Getting Started

This track is the recommended path for anyone new to Stem. Follow the pages in order—each builds on the previous one and links to deeper references when you want to explore further.

• Introduction – Prerequisites, the feature tour, and how the onboarding journey is structured.
• Quick Start – Create your first Stem tasks, enqueue with delays/priorities, and inspect results in memory.
• First Steps – Bootstrap an in-memory StemApp, enqueue from a producer, and read results.
• Connect to Infrastructure – Run Redis/Postgres locally, configure brokers/backends, experiment with routing and canvas patterns.
• Observe & Operate – Enable OpenTelemetry export, inspect workers/queues/DLQ via CLI, and wire lifecycle signals.
• Prepare for Production – Apply signing/TLS, deploy with systemd or CLI multi-process tooling, and run quality gates before launch.
• Troubleshooting – Common errors and quick fixes while onboarding.
• Stem vs BullMQ – Canonical feature mapping with ✓/~ /✗ parity semantics.

Once you complete the journey, continue with the in-depth material under Workflows, Core Concepts, and Workers.

Preview: a full Stem pipeline in one file

Use this example as a mental model for how tasks, workers, and brokers fit together.

Define the task handler

stem_example.dart

  static final definition = TaskDefinition<HelloArgs, void>(
    name: 'demo.hello',
    encodeArgs: (args) => {'name': args.name},
    metadata: TaskMetadata(description: 'Simple hello world example'),
  );

  @override
  String get name => 'demo.hello';

  @override
  TaskMetadata get metadata => definition.metadata;

Configure retries and rate limits

stem_example.dart

  @override
  TaskOptions get options => const TaskOptions(
    queue: 'default',
    maxRetries: 3,
    rateLimit: '10/s',
    visibilityTimeout: Duration(seconds: 60),
  );

Create the broker, backend, and worker

stem_example.dart

  final app = await StemApp.fromUrl(
    'redis://localhost:6379',
    tasks: [HelloTask()],
    adapters: const [StemRedisAdapter()],
    overrides: const StemStoreOverrides(backend: 'redis://localhost:6379/1'),
  );

Start the worker and enqueue tasks

stem_example.dart

  // Map-based enqueue for quick scripts or one-off calls.
  final taskId = await app.enqueue('demo.hello', args: {'name': 'Stem'});
  await app.waitForTask<void>(taskId, timeout: const Duration(seconds: 2));

  // Typed helper with TaskDefinition for compile-time safety.
  await HelloTask.definition.enqueueAndWait(
    app,
    const HelloArgs(name: 'Stem'),
    timeout: const Duration(seconds: 2),
  );
  await app.close();