobs: {
  tasks: [
    // your tasks here
  ],
  processingOrder: '-createdAt', // Process jobs in reverse order of creation = LIFO
},
9})

You can also set this on a queue-by-queue basis:

1export default buildConfig({
// Other configurations...
jobs: {
  tasks: [
    // your tasks here
  ],
  processingOrder: {
    default: 'createdAt', // FIFO
    queues: {
      nightly: '-createdAt', // LIFO
      myQueue: '-createdAt', // LIFO
    },
  },
},
15})

If you need even more control over the processing order, you can pass a function that returns the processing order - this function will be called every time a queue starts processing jobs.

1export default buildConfig({
// Other configurations...
jobs: {
  tasks: [
    // your tasks here
  ],
  processingOrder: ({ queue }) => {
    if (queue === 'myQueue') {
      return '-createdAt' // LIFO
    }
    return 'createdAt' // FIFO
  },
},
14})

Local API

You can configure the order in which jobs are processed in the payload.jobs.queue method by passing the processingOrder property.

1const createdJob = await payload.jobs.queue({
workflow: 'createPostAndUpdate',
input: {
  title: 'my title',
},
processingOrder: '-createdAt', // Process jobs in reverse order of creation = LIFO
7})

Common Queue Strategies

Here are typical patterns for organizing your queues:

Priority-Based Queues

Separate jobs by priority to ensure critical tasks run quickly:

1export default buildConfig({
jobs: {
  tasks: [
    /* ... */
  ],
  autoRun: [
    {
      cron: '* * * * *', // Every minute
      limit: 100,
      queue: 'critical',
    },
    {
      cron: '*/5 * * * *', // Every 5 minutes
      limit: 50,
      queue: 'default',
    },
    {
      cron: '0 2 * * *', // Daily at 2 AM
      limit: 1000,
      queue: 'batch',
    },
  ],
},
24})

Then queue jobs to appropriate queues:

1// Critical: Password resets, payment confirmations
2await payload.jobs.queue({
3  task: 'sendPasswordReset',
4  input: { userId: '123' },
5  queue: 'critical',
6})
7
8// Default: Welcome emails, notifications
9await payload.jobs.queue({
10  task: 'sendWelcomeEmail',
11  input: { userId: '123' },
12  queue: 'default',
13})
14
15// Batch: Analytics, reports, cleanups
16await payload.jobs.queue({
17  task: 'generateAnalytics',
18  input: { date: new Date() },
19  queue: 'batch',
20})

Environment-Based Execution

Only run jobs on specific servers:

1export default buildConfig({
jobs: {
  tasks: [
    /* ... */
  ],
  shouldAutoRun: async (payload) => {
    // Only run jobs if this env var is set
    return process.env.ENABLE_JOB_WORKERS === 'true'
  },
  autoRun: [
    {
      cron: '*/5 * * * *',
      limit: 50,
      queue: 'default',
    },
  ],
},
18})

Use cases:

Dedicate specific servers to job processing
Disable job processing during deployments
Scale job workers independently from API servers

Feature-Based Queues

Group jobs by feature or domain:

1autoRun: [
2  { cron: '*/2 * * * *', queue: 'emails', limit: 100 },
3  { cron: '*/10 * * * *', queue: 'images', limit: 50 },
4  { cron: '0 * * * *', queue: 'analytics', limit: 1000 },
5]

This makes it easy to:

Monitor specific features
Scale individual features independently
Pause/resume specific types of work

Choosing an Execution Method

Here's a quick guide to help you choose:

Method	Best For	Pros	Cons
Cron jobs (`autoRun`)	Dedicated servers, long-running apps	Simple setup, automatic execution	Not for serverless, requires always-running server
Endpoint	Serverless platforms (Vercel, Netlify)	Works with serverless, easy to trigger	Requires external cron (Vercel Cron, etc.)
Local API	Custom scheduling, testing	Full control, good for tests	Must implement your own scheduling
Bin script	Development, manual execution	Quick testing, manual control	Manual invocation only

Recommendations:

Production (Serverless): Use Endpoint + Vercel Cron
Production (Server): Use Cron jobs (autoRun)
Development: Use Bin script or Local API
Testing: Use Local API with payload.jobs.runByID()

Troubleshooting

Jobs aren't running

Is shouldAutoRun returning true?

1jobs: {
2  shouldAutoRun: async (payload) => {
3    console.log('shouldAutoRun called') // Add logging
4    return true
5  },
6}

Is autoRun configured correctly?

1// invalid cron syntax
2autoRun: [{ cron: 'every 5 minutes' }]
3
4// valid cron syntax
5autoRun: [{ cron: '*/5 * * * *' }]

Are jobs in the correct queue?

1// Queuing to 'critical' queue
2await payload.jobs.queue({ task: 'myTask', queue: 'critical' })
3
4// But autoRun only processes 'default' queue
5autoRun: [{ queue: 'default' }] // won't pick up the job

Check the jobs collection

Enable the jobs collection in admin:

1jobsCollectionOverrides: ({ defaultJobsCollection }) => ({
...defaultJobsCollection,
admin: {
  ...defaultJobsCollection.admin,
  hidden: false,
},
7})

Look for jobs with:

processing: true but stuck → Worker may have crashed
hasError: true → Check the log field for errors
completedAt: null → Job hasn't run yet

Jobs running but failing

Check the job logs in the payload-jobs collection:

1const job = await payload.findByID({
2  collection: 'payload-jobs',
3  id: jobId,
4})
5
6console.log(job.log) // View execution log
7console.log(job.processingErrors) // View errors

Jobs running too slowly

Increase limit

1autoRun: [
2  { cron: '*/5 * * * *', limit: 100 }, // Process more jobs per run
3]

Run more frequently

1autoRun: [
2  { cron: '* * * * *', limit: 50 }, // Run every minute instead of every 5
3]

Add more workers

Scale horizontally by running multiple servers with ENABLE_JOB_WORKERS=true.

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Queues

Executing jobs

Cron jobs

Endpoint

Query Parameters

Vercel Cron Example

Local API

Bin script

Processing Order

Jobs Configuration

Local API

Common Queue Strategies

Priority-Based Queues

Environment-Based Execution

Feature-Based Queues

Choosing an Execution Method

Troubleshooting

Jobs running but failing

Jobs running too slowly

Job Schedules