Queue

The queue worker is required for host notifications, mail delivery and background work. Production deployments must run a queue worker continuously.

Driver

VisitorPortal uses Laravel's database queue by default:

QUEUE_CONNECTION=database
DB_QUEUE_RETRY_AFTER=180

The queue tables are created by the normal migrations. Jobs are stored in jobs; failed jobs are stored in failed_jobs.

Recommended worker command:

php artisan queue:work --sleep=3 --tries=3 --timeout=120 --max-time=3600 --max-jobs=1000 --memory=128

DB_QUEUE_RETRY_AFTER must be greater than --timeout. The shipped Docker default is 180, which is greater than the 120 second worker timeout.

Docker Compose uses the queue service for this command in demo and production.

Check failed jobs:

php artisan queue:failed

Check queue health:

php artisan visitorportal:health queue

Demo logs:

docker compose --env-file .env.demo -f docker-compose.demo.yml logs -f queue

Production logs:

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml logs -f queue

Development logs:

docker compose logs -f queue

Restart workers after deployments so they load new code:

php artisan queue:restart

Notifications or e-mails are delayed: confirm the queue service is running and healthy.
Jobs fail repeatedly: inspect php artisan queue:failed, application logs and SMTP settings.
Jobs are retried too early: ensure DB_QUEUE_RETRY_AFTER is greater than the worker --timeout.
Deployment completed but old behavior remains: restart the queue worker with php artisan queue:restart or restart the container.