What is fire-and-forget for emails?
The simplest approach: call sendEmail().catch(err => console.error(err)) without awaiting. The email sends in the background, and the HTTP response returns immediately. No retry, no persistence, but no extra dependencies. Good for small apps with low email volume.
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More FAQs in Email Queues and Async Sending in Node.js Bull, SQS, and Background Jobs
Email queues provide faster HTTP responses (don't block on email sending), automatic retry on failure, rate limiting (SES has sending limits), priority (important emails first), persistence (survives restarts), and scalability (separate workers for email processing).
Install bull, create a Queue with Redis config, process jobs with emailQueue.process(async (job) => sendEmail(...)), add jobs with emailQueue.add({ to, template, data }, { attempts: 3, backoff: { type: 'exponential', delay: 5000 } }). Bull handles retry, persistence, and rate limiting.
Use SQS if your app is already heavily integrated with AWS, you don't want to manage Redis, or you need a separate worker process for email sending. SQS is fully managed, integrates with SES and SNS, and provides built-in retry and dead-letter queues.
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