Queue and Scheduled Job Naming Best Practices

Good names reduce incident time.

When queue, job, and scheduler names are predictable, you can filter faster, debug faster, and avoid destructive mistakes.

Queue Naming Rules

Use a stable, descriptive format:

<domain>.<resource>.<action>

Examples:

• billing.invoice.sync
• notifications.email.send
• orders.fulfillment.reconcile

Guidelines:

• Use lowercase.
• Use one separator style (. recommended).
• Keep names capability-focused, not team-focused.
• Do not include environment names in queue names when environments are already separate by connection.

Job Name Rules

Use the job name to represent the specific operation inside a queue:

<verb>.<object>[.<variant>]

Examples:

• sync.invoice
• send.email.receipt
• rebuild.search-index

Guidelines:

• Prefer explicit verbs (sync, send, reconcile, cleanup).
• Keep the same meaning across all queues.
• Avoid random suffixes in names (use job data for uniqueness instead).

Scheduled Job and Scheduler ID Rules

Scheduled jobs need deterministic IDs so you can update or remove them safely.

Recommended scheduler ID format:

<queue>.<job>.<cadence>.v<version>

Examples:

• billing.invoice.sync.hourly.v1
• notifications.email.send.daily.v2

Guidelines:

• Include cadence (hourly, daily, every-5m, etc.).
• Version IDs when schedule semantics change.
• Keep timezone handling explicit in job logic/config, not implied by the name.

What to Avoid

• queue1, default, worker-tasks, misc
• Same queue meaning with multiple spellings (invoice-sync, invoice_sync, invoice.sync)
• Scheduler IDs that include random UUIDs when you need repeatable updates/removals

Team Conventions Checklist

• Define one naming template for queue, job, and scheduler IDs.
• Enforce the template in worker code reviews.
• Keep names and log fields aligned (queue, jobName, schedulerId).
• Document ownership per domain so alerts route to the right team.

Pair Naming with Structured Logs

Naming is most powerful when logs are consistent too.

Next guide: Log Formatting and Highlighting