Agenda

What Agenda is

Agenda is a lightweight job scheduling library for Node.js applications. Developers can set jobs to run using cron expressions or human-readable time syntax, and configure concurrency and locking to control job execution. Agenda 6.x supports MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and Redis storage, as well as custom storage backends implemented by developers. The official MongoDB backend uses polling; PostgreSQL and Redis backends support notifications in addition to storage. Optional real-time notifications can use Redis Pub/Sub, PostgreSQL LISTEN/NOTIFY, or another pub/sub system.

Agenda can execute workers in a sandboxed fork mode. Version 6.x is an ESM-only TypeScript rewrite with strict typing and decorators for class-based job definitions. It requires Node.js 18 or later and a database such as MongoDB 4+, PostgreSQL, or Redis. The project also lists agendash as a web dashboard and agenda-rest as a REST API tool. Agenda is self-hosted, MIT licensed, and free to use. Its official SDK languages are JavaScript and TypeScript. It supports custom retry policies, but does not provide a dead-letter queue. The listed platform is API.

Who it suits

Agenda suits developers building Node.js applications that need scheduled jobs and control over concurrency, locking, and retries. It fits teams able to run the library themselves and provide a supported database.

Limits

The official MongoDB backend provides polling only; PostgreSQL and Redis provide notifications as well as storage. Agenda has no dead-letter queue.

Getting started

1. Visit the Agenda project website.
2. Use Node.js 18 or later.
3. Choose MongoDB 4+, PostgreSQL, or Redis as the storage backend, or implement a custom backend.
4. Define jobs with cron expressions or human-readable time syntax.
5. Configure concurrency and locking for job execution.
6. Use a supported pub/sub system if you want optional real-time notifications.

Verdict

Choose Agenda if you need a self-hosted Node.js job scheduler with configurable execution and a choice of storage backends. Its free MIT license and TypeScript support may suit developer-managed projects. Look elsewhere if a dead-letter queue is a requirement or you need a hosted scheduler.