Pattern 13 / COMMS

Message Queue (Asynchronous)

Use this when decoupling producers from slower or unreliable consumers.

Pressure: Decoupling producers from slower or unreliable consumers
Mechanism: Producer enqueues work; consumers process messages independently at their own pace
Toll: Results are delayed and delivery semantics/order must be designed

Diagram for Message Queue (Asynchronous) — Architecture plate13

Executive brief

Message Queue (Asynchronous) fits when decoupling producers from slower or unreliable consumers. Mechanism: producer enqueues work; consumers process messages independently at their own pace. Use it for email sending, image processing, report generation, billing jobs, and workflows. The toll: results are delayed and delivery semantics/order must be designed.

Use when

Email sending, image processing, report generation, billing jobs, and workflows.

Example

Signup api queues a welcome email job.

Review framing

Describe the pressure first, then the mechanism, then the cost. That keeps the design grounded.

Same pressure family

Communication Patterns

12Request-Response (Synchronous)14Publish-Subscribe (Pub/Sub)15Event-Driven Architecture 16Webhooks 17Server-Sent Events (SSE)18Bidirectional Streaming (WebSockets / gRPC Streaming)