[jstanley]

Surprised nobody has mentioned beanstalkd yet: https://kr.github.io/beanstalkd/

> Beanstalk is a simple, fast work queue.

> Its interface is generic, but was originally designed for reducing the latency of page views in high-volume web applications by running time-consuming tasks asynchronously.

The protocol is easy to drive directly and there are good libraries for most common languages.

[orthecreedence]

Beanstalkd is always the queue engine I reach for. Sometimes I'll build something over SQL if it's low-volume, but I always design my queue APIs to match beanstalkd's so it can be swapped in.

Beyond being a great piece of software, I find the protocol to be really well-designed for a work queue.