RabbitMQ PHP Cheat-Sheet

May 20, 2025•3 min read

RabbitMQ Docker setup

Run RabbitMQ with the management plugin enabled:

docker run -d \
  --name rabbitmq \
  -p 5672:5672 \
  -p 15672:15672 \
  rabbitmq:management

The connexion string is amqp://localhost:5672

You can connect to your instance using RabbitGUI at http://localhost:15672 (guest/guest)

Docker compose setup for RabbitMQ

Create a docker-compose.yml file with custom credentials and persistent storage:

version: '3'
services:
  rabbitmq:
    image: rabbitmq:management
    container_name: rabbitmq
    ports:
      - "5672:5672"
      - "15672:15672"
    environment:
      RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER: user
      RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS: password
    volumes:
      - rabbitmq_data:/var/lib/rabbitmq
 
volumes:
  rabbitmq_data:

The connexion string is amqp://user:password@localhost:5672

You can connect to your instance using RabbitGUI at http://localhost:15672 (user/password)

Installation in PHP

Add the php-amqplib package to your project using Composer:

composer require php-amqplib/php-amqplib

Producer example

You can publish directly to a queue using the basic_publish method:

<?php
require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
 
use PhpAmqpLib\Connection\AMQPStreamConnection;
use PhpAmqpLib\Message\AMQPMessage;
 
$connection = new AMQPStreamConnection('localhost', 5672, 'guest', 'guest');
$channel = $connection->channel();
 
$channel->queue_declare('my_queue', false, false, false, false);
 
$msg = new AMQPMessage('Hello RabbitGUI!');
$channel->basic_publish($msg, '', 'my_queue');
 
$channel->close();
$connection->close();

Consumer example

Your consumer can listen to messages from a queue using the basic_consume method:

<?php
require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
 
use PhpAmqpLib\Connection\AMQPStreamConnection;
 
$connection = new AMQPStreamConnection('localhost', 5672, 'guest', 'guest');
$channel = $connection->channel();
 
$channel->queue_declare('my_queue', false, false, false, false);
 
$callback = function ($msg) {
    echo "Message: " . $msg->body . "\n";
};
 
$channel->basic_consume('my_queue', '', false, true, false, false, $callback);
 
while ($channel->is_consuming()) {
    $channel->wait();
}
 
$channel->close();
$connection->close();

Exchanges examples

Direct

A direct exchange routes messages to queues based on exact routing key matches:

<?php
use PhpAmqpLib\Connection\AMQPStreamConnection;
use PhpAmqpLib\Message\AMQPMessage;
 
$connection = new AMQPStreamConnection('localhost', 5672, 'guest', 'guest');
$channel = $connection->channel();
 
$channel->exchange_declare('my_exchange', 'direct', false, false, false);
$channel->queue_declare('my_queue', false, false, false, false);
$channel->queue_bind('my_queue', 'my_exchange', 'my.routing.key');
 
$msg = new AMQPMessage('Hello RabbitGUI!');
$channel->basic_publish($msg, 'my_exchange', 'my.routing.key');
 
$callback = function ($msg) {
    echo "Message: " . $msg->body . "\n";
};
 
$channel->basic_consume('my_queue', '', false, true, false, false, $callback);

Fanout

A fanout exchange broadcasts messages to all bound queues, ignoring routing keys:

<?php
use PhpAmqpLib\Connection\AMQPStreamConnection;
use PhpAmqpLib\Message\AMQPMessage;
 
$connection = new AMQPStreamConnection('localhost', 5672, 'guest', 'guest');
$channel = $connection->channel();
 
$channel->exchange_declare('my_exchange', 'fanout', false, false, false);
$channel->queue_declare('my_queue', false, false, false, false);
$channel->queue_bind('my_queue', 'my_exchange', '');
 
$msg = new AMQPMessage('Hello RabbitGUI!');
$channel->basic_publish($msg, 'my_exchange', '');
 
$callback = function ($msg) {
    echo "Message: " . $msg->body . "\n";
};
 
$channel->basic_consume('my_queue', '', false, true, false, false, $callback);

Topic

A topic exchange routes messages based on wildcard pattern matching (* for one word, # for zero or more words):

<?php
use PhpAmqpLib\Connection\AMQPStreamConnection;
use PhpAmqpLib\Message\AMQPMessage;
 
$connection = new AMQPStreamConnection('localhost', 5672, 'guest', 'guest');
$channel = $connection->channel();
 
$channel->exchange_declare('my_exchange', 'topic', false, false, false);
$channel->queue_declare('my_queue', false, false, false, false);
$channel->queue_bind('my_queue', 'my_exchange', '*.routing.*');
 
$msg = new AMQPMessage('Hello RabbitGUI!');
$channel->basic_publish($msg, 'my_exchange', 'my.routing.key');
 
$callback = function ($msg) {
    echo "Message: " . $msg->body . "\n";
};
 
$channel->basic_consume('my_queue', '', false, true, false, false, $callback);

Message acknowledgements

Automatic acknowledgement

RabbitMQ will dequeue messages as soon as they've been sent down the wire.

$channel->basic_consume('my_queue', '', false, true, false, false, $callback);
//                                              ^^^^
//                                              auto_ack = true

Manual acknowledgement

Manually acknowledge messages after processing to ensure they are removed from the queue:

$callback = function ($msg) {
    // Process message
    $msg->ack();
};
 
$channel->basic_consume('my_queue', '', false, false, false, false, $callback);
//                                              ^^^^^
//                                              auto_ack = false

Reject and requeue

Reject a message and put it back in the queue for reprocessing:

$callback = function ($msg) {
    // Process message
    $msg->nack(true); // requeue = true
};
 
$channel->basic_consume('my_queue', '', false, false, false, false, $callback);

Reject and do not requeue

Reject a message and discard it (sends to dead letter queue if configured):

$callback = function ($msg) {
    // Process message
    $msg->nack(false); // requeue = false
};
 
$channel->basic_consume('my_queue', '', false, false, false, false, $callback);

Dead Letter Queues

Configure a queue with a dead letter exchange to catch rejected or expired messages:

<?php
require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
 
use PhpAmqpLib\Connection\AMQPStreamConnection;
use PhpAmqpLib\Wire\AMQPTable;
 
$connection = new AMQPStreamConnection('localhost', 5672, 'guest', 'guest');
$channel = $connection->channel();
 
// Create the dead letter exchange and queue
$channel->exchange_declare('dlx_exchange', 'direct', false, false, false);
$channel->queue_declare('dead_letter_queue', false, false, false, false);
$channel->queue_bind('dead_letter_queue', 'dlx_exchange', '');
 
// Create main queue with dead letter configuration
$args = new AMQPTable([
    'x-dead-letter-exchange' => 'dlx_exchange',
    'x-dead-letter-routing-key' => ''
]);
 
$channel->queue_declare('my_queue', false, false, false, false, $args);