Index for running RabbitMQ 4.x in production: version and upgrade gates, delivery patterns, sizing and monitoring thresholds, security hardening. References hold the full write-ups; canonical reference lives at https://www.rabbitmq.com/docs.
Scope
The rabbitmq-expert agent covers exchange types, queue topology design, clustering and HA, protocols, and first-aid diagnostics inline. This skill supplies what the agent defers here: version-specific upgrade gates, sizing and monitoring thresholds, full delivery-pattern write-ups, and security hardening. Load the matching reference below instead of reasoning from general RabbitMQ knowledge; defaults and limits change materially between minor versions.
When to use
- Planning or executing a RabbitMQ upgrade across major or minor versions
- Choosing a queue type for a new workload (classic, quorum, stream)
- Implementing a delivery pattern (retry, outbox, idempotency, RPC)
- Sizing a cluster or setting monitoring thresholds and alarms
- Hardening a broker for TLS or multi-tenancy
- Diagnosing an operational incident beyond first-aid
rabbitmqctlchecks
How to use this skill
The quick tables below are for fast checks during a conversation. For anything version-sensitive or that changes broker behavior (an upgrade, a sizing decision, a security control, a delivery pattern implementation), load the matching reference file first rather than relying on the quick table alone. The quick tables summarize; the references are the source of truth within this skill.
Current state
Current stable series: RabbitMQ 4.3 (latest patch 4.3.4). Community support for 4.1 ended 2026-01-31, for 4.2 ended 2026-07-31; 4.3 is supported until 2026-11-30. Minimum Erlang 27.0. Source: https://www.rabbitmq.com/release-information (checked 2026-08-10).
Full timeline, breaking changes per version, and client/library compatibility: load versions-and-upgrades.md.
Queue type quick table
| Queue type | Notes |
|---|---|
| classic | CQv2, non-replicated; transient denied by default in 4.3 |
| quorum | default for durable work; delivery-limit 20 default; 32 priorities and delayed retries in 4.3 |
| stream | 5M+ backlogs, fan-out, replay; no TTL, no priority, no DLX |
Topology ceilings and per-type operational limits: load operations.md. The queue-type decision list lives in the rabbitmq-expert agent.
Key thresholds quick table
| Threshold | Value |
|---|---|
| Memory watermark | 0.4 to 0.7 (default 0.6) |
| Disk free minimum | 4 GB |
| File descriptors | 50K+ |
| Connection churn alarm | above 100 connections/s |
| Default max message size | 16 MiB |
| Quorum topology ceiling | roughly 5,000 queues per cluster |
| Prometheus scrape interval | 30s |
Full sizing methodology, alarm wiring, and diagnostic playbooks: load operations.md.
Delivery patterns (client-neutral)
Retry, outbox, idempotency, and RPC patterns are written in client-neutral pseudocode so they apply across AMQP client libraries. Load patterns.md before implementing any of them.
- Do not implement retry, outbox, idempotency, or RPC from general AMQP knowledge alone; load
patterns.mdfirst - The pattern snippets in the
rabbitmq-expertagent are quick illustrations, not the full write-up
Reference index
| Reference | Load when |
|---|---|
versions-and-upgrades.md |
upgrades, breaking changes, client/library choices |
patterns.md |
implementing any delivery pattern |
operations.md |
sizing, monitoring, diagnostics beyond first aid |
security.md |
hardening, TLS, multi-tenancy |