# Message Queue (MQ) Listener

- Updated on Oct 24, 2025
- Published on Mar 18, 2025

- 6 minute(s) read

With the Message Queue Listener Input Block, you can configure connections to the following message queue types:

- ActiveMQ
- Amazon SQS
- IBM MQ
- RabbitMQ

To select the message queue type you want to use for a Message Queue Listener connection, click on its name in the **Message Queue Type** drop-down list at the top of the block’s settings.

If you would like to use a Message Queue Listener connection in a SaaS instance and your MQ service is not public, you should create a firewall pinhole for the connection. Contact your Hyperscience representative for more information.

## Sample use cases

- I send submission info from external systems to an Amazon SQS queue. I want to ingest this submission info into Hyperscience for processing.
- My customers will post relevant documents and metadata to my ActiveMQ queue. I want to then ingest these documents and metadata for processing into Hyperscience.

## Message format

A JSON object must be passed to the message queue in order for Hyperscience to read the appropriate input image files. It should have the same format as the request payload for the Submission Creation API endpoint, with one key difference: in the MQ message payload, the _files_ element is an array of file URLs and does not contain individual _file_url_ elements.

An example MQ message payload is shown below.

```json
{
  "flow_uuid": "a89d6440-a2c2-423b-8c95",
  "machine_only": "true",
  "files": [
    "s3://s3-bucket/input/demo-file.pdf",
    "https://example.com/files/demo-file.pdf",
    "ocs://2021"
  ]
}
```

For more information about the Submission Creation payload, see the [Submission Creation](https://docs.hyperscience.ai/v5/#submission-creation) section of our API documentation.

## Block settings table

In addition to the settings outlined below, you can also configure the settings described in [Universal Integration Block Settings](https://help.hyperscience.ai/v41/docs/universal-integration-block-settings).

### ActiveMQ

| **Name** | **Required?** | **Description** |
| -------- | ------------- | --------------- |
| **Username** | Yes | The username of a user that has access to the message queue. |
| **Password** | Yes | The password of a user that has access to the message queue.<br>To edit the password, click **Edit value**, modify the password, and then click **Done**. |
| **Queue Name** | Yes | The name of the message queue in ActiveMQ. |
| **Host Name** | Yes | The hostname of the system where the message queue is being run. |

### Amazon SQS

| **Name** | **Required?** | **Description** |
| -------- | ------------- | --------------- |
| **AWS Region** | Yes | The AWS region of the source data. |
| **Access Key ID** | Yes, if **Use AWS EC2 Instance IAM Role Credentials** is not selected | The access key ID allows access to the message queue.<br>This setting is only available if **Use AWS EC2 Instance IAM Role Credentials** are not selected.<br>**Access Key ID** must be provided in SaaS deployments running v40.1 or earlier. |
| **Secret Access Key** | Yes, if **Use AWS EC2 Instance IAM Role Credentials** is not selected | The secret access key allows access to the message queue.<br>To edit the key, click **Edit value**, modify the key, and then click **Done**.<br>This setting is only available if **Use AWS EC2 Instance IAM Role Credentials** are not selected.<br>**Secret Access Key** must be provided in SaaS deployments running v40.1 or earlier. |
| **Queue URL** | Yes | The queue URL for sending messages. |
| **Use AWS EC2 Instance IAM Role Credentials** | Yes | If selected, credentials are obtained from the EC2 instance directly, and **Access Key ID** and **Secret Access Key** are not present.<br>This option applies only to on-premise deployments and SaaS deployments running v40.2 or later where an IAM role has already been configured. |

#### Additional configurations in AWS

These configurations need to be made via the AWS interface.

**Permissions**

The following permissions should be granted:

- _sqs:ReceiveMessage_
- _sqs:GetQueueUrl_
- _sqs:DeleteMessage_
- _sqs:ChangeMessageVisibility_

**Visibility timeout**

To avoid duplicate processing, configure the queue's visibility timeout to at least 60 seconds. Doing so ensures that the timeout window is longer than the maximum 30-second response time from StrongDM (SDM) HTTP requests.

### IBM MQ

| **Name** | **Required?** | **Description** |
| -------- | ------------- | --------------- |
| **No Auth Credentials Required** | Yes | Indicates whether the connection requires a username and password.<br>If selected, **Username** and **Password** are not present. |
| **Username** | Yes, if available | The username of a user that has access to the queue manager.<br>This field is only available if **No Auth Credentials Required** is not selected. |
| **Password** | Yes, if available | The password of a user that has access to the queue manager.<br>To edit the password, click **Edit value**, modify the password, and then click **Done**.<br>This field is only available if **No Auth Credentials Required** is not selected. |
| **Queue Name** | Yes | The name of the message queue in IBM MQ. |
| **Host Name** | Yes | The hostname of the system where the message queue is being run. |
| **Port Number** | Yes | The port number the connection should use to access the queue manager.<br>Defaults to 1414. |
| **Queue Manager** | Yes | The name of the message queue's queue manager in IBM MQ. |
| **Channel** | Yes | The queue manager's channel in IBM MQ. |
| **SSL Cipher Suite** | Yes, if you want to use an SSL connection | The CipherSuite connection should use to communicate with the queue manager.

### RabbitMQ

| **Name** | **Required?** | **Description** |
| -------- | ------------- | --------------- |
| **Username** | Yes | The username of a user that has access to the message queue. |
| **Password** | Yes | The password of a user that has access to the message queue.<br>To edit the password, click **Edit value**, modify the password, and then click **Done**. |
| **Queue Name** | Yes | The name of the message queue in RabbitMQ. |
| **Host Name** | Yes | The hostname of the system where the message queue is being run. |
| **Port Number** | Yes | The port number the connection should use to access the message queue.<br>Defaults to 5672. |
| **Virtual Host** | No | The name of the virtual host where the message queue is being run. |
| **Connection Type** | Yes | Specify whether the connection is a TCP or SSL connection. |

## Setting up Message Queue Listener

All Message Queue Listener connections can be set up in Hyperscience, but Amazon SQS connections require additional configuration steps in AWS.

### Setting up a Message Queue Listener in Hyperscience

To set up any of the Message Queue Listener Input Blocks, follow these steps.

1. Log in to your Hyperscience instance.
2. Go to **Flows** and choose any flow.
3. Scroll to the start of the flow in the Flow Studio and click **Inputs**.
4. Click **Add** and select Message Queue Listener from the list.
5. Click the **Add Connection** button.
6. From the **Message Queue Type** drop-down menu, select your Message Queue Type and enter the Block settings described above.

If you are setting up an ActiveMQ, IBM MQ, or RabbitMQ connection, you do not need to complete any additional steps.

If you are setting up an Amazon SQS connection, you also need to complete the steps outlined in [Setting up an Amazon SQS connection in AWS](https://help.hyperscience.ai/v41/docs/message-queue-mq-listener#setting-up-an-amazon-sqs-connection-in-aws).

## Dead-letter queues

A dead-letter queue (DLQ) is a specialized message queue designed to temporarily hold messages that encounter processing errors within a software system. Hyperscience recommends setting the maximum number of retry attempts for a message to be between 3 and 5. When a message goes above this number of retry attempts, it should be redirected to the DLQ.

### Setting up DLQs

To set up a DLQ, see the instructions for the MQ listener you’re currently using:

- **SQS** — Amazon's [Configuring a dead-letter queue redrive](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSSimpleQueueService/latest/SQSDeveloperGuide/sqs-configure-dead-letter-queue-redrive.html)
- **IBM MQ** — IBM's [Dead-letter queues](https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ibm-mq/7.5?topic=queue-defining-dead-letter)
- **ActiveMQ** — ActiveMQ's [Message Redelivery and DLQ Handling](https://activemq.apache.org/message-redelivery-and-dlq-handling)
- **RabbitMQ** — RabbitMQ's [Dead Letter Exchanges](https://www.rabbitmq.com/dlx.html)

If you’re setting up a DLQ, make sure to set the _DISCARD_MALFORMED_RESOURCES_ “.env” file variable to _false._