---
title: "Rails 5 Configure Active Job backend adapter for jobs"
description:
  "Rails 5 provides support to configure queue_adapter at job level and this
  queue_adapter can be inherited by child jobs."
canonical_url: "https://www.bigbinary.com/blog/rails-5-allows-to-inherit-activejob-queue-adapter"
markdown_url: "https://www.bigbinary.com/blog/rails-5-allows-to-inherit-activejob-queue-adapter.md"
---

# Rails 5 Configure Active Job backend adapter for jobs

Rails 5 provides support to configure queue_adapter at job level and this
queue_adapter can be inherited by child jobs.

- Author: Mohit Natoo
- Published: May 15, 2016
- Categories: Rails 5, Rails

Before Rails 5 we had ability to configure Active Job `queue_adapter` at an
application level. If we want to use `sidekiq` as our backend queue adapter we
would configure it as following.

```ruby
config.active_job.queue_adapter = :sidekiq
```

This `queue_adapter` would be applicable to all jobs.

Rails 5 provides ability to configure `queue_adapter`
[on a per job basis](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/16992). It means
`queue_adapter` for one job can be different to that of the other job.

Let's suppose we have two jobs in our brand new Rails 5 application. `EmailJob`
is responsible for processing basic emails and `NewsletterJob` sends out news
letters.

```ruby

class EmailJob < ActiveJob::Base
  self.queue_adapter = :sidekiq
end

class NewletterJob < ActiveJob::Base
end

EmailJob.queue_adapter
 => #<ActiveJob::QueueAdapters::SidekiqAdapter:0x007fb3d0b2e4a0>

NewletterJob.queue_adapter
 => #<ActiveJob::QueueAdapters::AsyncAdapter:0x007fb3d0c61b88>

```

We are now able to configure `sidekiq` queue adapter for `EmailJob`. In case of
`NewsletterJob` we fallback to the global default adapter which in case of a new
Rails 5 app [is async](rails-5-changed-default-active-job-adapter-to-async).

Moreover, in Rails 5, when one job inherits other job, then queue adapter of the
parent job gets persisted in the child job unless child job has configuration to
change queue adapter.

Since news letters are email jobs we can make `NewsLetterJob` inherit from
`EmailJob`.

Below is an example where `EmailJob` is using `rescue` while `NewsLetterJob` is
using `sidekiq`.

```ruby

class EmailJob < ActiveJob::Base
  self.queue_adapter = :resque
end

class NewsletterJob < EmailJob
end

EmailJob.queue_adapter
 => #<ActiveJob::QueueAdapters::ResqueAdapter:0x007fe137ede2a0>

NewsletterJob.queue_adapter
 => #<ActiveJob::QueueAdapters::ResqueAdapter:0x007fe137ede2a0>

class NewsletterJob < EmailJob
  self.queue_adapter = :sidekiq
end

NewsletterJob.queue_adapter
 => #<ActiveJob::QueueAdapters::SidekiqAdapter:0x007fb3d0b2e4a0>

```

## Links

- [Human page](https://www.bigbinary.com/blog/rails-5-allows-to-inherit-activejob-queue-adapter)