# OptimalBits/bull

Premium Queue package for handling distributed jobs and messages in NodeJS.

Repository: https://github.com/OptimalBits/bull
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/bull
Language: JavaScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: nodejs, message-queue, job-queue, queue, job, message, priority, scheduler, rate-limiter
Last push: 2026-07-20T22:57:44+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 72/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 93, release rhythm 28, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4815, "days_push": 44, "days_rel": 623, "gap_med": 47, "n_releases_24m": 4}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 16248, forks 1411 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:15.000340+00:00)

## What it is
Bull is a Redis-based job and message queue library for Node.js supporting priorities, scheduling, retries, and rate limiting. It is now in maintenance mode, with BullMQ as its actively developed successor.

## Use cases
- run background jobs in nodejs
- schedule delayed tasks with redis
- process distributed job queues
- retry failed jobs automatically
- rate limit job processing
- send emails asynchronously from a web app

## When to choose
- you need a battle-tested Redis-backed queue for an existing Node.js codebase
- you want priorities, delayed jobs, and rate limiting out of the box
- you are maintaining a legacy project already using Bull

## When to avoid
- you are starting a new project and want active development and TypeScript support (use BullMQ)
- you need a queue without a Redis dependency
- you need features only added in BullMQ

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: message-queue, scheduling, rate-limiting, caching
- domain: backend, microservices, developer-tools
- platform: self-hosted
- tags: redis, job-queue, background-jobs, task-scheduling, bullmq-successor, nodejs

## Member repositories
- OptimalBits/bull (main) score 72

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:15.000340+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:05:10.104892+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/OptimalBits/bull (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:15.000340+00:00, sha 7c9a02cf3b0e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.