Keep Laravel Jobs from Running Too Long with Job Timeouts

Queued jobs are great for moving slow work away from a web request.

For example:

SendMonthlyReport::dispatch($user);

But what happens if the job gets stuck while calling an external API?

Without a suitable timeout, the worker may keep waiting longer than you expect.

Set a Timeout for a Job

Laravel allows you to define a $timeout property:

class SendMonthlyReport implements ShouldQueue
{
    public $timeout = 120;

    public function handle(): void{
        // Generate and send report...
    }
}

This tells the queue worker that the job should not run longer than 120 seconds.

Why Is This Useful?

Imagine your job calls an external service:

$response = Http::post($url, $data);

If that service becomes slow, your job can remain active for too long.

A job timeout provides another layer of protection.

Configure It for Different Jobs

Not every job needs the same amount of time.

A small notification job might need:

public $timeout = 30;

While a large import might need:

public $timeout = 300;

Set the timeout according to the work the job actually performs.

Timeout Isn't a Replacement for HTTP Timeouts

If your job makes an HTTP request, also configure the HTTP client's timeout:

$response = Http::timeout(30)
    ->post($url, $data);

Think of them as two different protections:

HTTP timeout
    ↓
Controls the external request

Job timeout
    ↓
Controls the overall job execution

Be Careful with Worker Configuration

Your queue worker's timeout should also be configured appropriately.

For example:

php artisan queue:work --timeout=120

The worker timeout and job timeout should be planned together rather than configured independently.