---

name: queue-observability description: "Monitor message queues, job processing, and detect backpressure" triggers:

• "queue metrics"
• "Kafka monitoring"
• "message queue observability"
• "consumer lag" priority: 2

---

Queue Observability

Queues decouple systems but hide problems. Track depth, processing time, and lag.

Key Metrics

Span Attributes

Producer Pattern

CopyBefore: Start span (kind=PRODUCER), inject trace context into headers, start timer
After:  Record duration, increment published, record errors, end span

Consumer Pattern

CopyOn receive: Extract trace context, start span (kind=CONSUMER), start timer
After:      Record duration, increment consumed, record errors, end span

Issues to Detect

Anti-Patterns

• No trace context in messages → Traces break at queue boundary
• No DLQ monitoring → Poison messages go unnoticed
• Missing depth alerts → Backpressure surprises

References

• references/platforms/{platform}/worker.md
• references/patterns/retry-backoff.md