RabbitMQ component

The RabbitMQ component is able to connect to RabbitMQ brokers. It can either act as an inbound (consuming queued messages) or outbound component (adding messages a to queue).

When it is not the first component in a flow it acts as an outbound component (adding messages to a queue) by default.

info

• In outbound mode, the RabbitMQ component will connect to the broker the first time it needs to send a message.
• In inbound mode, the RabbitMQ component will connect to the broker upon installation and will attempt to restore the connection when it is lost (due to broker restart, network error, etc.).

Configuration

The RabbitMQ component has the following configuration options:

Force inbound

This option is only available when the RabbitMQ component is not the first component in a flow. It overrules the default outbound behaviour (adding messages a to queue) and forces the component into inbound mode (consuming queued messages).

message consumption limit

When the route is followed, only one message at a time is consumed if the component is forced into inbound mode.

The body of the message before the RabbitMQ component will be replaced with the body of the consumed message. The headers of the consumed message will be added to the headers as they existed in the message before the RabbitMQ component.

no consumable messages

When there are no messages to be consumed, the component will wait for 5 seconds until a message can be consumed. When there is no message within 5 seconds the body will become null and the message will be routed to the next component.

Host

Specify the host (URL or IP address) of the RabbitMQ broker instance, e.g. rabbit.example.org or 149.210.209.32.

Virtual host

RabbitMQ is multi-tenant system: connections, exchanges, queues, bindings, user permissions, policies and some other things belong to virtual hosts, logical groups of entities. By default the default virtual host / of RabbitMQ is used.

Port

Specify the port on which the broker is listening on the host. By default this is 5672.

Username

Specify the username of a user that can perform the desired actions.

Password

Specify the password of a user that can perform the desired actions.

Exchange type

Specify the type of the exchange.

Options

• Direct (default)
• Topic
• Fanout
• Headers

Direct

A direct exchange will direct the messages to the queue that is bound to it. When a direct exchange has multiple queues bound to it, the routing key affects to which queue the message will be directed. It should be exactly the same as the routing keys that are specified for the queue. All queues with the same routing key will receive the messages in parallel.

Topic

A topic exchange is a bit like the direct type, but more advanced. It makes it possible to use patterns in the routing keys that are bound to queues. In this case the routing key should be a list of words separated by dots like stock.usd.nyse. The exchange will compare the given routing key of a message with the routing key patterns defined on its bound queues. Queues with matching routing key patterns will receive the message in parallel.

Fanout

A fanout exchange doesn't use the routing key like the direct exchange. It will sent a copy of received messages to all queues that are bound to it.

Headers

A headers exchange is similar to a topic exchange, but the routing key is ignored. Instead it will use the message headers to compare it to the arguments specified on the exchange. Bound queues with matching arguments will receive the message in parallel.

Exchange name

Specify the name of the exchange. This can also be an exchange that doesn't exist on the broker yet.

exchange name header

You can override this option by setting a header named rabbitmq.EXCHANGE_OVERRIDE_NAME before the RabbitMQ component. This is only possible in outbound or forced inbound mode.

Routing key

Specify the routing key that determines to which queue(s) the messages will be routed.

info

This option is not available when the Exchange type option is set to Fanout or Headers.

routing key header

You can override this option by setting a header named rabbitmq.ROUTING_KEY before the RabbitMQ component. This is only possible in outbound or forced inbound mode.

Queue name

Specify the name of the queue that will be bound to the exchange. The queue will be created if it doesn't already exist.

Auto delete exchange?

Specify wether the exchange should be deleted when it is no longer in use.

New exchanges will be created on the broker with the Auto Delete setting set to the specified value. For existing exchanges, this option should match the Auto Delete setting on the broker's exchange.

When you specify a Queue name that doesn't exist yet, it will be created on the broker with the Auto Delete setting set to the specified value.

Durable exchange?

Specify wether the exchange should survive a restart of the RabbitMQ broker.

New exchanges will be created on the broker with the Durable setting set to the specified value. For existing exchanges, this option should match the Durable setting on the broker's exchange.

When you specify a Queue name that doesn't exist yet, it will be created on the broker with the Durable setting set to the specified value.

Use error route?

By default the RabbitMQ component will route failed exchanges to the Error Route when it is in inbound mode. Disable this option if you want to ignore errors that occur while consuming messages. Errors are still logged in the flow logs.

Options

• Yes (default)
• No

note

Only available when the component is set to inbound mode.

Exchange pattern

Specify the exchange pattern, It behaves differently in outbound, inbound and force inbound mode.

Options

• One way
• Request reply (default)

Outbound mode

Request reply will cause the component to wait until the message is consumed from the queue to which it was send. This ensures the message has been processed, but may be slower when sending many messages.

If there are no consumers on the queue that receives the messages, the component will wait until the message is received, throwing a timeout exception if this exceeds the time specified in the flow's Components Timeout setting.

One way simply sends messages to the broker without waiting for them to be consumed. This is ideal when sending a lot of messsages or when the queue doesn't have any consumers.

Inbound mode

This option sets the selected exchange pattern on the message that will be routed to the rest of the flow. In most cases, One Way is the best choice for inbound mode.

Forced inbound mode

When force inbound is enabled, this option is not relevant and will be hidden.

Message headers

The RabbitMQ component sets some headers on the exchange. They are different for each mode of the component.

(Force) Inbound

Header name	Value
rabbitmq.ROUTING_KEY	The routing key that was used to receive the message, or the routing key that will be used when producing a message. Remove this header when there is also a outbound component in the flow that needs a different routing key.
rabbitmq.EXCHANGE_NAME	The exchange the message was received from
rabbitmq.DELIVERY_TAG	The rabbitmq delivery tag of the received message
rabbitmq.REDELIVERY_TAG	Whether the message is redelivered
rabbitmq.REQUEUE	This is used by the consumer to control rejection of the message. When the consumer is complete processing the exchange, and if the exchange failed, then the consumer is going to reject the message from the RabbitMQ broker. The value of this header controls this behavior. If the value is false (by default) then the message is discarded/dead-lettered. If the value is true, then the message is re-queued.

Outbound

Header name	Value
rabbitmq.ROUTING_KEY	The routing key that will be used when sending the message. Will overwrite the configured routing key option in component.
rabbitmq.EXCHANGE_NAME	The exchange the message was received from. Will be set on the exchange after the message was sent to the broker.
rabbitmq.EXCHANGE_OVERRIDE_NAME	Used for force sending the message to this RabbitMQ exchange instead of the configured exchange name in the component.
rabbitmq.CONTENT_TYPE	The contentType to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.PRIORITY	The priority header to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.CORRELATIONID	The correlationId to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.MESSAGE_ID	The message id to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.DELIVERY_MODE	If the message should be persistent or not.
rabbitmq.USERID	The userId to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.CLUSTERID	The clusterId to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.REPLY_TO	The replyTo to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.CONTENT_ENCODING	The contentEncoding to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.TYPE	The type to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.EXPIRATION	The expiration to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.TIMESTAMP	The timestamp to set on the RabbitMQ message.
rabbitmq.APP_ID	The appId to set on the RabbitMQ message.

Last update on Feb 19, 2025