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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchIf one Laravel Horizon queue has idle workers while another is backed up, check the supervisor’s balancing strategy first. auto shifts processes according to workload, simple divides a fixed process total evenly, and balance => false follows the configured queue order. That last option creates ordered priority; auto does not.
Why can workers be idle while a queue is backed up?
Horizon allocates worker processes according to the supervisor’s balancing strategy, not simply according to which queue appears first in the configuration. With auto, a queue can have workers waiting while another receives more of the available processes because it has more work. Laravel’s documentation illustrates this with one queue holding 1,000 pending jobs and another empty; the example is illustrative, not a performance measurement.
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If you expected the first queue in the list to take precedence, that expectation conflicts with auto behavior. Laravel states: “The order of queues in a supervisor’s configuration does not affect how worker processes are assigned.” See the Laravel Horizon documentation.
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| Strategy | Worker allocation | Does queue order set priority? | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
auto |
Adjusts worker processes across queues in response to workload. | No. Queue-list order does not determine allocation. | Workloads that vary and need workers to move toward queues with pending work. |
simple |
Splits a fixed total evenly among the configured queues. | No priority rule is established by order; the allocation is even. | Queues that should each retain a predictable share of a fixed process total. |
false |
Processes queues in the listed order, like the default queue worker behavior. | Yes. Earlier queues are handled before later ones. | When ordered priority matters more than equal access. |
Use auto for workload-responsive allocation
Choose auto when demand shifts between queues and you want Horizon to assign more processes where work is accumulating. It is not strict priority: putting high before low in the queue list does not guarantee that the first queue receives workers first.
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Use simple for an even fixed split
simple distributes the supervisor’s fixed process count evenly. Laravel’s documentation gives an example of 10 processes across two queues, with five processes assigned to each. If queues need different fixed totals, use separate supervisors rather than expecting simple to make an uneven split.
Use false when listed order is the priority rule
With balance => false, queues are processed in the order listed. This makes priority explicit, but it can leave later queues waiting: Laravel notes that a continuously backlogged earlier queue can be fully processed before a later one is handled.
How to choose a strategy for a starved queue
- Demand varies and queues should share capacity dynamically: use
auto, then tune its limits and balancing cadence. - Every queue needs a stable, equal share: use
simplewith a fixed process total. - Some work must be handled ahead of other work: use
balance => falseand account for the possibility that later queues wait behind a backlog. - A queue needs capacity independent of others: place it under a separate supervisor with explicit process limits.
Separate supervisors are useful when queues have different service needs or when a resource-intensive workload must be isolated. Laravel also suggests considering a dedicated queue with a limited maxProcesses for heavy jobs, to prevent them from consuming excessive CPU and overloading the system.
What to tune when using auto
Auto balancing is shaped by several settings together. They affect how much capacity is available, how it is distributed, and how rapidly allocation responds to changing queues.
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minProcessessets a minimum number of processes per queue.maxProcessescaps the total processes across queues.autoScalingStrategyselects allocation based on estimated time to clear, job count, or logarithm of job count. The logarithmic option is described as reducing the outsized allocation a much larger queue might otherwise receive.balanceMaxShiftlimits the number of process changes in a balancing interval.balanceCooldownsets the interval between balancing decisions.
Laravel’s documented example uses a maximum shift of one process every three seconds. Treat that as an example configuration, not a general recommendation. A larger minimum can preserve ready capacity, while a tighter process cap can constrain resource use; the right settings depend on queue wait times, job duration, throughput, and the deployment’s resource limits.
Check timeout and retry settings before scaling down
Laravel warns that during auto scale-down, Horizon can treat in-progress workers as hanging and force-kill them after the Horizon timeout. Configure timeout relationships for the actual job durations and retry behavior:
- Set the Horizon timeout higher than job-level timeouts.
- Keep the Horizon timeout a few seconds shorter than the queue connection’s
retry_after.
If these relationships are wrong, jobs may be terminated mid-execution or processed twice. Do not increase or decrease timeout values without checking how long the jobs can run and when the queue connection makes them eligible for retry.
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If the underlying need is to keep a worker ready without managing worker processes directly, Laravel’s announcement for managed queues on Laravel Cloud describes setting a minimum number of workers on a queue to avoid a cold start. This is a deployment option, not another Horizon balancing strategy.
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