p-queue

What is p-queue?

The p-queue package is a promise-based queue for Node.js that enables the execution of tasks in a controlled concurrency environment. It allows for rate-limiting, pausing, and resuming of tasks, and ensures that tasks are executed in a predictable manner.

What are p-queue's main functionalities?

Concurrency Control

This feature allows you to control the number of tasks that are run concurrently. In this example, the concurrency is set to 2, meaning that only two tasks will be processed at the same time.

const PQueue = require('p-queue').default;
const queue = new PQueue({concurrency: 2});

async function task(input) {
  // Task implementation
}

queue.add(() => task('task 1'));
queue.add(() => task('task 2'));
queue.add(() => task('task 3'));

Rate Limiting

This feature allows you to limit the rate at which tasks are executed. In this example, the queue is configured to process a maximum of 2 tasks per 1000 milliseconds.

const PQueue = require('p-queue').default;
const queue = new PQueue({
  interval: 1000,
  intervalCap: 2
});

async function task(input) {
  // Task implementation
}

for (let i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
  queue.add(() => task(`task ${i + 1}`));
}

Pausing and Resuming

This feature allows you to pause the processing of tasks and resume it later. In this example, the queue is paused immediately after creation, tasks are added, and then the queue is resumed after a timeout.

const PQueue = require('p-queue').default;
const queue = new PQueue();

queue.pause();

async function task(input) {
  // Task implementation
}

queue.add(() => task('task 1'));
queue.add(() => task('task 2'));

setTimeout(() => {
  queue.start(); // Resume the queue after 2000ms
}, 2000);

Priority Queueing

This feature allows you to add tasks with a priority level. Tasks with a lower priority number are executed first. In this example, the 'high priority' task will be executed before the 'low priority' task.

const PQueue = require('p-queue').default;
const queue = new PQueue();

async function task(input) {
  // Task implementation
}

queue.add(() => task('low priority'), {priority: 1});
queue.add(() => task('high priority'), {priority: 0});

Other packages similar to p-queue

async

The 'async' package provides a variety of functions for working with asynchronous JavaScript, including queue management. It is similar to p-queue but offers a broader set of utilities for asynchronous control flow.

bottleneck

Bottleneck is a lightweight and powerful rate limiting library for Node.js. It is similar to p-queue in its ability to rate limit tasks but also provides features like clustering support for distributed rate limiting.

bull

Bull is a Redis-backed queue package for handling distributed jobs and messages in Node.js. It offers functionality similar to p-queue with additional features like repeatable jobs, delayed jobs, and job event listeners.

README

p-queue

Promise queue with concurrency control

Useful for rate-limiting async (or sync) operations. For example, when interacting with a REST API or when doing CPU/memory intensive tasks.

For servers, you probably want a Redis-backed job queue instead.

Note that the project is feature complete. We are happy to review pull requests, but we don't plan any further development. We are also not answering email support questions.

Install

npm install p-queue

Warning: This package is native ESM and no longer provides a CommonJS export. If your project uses CommonJS, you'll have to convert to ESM. Please don't open issues for questions regarding CommonJS / ESM.

Usage

Here we run only one promise at the time. For example, set concurrency to 4 to run four promises at the same time.

import PQueue from 'p-queue';
import got from 'got';

const queue = new PQueue({concurrency: 1});

(async () => {
	await queue.add(() => got('https://sindresorhus.com'));
	console.log('Done: sindresorhus.com');
})();

(async () => {
	await queue.add(() => got('https://avajs.dev'));
	console.log('Done: avajs.dev');
})();

(async () => {
	const task = await getUnicornTask();
	await queue.add(task);
	console.log('Done: Unicorn task');
})();

API

PQueue(options?)

Returns a new queue instance, which is an EventEmitter3 subclass.

options

Type: object

concurrency

Type: number
Default: Infinity
Minimum: 1

Concurrency limit.

timeout

Type: number

Per-operation timeout in milliseconds. Operations fulfill once timeout elapses if they haven't already.

throwOnTimeout

Type: boolean
Default: false

Whether or not a timeout is considered an exception.

autoStart

Type: boolean
Default: true

Whether queue tasks within concurrency limit, are auto-executed as soon as they're added.

queueClass

Type: Function

Class with a enqueue and dequeue method, and a size getter. See the Custom QueueClass section.

intervalCap

Type: number
Default: Infinity
Minimum: 1

The max number of runs in the given interval of time.

interval

Type: number
Default: 0
Minimum: 0

The length of time in milliseconds before the interval count resets. Must be finite.

carryoverConcurrencyCount

Type: boolean
Default: false

If true, specifies that any pending Promises, should be carried over into the next interval and counted against the intervalCap. If false, any of those pending Promises will not count towards the next intervalCap.

queue

PQueue instance.

.add(fn, options?)

Adds a sync or async task to the queue. Always returns a promise.

Note: If your items can potentially throw an exception, you must handle those errors from the returned Promise or they may be reported as an unhandled Promise rejection and potentially cause your process to exit immediately.

fn

Type: Function

Promise-returning/async function. When executed, it will receive {signal} as the first argument.

options

Type: object

priority

Type: number
Default: 0

Priority of operation. Operations with greater priority will be scheduled first.

signal

AbortSignal for cancellation of the operation. When aborted, it will be removed from the queue and the queue.add() call will reject with an error. If the operation is already running, the signal will need to be handled by the operation itself.

import PQueue from 'p-queue';
import got, {CancelError} from 'got';

const queue = new PQueue();

const controller = new AbortController();

try {
	await queue.add(({signal}) => {
		const request = got('https://sindresorhus.com');

		signal.addEventListener('abort', () => {
			request.cancel();
		});

		try {
			return await request;
		} catch (error) {
			if (!(error instanceof CancelError)) {
				throw error;
			}
		}
	}, {signal: controller.signal});
} catch (error) {
	if (!(error instanceof DOMException)) {
		throw error;
	}
}

.addAll(fns, options?)

Same as .add(), but accepts an array of sync or async functions and returns a promise that resolves when all functions are resolved.

.pause()

Put queue execution on hold.

.start()

Start (or resume) executing enqueued tasks within concurrency limit. No need to call this if queue is not paused (via options.autoStart = false or by .pause() method.)

Returns this (the instance).

.onEmpty()

Returns a promise that settles when the queue becomes empty.

Can be called multiple times. Useful if you for example add additional items at a later time.

.onIdle()

Returns a promise that settles when the queue becomes empty, and all promises have completed; queue.size === 0 && queue.pending === 0.

The difference with .onEmpty is that .onIdle guarantees that all work from the queue has finished. .onEmpty merely signals that the queue is empty, but it could mean that some promises haven't completed yet.

.onSizeLessThan(limit)

Returns a promise that settles when the queue size is less than the given limit: queue.size < limit.

If you want to avoid having the queue grow beyond a certain size you can await queue.onSizeLessThan() before adding a new item.

Note that this only limits the number of items waiting to start. There could still be up to concurrency jobs already running that this call does not include in its calculation.

.clear()

Clear the queue.

.size

Size of the queue, the number of queued items waiting to run.

.sizeBy(options)

Size of the queue, filtered by the given options.

For example, this can be used to find the number of items remaining in the queue with a specific priority level.

import PQueue from 'p-queue';

const queue = new PQueue();

queue.add(async () => '🦄', {priority: 1});
queue.add(async () => '🦄', {priority: 0});
queue.add(async () => '🦄', {priority: 1});

console.log(queue.sizeBy({priority: 1}));
//=> 2

console.log(queue.sizeBy({priority: 0}));
//=> 1

.pending

Number of running items (no longer in the queue).

.timeout

.concurrency

.isPaused

Whether the queue is currently paused.

Events

active

Emitted as each item is processed in the queue for the purpose of tracking progress.

import delay from 'delay';
import PQueue from 'p-queue';

const queue = new PQueue({concurrency: 2});

let count = 0;
queue.on('active', () => {
	console.log(`Working on item #${++count}.  Size: ${queue.size}  Pending: ${queue.pending}`);
});

queue.add(() => Promise.resolve());
queue.add(() => delay(2000));
queue.add(() => Promise.resolve());
queue.add(() => Promise.resolve());
queue.add(() => delay(500));

completed

Emitted when an item completes without error.

import delay from 'delay';
import PQueue from 'p-queue';

const queue = new PQueue({concurrency: 2});

queue.on('completed', result => {
	console.log(result);
});

queue.add(() => Promise.resolve('hello, world!'));

error

Emitted if an item throws an error.

import delay from 'delay';
import PQueue from 'p-queue';

const queue = new PQueue({concurrency: 2});

queue.on('error', error => {
	console.error(error);
});

queue.add(() => Promise.reject(new Error('error')));

empty

Emitted every time the queue becomes empty.

Useful if you for example add additional items at a later time.

idle

Emitted every time the queue becomes empty and all promises have completed; queue.size === 0 && queue.pending === 0.

The difference with empty is that idle guarantees that all work from the queue has finished. empty merely signals that the queue is empty, but it could mean that some promises haven't completed yet.

import delay from 'delay';
import PQueue from 'p-queue';

const queue = new PQueue();

queue.on('idle', () => {
	console.log(`Queue is idle.  Size: ${queue.size}  Pending: ${queue.pending}`);
});

const job1 = queue.add(() => delay(2000));
const job2 = queue.add(() => delay(500));

await job1;
await job2;
// => 'Queue is idle.  Size: 0  Pending: 0'

await queue.add(() => delay(600));
// => 'Queue is idle.  Size: 0  Pending: 0'

The idle event is emitted every time the queue reaches an idle state. On the other hand, the promise the onIdle() function returns resolves once the queue becomes idle instead of every time the queue is idle.

add

Emitted every time the add method is called and the number of pending or queued tasks is increased.

next

Emitted every time a task is completed and the number of pending or queued tasks is decreased. This is emitted regardless of whether the task completed normally or with an error.

import delay from 'delay';
import PQueue from 'p-queue';

const queue = new PQueue();

queue.on('add', () => {
	console.log(`Task is added.  Size: ${queue.size}  Pending: ${queue.pending}`);
});

queue.on('next', () => {
	console.log(`Task is completed.  Size: ${queue.size}  Pending: ${queue.pending}`);
});

const job1 = queue.add(() => delay(2000));
const job2 = queue.add(() => delay(500));

await job1;
await job2;
//=> 'Task is added.  Size: 0  Pending: 1'
//=> 'Task is added.  Size: 0  Pending: 2'

await queue.add(() => delay(600));
//=> 'Task is completed.  Size: 0  Pending: 1'
//=> 'Task is completed.  Size: 0  Pending: 0'

Advanced example

A more advanced example to help you understand the flow.

import delay from 'delay';
import PQueue from 'p-queue';

const queue = new PQueue({concurrency: 1});

(async () => {
	await delay(200);

	console.log(`8. Pending promises: ${queue.pending}`);
	//=> '8. Pending promises: 0'

	(async () => {
		await queue.add(async () => '🐙');
		console.log('11. Resolved')
	})();

	console.log('9. Added 🐙');

	console.log(`10. Pending promises: ${queue.pending}`);
	//=> '10. Pending promises: 1'

	await queue.onIdle();
	console.log('12. All work is done');
})();

(async () => {
	await queue.add(async () => '🦄');
	console.log('5. Resolved')
})();
console.log('1. Added 🦄');

(async () => {
	await queue.add(async () => '🐴');
	console.log('6. Resolved')
})();
console.log('2. Added 🐴');

(async () => {
	await queue.onEmpty();
	console.log('7. Queue is empty');
})();

console.log(`3. Queue size: ${queue.size}`);
//=> '3. Queue size: 1`

console.log(`4. Pending promises: ${queue.pending}`);
//=> '4. Pending promises: 1'

$ node example.js
1. Added 🦄
2. Added 🐴
3. Queue size: 1
4. Pending promises: 1
5. Resolved 🦄
6. Resolved 🐴
7. Queue is empty
8. Pending promises: 0
9. Added 🐙
10. Pending promises: 1
11. Resolved 🐙
12. All work is done

Custom QueueClass

For implementing more complex scheduling policies, you can provide a QueueClass in the options:

import PQueue from 'p-queue';

class QueueClass {
	constructor() {
		this._queue = [];
	}

	enqueue(run, options) {
		this._queue.push(run);
	}

	dequeue() {
		return this._queue.shift();
	}

	get size() {
		return this._queue.length;
	}

	filter(options) {
		return this._queue;
	}
}

const queue = new PQueue({queueClass: QueueClass});

p-queue will call corresponding methods to put and get operations from this queue.

FAQ

How do the concurrency and intervalCap options affect each other?

They are just different constraints. The concurrency option limits how many things run at the same time. The intervalCap option limits how many things run in total during the interval (over time).

Maintainers

• Sindre Sorhus
• Richie Bendall

Related

• p-limit - Run multiple promise-returning & async functions with limited concurrency
• p-throttle - Throttle promise-returning & async functions
• p-debounce - Debounce promise-returning & async functions
• p-all - Run promise-returning & async functions concurrently with optional limited concurrency
• More…