itsmostafa/aws-agent-skills/sqs

Name: sqs
Author: itsmostafa

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AWS SQS message queue service for decoupled architectures. Use when creating queues, configuring dead-letter queues, managing visibility timeouts, implementing FIFO ordering, or integrating with Lambda.

Install

npx vskill@latest install itsmostafa/aws-agent-skills/sqs

SKILL.md

AWS SQS

Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) is a fully managed message queuing service for decoupling and scaling microservices, distributed systems, and serverless applications.

Core Concepts
Common Patterns
CLI Reference
Best Practices
Troubleshooting
References

Core Concepts

Queue Types

Type	Description	Use Case
Standard	At-least-once, best-effort ordering	High throughput
FIFO	Exactly-once, strict ordering	Order-sensitive processing

Key Settings

Setting	Description	Default
Visibility Timeout	Time message is hidden after receive	30 seconds
Message Retention	How long messages are kept	4 days (max 14)
Delay Seconds	Delay before message is available	0
Max Message Size	Maximum message size	256 KB

Dead-Letter Queue (DLQ)

Queue for messages that failed processing after maxReceiveCount attempts.

Common Patterns

Create a Standard Queue

AWS CLI:

bash

aws sqs create-queue \
  --queue-name my-queue \
  --attributes '{
    "VisibilityTimeout": "60",
    "MessageRetentionPeriod": "604800",
    "ReceiveMessageWaitTimeSeconds": "20"
  }'

boto3:

python

import boto3
sqs = boto3.client('sqs')
response = sqs.create_queue(
    QueueName='my-queue',
    Attributes={
        'VisibilityTimeout': '60',
        'MessageRetentionPeriod': '604800',
        'ReceiveMessageWaitTimeSeconds': '20'  # Long polling
    }
)
queue_url = response['QueueUrl']

Create FIFO Queue

bash

aws sqs create-queue \
  --queue-name my-queue.fifo \
  --attributes '{
    "FifoQueue": "true",
    "ContentBasedDeduplication": "true"
  }'

Configure Dead-Letter Queue

bash

# Create DLQ
aws sqs create-queue --queue-name my-queue-dlq
 
# Get DLQ ARN
DLQ_ARN=$(aws sqs get-queue-attributes \
  --queue-url https://sqs.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/123456789012/my-queue-dlq \
  --attribute-names QueueArn \
  --query 'Attributes.QueueArn' --output text)
 
# Set redrive policy on main queue
aws sqs set-queue-attributes \
  --queue-url https://sqs.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/123456789012/my-queue \
  --attributes "{
    \"RedrivePolicy\": \"{\\\"deadLetterTargetArn\\\":\\\"${DLQ_ARN}\\\",\\\"maxReceiveCount\\\":\\\"3\\\"}\"
  }"

Send Messages

python

import boto3
import json
sqs = boto3.client('sqs')
queue_url = 'https://sqs.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/123456789012/my-queue'
# Send single message
sqs.send_message(
    QueueUrl=queue_url,
    MessageBody=json.dumps({'order_id': '12345', 'action': 'process'}),
    MessageAttributes={
        'MessageType': {
            'DataType': 'String',
            'StringValue': 'Order'
        }
    }
)
# Send to FIFO queue
sqs.send_message(
    QueueUrl='https://sqs.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/123456789012/my-queue.fifo',
    MessageBody=json.dumps({'order_id': '12345'}),
    MessageGroupId='order-12345',
    MessageDeduplicationId='unique-id-12345'
)
# Batch send (up to 10 messages)
sqs.send_message_batch(
    QueueUrl=queue_url,
    Entries=[
        {'Id': '1', 'MessageBody': json.dumps({'id': 1})},
        {'Id': '2', 'MessageBody': json.dumps({'id': 2})},
        {'Id': '3', 'MessageBody': json.dumps({'id': 3})}
    ]
)

Receive and Process Messages

python

import boto3
import json
sqs = boto3.client('sqs')
queue_url = 'https://sqs.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/123456789012/my-queue'
while True:
    # Long polling (wait up to 20 seconds)
    response = sqs.receive_message(
        QueueUrl=queue_url,
        MaxNumberOfMessages=10,
        WaitTimeSeconds=20,
        MessageAttributeNames=['All'],
        AttributeNames=['All']
    )
    messages = response.get('Messages', [])
    for message in messages:
        try:
            body = json.loads(message['Body'])
            print(f"Processing: {body}")
            # Process message...
            # Delete on success
            sqs.delete_message(
                QueueUrl=queue_url,
                ReceiptHandle=message['ReceiptHandle']
            )
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"Error processing message: {e}")
            # Message will become visible again after visibility timeout

Lambda Integration

bash

# Create event source mapping
aws lambda create-event-source-mapping \
  --function-name my-function \
  --event-source-arn arn:aws:sqs:us-east-1:123456789012:my-queue \
  --batch-size 10 \
  --maximum-batching-window-in-seconds 5

Lambda handler:

python

def handler(event, context):
    for record in event['Records']:
        body = json.loads(record['body'])
        message_id = record['messageId']
        try:
            process_message(body)
        except Exception as e:
            # Raise to put message back in queue
            raise
    return {'batchItemFailures': []}

CLI Reference

Queue Management

Command	Description
`aws sqs create-queue`	Create queue
`aws sqs delete-queue`	Delete queue
`aws sqs list-queues`	List queues
`aws sqs get-queue-url`	Get queue URL by name
`aws sqs get-queue-attributes`	Get queue settings
`aws sqs set-queue-attributes`	Update queue settings

Messaging

Command	Description
`aws sqs send-message`	Send single message
`aws sqs send-message-batch`	Send up to 10 messages
`aws sqs receive-message`	Receive messages
`aws sqs delete-message`	Delete message
`aws sqs delete-message-batch`	Delete up to 10 messages
`aws sqs purge-queue`	Delete all messages

Visibility

Command	Description
`aws sqs change-message-visibility`	Change timeout
`aws sqs change-message-visibility-batch`	Batch change

Best Practices

Message Processing

Use long polling (WaitTimeSeconds=20) to reduce API calls
Delete messages promptly after successful processing
Configure appropriate visibility timeout (> processing time)
Implement idempotent consumers for at-least-once delivery

Dead-Letter Queues

Always configure DLQ for production queues
Set appropriate maxReceiveCount (usually 3-5)
Monitor DLQ depth with CloudWatch alarms
Process DLQ messages manually or with automation

FIFO Queues

Use message group IDs to partition ordering
Enable content-based deduplication or provide dedup IDs
Throughput: 300 msgs/sec without batching, 3000 with

Security

Use queue policies to control access
Enable encryption with SSE-SQS or SSE-KMS
Use VPC endpoints for private access

Troubleshooting

Messages Not Being Received

Causes:

Short polling returning empty
All messages in flight (visibility timeout)
Messages delayed (DelaySeconds)

Debug:

bash

# Check queue attributes
aws sqs get-queue-attributes \
  --queue-url $QUEUE_URL \
  --attribute-names All
 
# Check approximate message counts
aws sqs get-queue-attributes \
  --queue-url $QUEUE_URL \
  --attribute-names \
    ApproximateNumberOfMessages,\
    ApproximateNumberOfMessagesNotVisible,\
    ApproximateNumberOfMessagesDelayed

Messages Going to DLQ

Causes:

Processing errors
Visibility timeout too short
Consumer not deleting messages

Redrive from DLQ:

bash

# Enable redrive allow policy on source queue
aws sqs set-queue-attributes \
  --queue-url $MAIN_QUEUE_URL \
  --attributes '{"RedriveAllowPolicy": "{\"redrivePermission\":\"allowAll\"}"}'
 
# Start redrive
aws sqs start-message-move-task \
  --source-arn arn:aws:sqs:us-east-1:123456789012:my-queue-dlq \
  --destination-arn arn:aws:sqs:us-east-1:123456789012:my-queue

Duplicate Processing

Solutions:

Use FIFO queues for exactly-once
Implement idempotency in consumer
Track processed message IDs in database

Lambda Not Processing

bash

# Check event source mapping
aws lambda list-event-source-mappings \
  --function-name my-function
 
# Check for errors
aws lambda get-event-source-mapping \
  --uuid <mapping-uuid>

References

Security

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Source

SKILL.md in the repositoryCheckingskills/sqs/SKILL.md

Popularity

Repository stars: 1,050
Repository forks: 437
7-day trend score: 35

Stars and forks are for the whole GitHub repository, not this skill alone. Refreshed 22 Mar 2026, 7 months ago.

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Install

SKILL.md

AWS SQS

Table of Contents

Core Concepts

Queue Types

Key Settings

Dead-Letter Queue (DLQ)

Common Patterns

Create a Standard Queue

Create FIFO Queue

Configure Dead-Letter Queue

Send Messages

Receive and Process Messages

Lambda Integration

CLI Reference

Queue Management

Messaging

Visibility

Best Practices

Message Processing

Dead-Letter Queues

FIFO Queues

Security

Troubleshooting

Messages Not Being Received

Messages Going to DLQ

Duplicate Processing

Lambda Not Processing

References

Security

Quality evaluation

Source

Popularity

Works with