Node.js Queues vs Self-Hosted Workers: Failed Jobs, DLQ Redrive, Idempotent Consumers

For Node.js queues, implementing a dead-letter queue (DLQ) and idempotent consumers is essential for handling failed jobs in at-least-once delivery systems. A practical retry policy involves republishing failed background jobs with exponential backoff before moving them to a DLQ after fixed attempts. Using cron as the trigger instead of the worker simplifies the process. This separation provides critical visibility into enqueue times, attempt numbers, and idempotency keys, ensuring operations remain safe despite inevitable duplicates.