Create a Queue Service

A queue service is a great example of a long-running service, where work items can be queued and worked on sequentially as previous work items are completed. Relying on the Worker Service template, you build out new functionality on top of the BackgroundService.

In this tutorial, you learn how to:

Prerequisites

• The .NET 8.0 SDK or later
• A .NET integrated development environment (IDE)
  • Feel free to use Visual Studio

Create a new project

To create a new Worker Service project with Visual Studio, you'd select File > New > Project.... From the Create a new project dialog search for "Worker Service", and select Worker Service template. If you'd rather use the .NET CLI, open your favorite terminal in a working directory. Run the dotnet new command, and replace the <Project.Name> with your desired project name.

dotnet new worker --name <Project.Name>

For more information on the .NET CLI new worker service project command, see dotnet new worker.

Create queuing services

You may be familiar with the QueueBackgroundWorkItem(Func<CancellationToken,Task>) functionality from the System.Web.Hosting namespace.

In .NET, to model a service that is inspired by the QueueBackgroundWorkItem functionality, start by adding an IBackgroundTaskQueue interface to the project:

namespace App.QueueService;

public interface IBackgroundTaskQueue
{
    ValueTask QueueBackgroundWorkItemAsync(
        Func<CancellationToken, ValueTask> workItem);

    ValueTask<Func<CancellationToken, ValueTask>> DequeueAsync(
        CancellationToken cancellationToken);
}

There are two methods, one that exposes queuing functionality, and another that dequeues previously queued work items. A work item is a Func<CancellationToken, ValueTask>. Next, add the default implementation to the project.

using System.Threading.Channels;

namespace App.QueueService;

public sealed class DefaultBackgroundTaskQueue : IBackgroundTaskQueue
{
    private readonly Channel<Func<CancellationToken, ValueTask>> _queue;

    public DefaultBackgroundTaskQueue(int capacity)
    {
        BoundedChannelOptions options = new(capacity)
        {
            FullMode = BoundedChannelFullMode.Wait
        };
        _queue = Channel.CreateBounded<Func<CancellationToken, ValueTask>>(options);
    }

    public async ValueTask QueueBackgroundWorkItemAsync(
        Func<CancellationToken, ValueTask> workItem)
    {
        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(workItem);

        await _queue.Writer.WriteAsync(workItem);
    }

    public async ValueTask<Func<CancellationToken, ValueTask>> DequeueAsync(
        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        Func<CancellationToken, ValueTask>? workItem =
            await _queue.Reader.ReadAsync(cancellationToken);

        return workItem;
    }
}

The preceding implementation relies on a Channel<T> as a queue. The BoundedChannelOptions(Int32) is called with an explicit capacity. Capacity should be set based on the expected application load and number of concurrent threads accessing the queue. BoundedChannelFullMode.Wait causes calls to ChannelWriter<T>.WriteAsync to return a task, which completes only when space becomes available. Which leads to backpressure, in case too many publishers/calls start accumulating.

Rewrite the Worker class

In the following QueueHostedService example:

• The ProcessTaskQueueAsync method returns a Task in ExecuteAsync.
• Background tasks in the queue are dequeued and executed in ProcessTaskQueueAsync.
• Work items are awaited before the service stops in StopAsync.

Replace the existing Worker class with the following C# code, and rename the file to QueueHostedService.cs.

namespace App.QueueService;

public sealed class QueuedHostedService(
        IBackgroundTaskQueue taskQueue,
        ILogger<QueuedHostedService> logger) : BackgroundService
{
    protected override Task ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken)
    {
        logger.LogInformation("""
            {Name} is running.
            Tap W to add a work item to the 
            background queue.
            """,
            nameof(QueuedHostedService));

        return ProcessTaskQueueAsync(stoppingToken);
    }

    private async Task ProcessTaskQueueAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken)
    {
        while (!stoppingToken.IsCancellationRequested)
        {
            try
            {
                Func<CancellationToken, ValueTask>? workItem =
                    await taskQueue.DequeueAsync(stoppingToken);

                await workItem(stoppingToken);
            }
            catch (OperationCanceledException)
            {
                // Prevent throwing if stoppingToken was signaled
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                logger.LogError(ex, "Error occurred executing task work item.");
            }
        }
    }

    public override async Task StopAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken)
    {
        logger.LogInformation(
            $"{nameof(QueuedHostedService)} is stopping.");

        await base.StopAsync(stoppingToken);
    }
}

A MonitorLoop service handles enqueuing tasks for the hosted service whenever the w key is selected on an input device:

• The IBackgroundTaskQueue is injected into the MonitorLoop service.
• IBackgroundTaskQueue.QueueBackgroundWorkItemAsync is called to enqueue a work item.
• The work item simulates a long-running background task:
  • Three 5-second delays are executed Delay.
  • A try-catch statement traps OperationCanceledException if the task is canceled.

namespace App.QueueService;

public sealed class MonitorLoop(
    IBackgroundTaskQueue taskQueue,
    ILogger<MonitorLoop> logger,
    IHostApplicationLifetime applicationLifetime)
{
    private readonly CancellationToken _cancellationToken = applicationLifetime.ApplicationStopping;

    public void StartMonitorLoop()
    {
        logger.LogInformation($"{nameof(MonitorAsync)} loop is starting.");

        // Run a console user input loop in a background thread
        Task.Run(async () => await MonitorAsync());
    }

    private async ValueTask MonitorAsync()
    {
        while (!_cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
        {
            var keyStroke = Console.ReadKey();
            if (keyStroke.Key == ConsoleKey.W)
            {
                // Enqueue a background work item
                await taskQueue.QueueBackgroundWorkItemAsync(BuildWorkItemAsync);
            }
        }
    }

    private async ValueTask BuildWorkItemAsync(CancellationToken token)
    {
        // Simulate three 5-second tasks to complete
        // for each enqueued work item

        int delayLoop = 0;
        var guid = Guid.NewGuid();

        logger.LogInformation("Queued work item {Guid} is starting.", guid);

        while (!token.IsCancellationRequested && delayLoop < 3)
        {
            try
            {
                await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5), token);
            }
            catch (OperationCanceledException)
            {
                // Prevent throwing if the Delay is cancelled
            }

            ++ delayLoop;

            logger.LogInformation("Queued work item {Guid} is running. {DelayLoop}/3", guid, delayLoop);
        }

        if (delayLoop is 3)
        {
            logger.LogInformation("Queued Background Task {Guid} is complete.", guid);
        }
        else
        {
            logger.LogInformation("Queued Background Task {Guid} was cancelled.", guid);
        }
    }
}

Replace the existing Program contents with the following C# code:

using App.QueueService;

HostApplicationBuilder builder = Host.CreateApplicationBuilder(args);
builder.Services.AddSingleton<MonitorLoop>();
builder.Services.AddHostedService<QueuedHostedService>();
builder.Services.AddSingleton<IBackgroundTaskQueue>(_ => 
{
    if (!int.TryParse(builder.Configuration["QueueCapacity"], out var queueCapacity))
    {
        queueCapacity = 100;
    }

    return new DefaultBackgroundTaskQueue(queueCapacity);
});

IHost host = builder.Build();

MonitorLoop monitorLoop = host.Services.GetRequiredService<MonitorLoop>()!;
monitorLoop.StartMonitorLoop();

host.Run();

The services are registered in (Program.cs). The hosted service is registered with the AddHostedService extension method. MonitorLoop is started in Program.cs top-level statement:

MonitorLoop monitorLoop = host.Services.GetRequiredService<MonitorLoop>()!;
monitorLoop.StartMonitorLoop();

For more information on registering services, see Dependency injection in .NET.

Verify service functionality

To run the application from Visual Studio, select F5 or select the Debug > Start Debugging menu option. If you're using the .NET CLI, run the dotnet run command from the working directory:

dotnet run

For more information on the .NET CLI run command, see dotnet run.

When prompted enter the w (or W) at least once to queue an emulated work item, as shown in the example output:

info: App.QueueService.MonitorLoop[0]
      MonitorAsync loop is starting.
info: App.QueueService.QueuedHostedService[0]
      QueuedHostedService is running.

      Tap W to add a work item to the background queue.

info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Application started. Press Ctrl+C to shut down.
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Hosting environment: Development
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Content root path: .\queue-service
winfo: App.QueueService.MonitorLoop[0]
      Queued work item 8453f845-ea4a-4bcb-b26e-c76c0d89303e is starting.
info: App.QueueService.MonitorLoop[0]
      Queued work item 8453f845-ea4a-4bcb-b26e-c76c0d89303e is running. 1/3
info: App.QueueService.MonitorLoop[0]
      Queued work item 8453f845-ea4a-4bcb-b26e-c76c0d89303e is running. 2/3
info: App.QueueService.MonitorLoop[0]
      Queued work item 8453f845-ea4a-4bcb-b26e-c76c0d89303e is running. 3/3
info: App.QueueService.MonitorLoop[0]
      Queued Background Task 8453f845-ea4a-4bcb-b26e-c76c0d89303e is complete.
info: Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime[0]
      Application is shutting down...
info: App.QueueService.QueuedHostedService[0]
      QueuedHostedService is stopping.

If running the application from within Visual Studio, select Debug > Stop Debugging.... Alternatively, select Ctrl + C from the console window to signal cancellation.

See also

• Worker Services in .NET
• Use scoped services within a BackgroundService
• Create a Windows Service using BackgroundService
• Implement the IHostedService interface
• Web-Queue-Worker architectural style