Eric Allam
4eb9292cbe
## Summary
Three related changes, each independently gated:
**Queue metrics and health.** Per-queue depth, throughput (enqueued,
started, completed), concurrency, whether a queue is throttled, and
scheduling delay (how long a run waits between becoming eligible and
actually starting), plus a per concurrency-key breakdown for keyed
queues. Collected from inside the run queue itself, stored in
ClickHouse, and surfaced on the Queues list, a new per-queue detail
page, the task pages, and the run inspector. The question it answers is
"does this queue have enough concurrency to keep up, and if not, which
key or which limit is the constraint".
**Percent-based queue concurrency limits.** A queue's concurrency
override can now be expressed as a percentage of the environment limit,
stored as the source of truth and re-materialized whenever the
environment limit changes. Absolute overrides above the environment
limit are now **rejected with a 400** instead of being silently capped,
which is a behavior change on `POST
/api/v1/queues/:queue/concurrency/override`.
**The `health` report.** A server-computed verdict on whether work is
flowing, whether the runs that do start are healthy, and whether
telemetry is fresh, rendered as text with sparklines. Available as `GET
/api/v1/reports/:key`, `trigger report`, and the `get_report` MCP tool
(plus a `report` MCP prompt, which shows up as a slash command in hosts
that support prompts).
With the flags off, the Queues page renders the pre-metrics component
verbatim, nothing is emitted, and nothing is written to ClickHouse.
## Configuration
Two independent gates, on purpose. Emission is global so data accrues
for everyone before anyone can look at it; the view is per organization
so it can be turned on for one org at a time without a deploy.
**Runtime flags (no restart)**
| Flag | Store | Gates |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `queue_metrics:enabled` | run-queue Redis key (`"1"`/`"0"`, off by
default) | All emission, gauges and counters. Cached in-process for 10s
with stale-while-revalidate, warmed eagerly at boot so the first op
after a deploy is not dropped. |
| `queue_metrics:gauge_sample_rate` | run-queue Redis key, `0..1` |
Fraction of queue ops that emit a gauge. Counters are never sampled, so
throughput stays exact at any rate. |
| `queueMetricsUiEnabled` | feature-flag catalog: global `FeatureFlag`
row, per-org `Organization.featureFlags` override wins | Whether an org
sees the metrics view at all: the Queues list variant, the queue detail
route, the built-in Queues dashboard, the concurrency-keys endpoint, and
the metrics blocks on task pages and the run inspector. Off by default;
a gated org gets a 404 on the detail route rather than an empty page. |
Both Redis keys are readable and writable from `/admin/queue-metrics`
(super-admin UI, with a live per-shard stream-health table) and
`GET`/`POST /admin/api/v1/queue-metrics` (admin PAT). The admin surface
uses its own Redis client, so it works on any instance regardless of
whether that instance runs the emitter or the consumer.
**Environment variables (boot time)**
| Variable | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_EMIT_ENABLED` | `0` | Constructs the emitter and
injects it into the run engine. Without it the run queue has no emitter
at all. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_CONSUMER_ENABLED` | `0` | Boots the stream consumer on
this instance. Independent of emission, so consumers can be sized
separately from the API. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_STREAM_SHARD_COUNT` | `4` | Stream shards, hashed per
queue. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_CONSUMER_BATCH_SIZE` | `1000` | Poll batch equals
insert batch, so an ack can never outrun a write. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_REDIS_{HOST,PORT,USERNAME,PASSWORD,TLS_DISABLED}` |
falls back to the run-queue Redis | Set `HOST` to move the metrics
stream onto a dedicated instance so a metrics backlog cannot compete
with the run queue for memory. Self-hosters can leave it unset and get a
single-Redis deployment. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_COUNTER_STREAM_MAXLEN` | `2000000` shared, `8000000`
dedicated | Bound on how much a stalled consumer can hold. The default
is deliberately lower when the stream shares the queue-critical Redis. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_COUNTER_ODOMETER_TTL_SECONDS` | `604800` | TTL on the
per-queue cumulative counter key, refreshed on every write, so only
queues idle for the whole window are purged. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_MAX_QUEUE_NAMES_PER_ENV` | `1000` | Distinct queue
names tracked per environment; overflow collapses into `__overflow__`. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_MAX_CONCURRENCY_KEYS_PER_QUEUE` | `10000` | Same idea
one level down, per queue. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_GAUGE_SAMPLE_RATE` | `1` | Default for the live
sample-rate key above. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_QUERY_TABLES_VISIBLE` | `0` | Lists the queue-metrics
tables in the Query page, its schema docs, the schema API and the AI
query context. Off keeps them unlisted while the feature is dark; a
query naming them still runs either way. |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_CLICKHOUSE_URL` | falls back to the shared wiring |
Runs queue metrics on their own ClickHouse service: the consumer's
inserts and every queue-metrics read go through it, so a metrics-heavy
chart refresh never competes with runs-list or trace reads. Unset
reproduces the previous split exactly (inserts on `CLICKHOUSE_URL`,
reads on the query pool). |
| `QUEUE_METRICS_CLICKHOUSE_READER_URL` | the write URL | Reader split,
so the consumer's inserts can never land on a read endpoint. |
|
`QUEUE_METRICS_CLICKHOUSE_{KEEP_ALIVE_ENABLED,KEEP_ALIVE_IDLE_SOCKET_TTL_MS,MAX_OPEN_CONNECTIONS,LOG_LEVEL,COMPRESSION_REQUEST}`
| `1`, unset, `10`, `info`, `1` | Pool tuning, matching the other
per-workload ClickHouse clients. |
Migrations to apply: ClickHouse `036_create_queue_metrics_v1.sql`, and a
Postgres migration adding the nullable
`TaskQueue.concurrencyLimitOverridePercent`. Both are additive.
## How collection works
Queue operations produce two kinds of signal, and they have opposite
failure modes, so they are handled differently.
**Gauges** (queued, running, queue limit, env queued, env running, env
limit, throttled, plus keys-with-backlog and worst-key wait on keyed
queues) are read *inside* the same Redis script that performs the
enqueue or dequeue, so the reading is atomic with the operation it
describes rather than a racy follow-up read. The script returns them on
its reply and the app forwards them to the stream. Gauges are sampled
and drop-tolerant: they are aggregated with `max`, so a lost reading
costs resolution, never correctness.
**Counters** (enqueued, started, completed, plus nack and dead-lettered)
are cumulative odometers. Each event increments a per-queue key on the
metrics Redis and emits the absolute total, and ClickHouse takes the
difference across buckets at read time. This is the important property
of the design: a summed-delta counter undercounts permanently on any
lost event, while a cumulative one self-heals, because the next
surviving reading restates the whole total. Only bucket granularity can
be lost, never the total. A queue returning after its odometer TTL
expired restarts at 1 and reset detection handles it, which is safe
precisely because expiry only spans a window with no activity.
Both land on one sharded Redis stream. A consumer reads it with a
consumer group, reclaims stale pending entries on a 15s interval rather
than on every poll, maps one entry to one or two ClickHouse rows
(whole-queue and, for keyed queues, per-key), and acks only after the
insert lands. Each batch carries a dedup token derived from its
stream-entry ids, and the target tables set
`non_replicated_deduplication_window`, so a retried batch cannot
double-count either the raw rows or the aggregates that hang off them.
Consumer and emitter both emit OTel metrics
(`queue_metrics.emitter.emitted`,
`queue_metrics.consumer.{entries,rows_inserted,insert_errors,insert_duration,stream_depth,group_lag,pending,lag_unknown}`);
stream depth and group lag are the two worth alerting on, and
`lag_unknown` exists because Redis can report a null lag after a trim,
which must not be read as zero.
## Storage and read path
`queue_metrics_raw_v1` is a short landing table with a 6 hour TTL. Four
aggregate tiers are materialized straight from raw, never cascaded off
each other, each with a 30 day TTL:
- `queue_metrics_v1`, 10 second buckets per queue, the default read path
- `queue_metrics_5m_v1`, 5 minute buckets per queue, for wide ranges and
cross-queue ranking
- `env_metrics_v1`, 10 second buckets per environment, queue-independent
so it stays cheap at any range
- `queue_metrics_ck_v1`, 10 second buckets per concurrency key
Every tier is an MV from raw because the counter states do not survive a
cascade: their merge is order sensitive, so a `-MergeState` chain off
the 10s table inflates the result, and the same property means an
aggregate state may only be merged inside one queue. That constraint is
now enforced by the query engine rather than by reviewer discipline: a
column can declare a `mergeGroupKey`, and any query that references it
without grouping by, or pinning to a single value of, every named key
fails to compile with an actionable message.
On the read side, TRQL gains three tables (`queue_metrics`,
`env_metrics`, and a `queue_metrics_by_key` that is hidden from the
editor, schema docs and schema API but still queryable, so per-key rows
can never silently merge into a plain per-queue query), plus
`deltaSumTimestampMerge` and `quantilesTDigestMerge`. Two schema-level
optimizations ride along: a table can declare coarser rollups, so a
query whose bucket interval is 5 minutes or wider is routed to the 5m
table with no change to the query itself, and it can opt into the
ClickHouse query cache with time bounds floored to a fixed grid, so the
auto-refreshing dashboards actually share cache entries instead of
missing on every tick. Both are caller-side substitutions, so the
printer stays unaware of physical layout.
All of this can also live on its own ClickHouse service. A table
declares the pool its reads run on, the three queue-metrics tables name
the dedicated one, and the ingestion consumer writes through the same
client, so both directions move together with one env var and nothing
else routes differently.
The other engine change is opt-in gap filling: charts can request rows
for empty buckets, where counters zero-fill and gauges carry forward.
Grouped gauge series are densified per group and carried inside a
partition, so a quiet queue's line holds its last value without bleeding
another queue's value into it.
## Queue concurrency limits
`concurrencyLimitOverridePercent` on `TaskQueue` is the source of truth
when an override is set as a percentage; the absolute `concurrencyLimit`
is materialized from it (floored, clamped to at least 1 so a percentage
can never act as a pause, and never above the environment limit). Every
path that changes an environment limit now recalculates the
environment's percent-based overrides afterwards, outside the
transaction, and pushes changed limits to the engine. The push is
attempted even when the stored value did not change, so a previously
failed sync self-heals rather than leaving the database and the engine
diverged; paused queues are skipped so a recalculation cannot
effectively unpause one.
The API accepts exactly one of `concurrencyLimit` or `percent`, and the
reject-instead-of-clamp change above means a request asking for more
than the environment allows now fails loudly. The percent bound (greater
than 0, at most 100) is defined once and shared by the zod schema, the
dashboard mutation handler and the service, so the three cannot drift.
The concurrency-keys table on a queue is now paginated against the
ClickHouse per-key tier, ranked by peak backlog with the total on every
row from a single scan, and only the keys on the current page are
enriched with live counts from Redis. That replaces a hard top-50 cap
with something whose cost is a function of page size rather than key
cardinality.
## The health report
`GET /api/v1/reports/:key?period=&format=markdown|ansi|json`. The
verdict is computed on the server and is deterministic, not
model-generated. Three independent analyzers run over one input
snapshot: flow (is work moving, and if not, is the cause a limit,
throttling, one bad queue, or dead-lettering), execution (are the runs
that start succeeding, and at what latency), and liveness (how fresh is
the telemetry). When telemetry is genuinely stale, the first two are
forced to unknown and every actionable field is stripped, so no surface
ever advises action off stale data.
Authorization is per query table rather than a blanket query grant: a
JWT must be scoped to every table the report reads (`runs`,
`env_metrics`, `queue_metrics`), so a narrowly scoped token cannot pull
a report that reads more than it was granted. `period` is validated as a
shorthand with a 90 day ceiling at the edge. The report catalog is a
registry of `{ load, interpret }` entries, so the next report is a new
entry and no change to the route, the view model, the renderers, the CLI
or the MCP tool.
`trigger mcp` no longer launches the install wizard when stdout is a
TTY, which fixed a real failure: hosts spawn the server over a PTY, so
the wizard would open and the client would time out waiting for a server
that never started. The wizard now needs `trigger mcp --install`.
## The part that is live regardless of every flag
The enqueue and dequeue scripts now return a 2-tuple so a gauge reading
can ride back on the reply. Every return site in the eight affected
scripts is wrapped, and a `nil` original is converted to `false` on the
way out, because a raw `nil` in the first slot would make Lua truncate
the multi-bulk reply and silently drop the gauge on the throttled and
empty-queue paths. The reply shape and the destructuring on the app side
are exercised on every queue operation whether or not metrics are
enabled, so that is the part of `run-engine` worth the closest review.
One behavior fix in the same area: the scheduling-delay anchor is set
only on a run's first entry into the queue. Anchoring it to trigger time
on re-enqueues made waitpoint and checkpoint resumes report the entire
wait as scheduling delay. Queue ordering is untouched, so a re-enqueued
run keeps its position, and nacks deliberately keep the original anchor
because a rolled-back dequeue is the same continuous wait.
A pending-version promotion still anchors to trigger time, on purpose:
that promotion is the run's first real entry into the queue, since the
trigger deliberately held it back waiting for a worker version, and the
TTL is armed at the same point for the same reason. The consequence is
worth naming, because it is a judgement call: a run that waits on a
deployment reports that wait as scheduling delay on its queue, which is
time unrelated to queue capacity.
## Verification
Unit and integration suites across the new package, the run queue, the
mapping layer, the query engine and ClickHouse (including a test that
applies migration 036 through the same splitter CI uses, and a
regression test that inserts the same batch three times to prove the
aggregates do not inflate). Beyond that, the whole path was driven end
to end against a live stack with real runs: emitter to Redis stream to
consumer to ClickHouse to the dashboards, for both the local dev path
and the deployed path where a supervisor drives the dequeue, with
assertions on exact counter reconstruction per queue and per concurrency
key, throttling, environment saturation, scheduling delay, and a
deliberate mid-stream reading drop to confirm the cumulative counters
still reconstruct the correct total. The gated-off state was checked on
every touched surface.
The dedicated ClickHouse service was verified against a second,
separately-schema'd instance: with it configured, the driven counters
reconstruct exactly on the dedicated instance, the shared instance gains
no rows for that window, a read through the query API returns the value
that exists only on the dedicated instance, and a `runs` query still
succeeds (it would fail outright if it were mis-routed to a service
without that table). With the variable unset, the full suite passes
unchanged.
---------
Co-authored-by: Katia Bulatova <katia@trigger.dev>
Co-authored-by: Katia Bulatova <katherine.bulatova@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: James Ritchie <james@trigger.dev>
TSQL (TriggerSQL)
TriggerSQL is a DSL that is safely converted into ClickHouse SQL queries with protection against SQL injection and it's tenant-safe (users can only query their own data).
Attribution
This package is derived from PostHog's HogQL (MIT License). See NOTICE.md for the full copyright notice.
ANTLR Grammar
The ANTLR grammar is heavily inspired by PostHog's HogQL.
These are found in ./src/grammar and are the .g4 files.
Generating the source code
pnpm run grammar:build