honker (Elixir)

Elixir binding for Honker — durable queues, streams, pub/sub, and scheduler on SQLite.

Install

def deps do
  [
    {:honker, "~> 0.1"}
  ]
end

You'll also need the Honker SQLite extension. Prebuilds at GitHub releases, or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/russellromney/honker
cd honker
cargo build --release -p honker-extension
# → target/release/libhonker_ext.{dylib,so}

Why this matters for Elixir

SQLite-backed task queues compete directly with Oban (Postgres-based). For single-node Phoenix / Nerves / LiveView apps that don't already run Postgres, Honker removes the whole "provision and operate a second database" step.

Quick start

{:ok, db} = Honker.open("app.db", extension_path: "./libhonker_ext.dylib")

{:ok, _id} = Honker.Queue.enqueue(db, "emails", %{to: "alice@example.com"})

case Honker.Queue.claim_one(db, "emails", "worker-1") do
  {:ok, nil} -> :empty
  {:ok, job} ->
    send_email(job.payload)
    Honker.Job.ack(db, job)
end

API

Honker.open(path, extension_path: ...) → {:ok, %Honker.Database{}}

Opens or creates a SQLite DB, loads the Honker loadable extension, applies default PRAGMAs, and bootstraps the schema.

Honker.configure_queue(db, queue_name, opts) → %Honker.Database{}

Register per-queue options: visibility_timeout_s (default 300), max_attempts (default 3).

Honker.Queue.enqueue(db, queue, payload, opts) → {:ok, id}

Insert a job. payload is any term — encoded via Jason. opts supports :delay, :run_at, :priority, :expires.

Honker.Queue.claim_batch(db, queue, worker_id, n) / Honker.Queue.claim_one(db, queue, worker_id)

Atomic claim. Returns {:ok, [%Job{}]} or {:ok, nil}.

Honker.Job.ack(db, job) / retry(db, job, delay_s, error) / fail(db, job, error) / heartbeat(db, job, extend_s)

Claim lifecycle. Each returns {:ok, bool} — true iff the claim was still valid.

Honker.notify(db, channel, payload) → {:ok, id}

Fire a pg_notify-style pub/sub signal.

What's not here yet

• GenServer-backed worker / Supervisor tree (you can build this in ~50 lines with the claim + ack primitives)
• Typed Streams / Scheduler wrappers (use raw SQL on db.conn for now)
• listen / WAL-wake async API

The design intent: keep the binding tiny, let the Elixir / Phoenix side build whatever Supervisor/GenServer shape fits the app.

Testing

# Build the extension first
cd /path/to/honker && cargo build --release -p honker-extension

cd packages/honker-ex
mix deps.get
mix test