Using Laravel Queues to Improve Performance and User Experience

🚀 Introduction

Have you ever clicked a "submit" button and had to wait while your site sends an email or processes a big file? That’s where queues in Laravel shine. They let you push time-consuming tasks into the background — so your app stays fast and responsive.

🧱 What is a Queue in Laravel?

A queue is a system that delays execution of certain code and processes it later in the background using a worker.

✅ Use Cases:

• Sending emails

• Generating reports

• Image or video processing

• API calls that don’t need to block UI

• Payment confirmation and webhook handling

⚙️ Step 1: Setup Queue Driver

In .env file, set:

env
QUEUE_CONNECTION=database

Then run:

bash
php artisan queue:table
php artisan migrate

🛠 Step 2: Create a Job

bash
php artisan make:job SendWelcomeEmail

In SendWelcomeEmail.php:

php
public function handle()
{
    Mail::to($this->user->email)->send(new WelcomeMail($this->user));
}

🚀 Step 3: Dispatch Job

In your controller:

php
SendWelcomeEmail::dispatch($user);

⚡ Step 4: Run Worker

bash
php artisan queue:work

That’s it! Laravel now processes your job in the background.

📈 Bonus: Failed Jobs

Run:

bash
php artisan queue:failed-table
php artisan migrate

This will help track jobs that crash and retry them safely.

🔚 Conclusion

Queues are a game-changer for Laravel developers. They keep your app smooth while handling complex logic behind the scenes.

Whether you’re building a blog, SaaS, or API — queues = scalability + performance.