QUEUE_UNAVAILABLE — Async queue unavailable

Summary

The job queue (Redis + BullMQ) is unavailable, so async work — anything that would return 202 Accepted — can’t be queued. Sync coding (POST /v1/code with under 50 responses) still works.

HTTP status

503 Service Unavailable. Standard envelope. Usually includes Retry-After.

Example response

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "QUEUE_UNAVAILABLE",
    "message": "Job queue is temporarily unavailable. Retry async requests in 60 seconds.",
    "request_id": "req_01HXJZK4ABCDEF",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.surveycoder.io/errors/queue-unavailable"
  }
}

Why this happens

• Redis is unreachable (restart, network blip, maintenance).
• BullMQ workers are stalled and won’t accept new jobs.
• Queue depth exceeded a circuit-breaker threshold.

How to fix it

1. Retry with backoff. Most queue blips resolve within a minute.
2. For urgent work, split the job into batches under 50 responses each — those run sync without touching the queue.
3. Check the status page — Redis outages are always posted.

Related

• SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE
• Coding pipeline — the 50-response threshold for sync vs async