| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| message queue | Buffer that holds messages between producer and consumer |
| producer | Service that sends messages to the queue |
| consumer | Service that reads and processes messages |
| dead letter queue | Queue for messages that failed processing |
| acknowledgment (ack) | Consumer confirms successful message processing |
| backpressure | Slowing producers when consumers cannot keep up |
| fan-out | One message delivered to multiple consumers |