Exactly-once delivery

This page explains how to receive and acknowledge messages using exactly-once semantics. Only the pull subscription type supports exactly-once delivery, including subscribers that use the StreamingPull API.

Push and export subscriptions don't support exactly-once delivery.

Exactly-once delivery guarantees

Pub/Sub supports exactly-once delivery, within a cloud region, based on a Pub/Sub-defined unique message ID.

When the feature is enabled, Pub/Sub provides the following guarantees:

  • No redelivery occurs once the message has been successfully acknowledged.

  • No redelivery occurs while a message is outstanding. A message is considered outstanding until the acknowledgment deadline expires or the message is acknowledged.

  • In case of multiple valid deliveries, due to acknowledgment deadline expiration or client-initiated negative acknowledgment, only the latest acknowledgment ID can be used to acknowledge the message. Any requests with a previous acknowledgment ID fail.

Redelivery versus duplicate

It is important to understand the difference between expected and unexpected redeliveries.

  • A redelivery can happen either because of client-initiated negative acknowledgment of a message or when the client doesn't extend the acknowledgment deadline of the message before the acknowledgment deadline expires. Redeliveries are considered valid and system working as intended.

    To troubleshoot redeliveries, see Dealing with duplicates and forcing retries.

  • A duplicate is when a message is re-sent after a successful acknowledgment or before acknowledgment deadline expiration.

Pub/Sub guarantees that subscriptions with exactly-once delivery enabled don't receive duplicate deliveries.

Exactly-once delivery support in client libraries

  • Supported client libraries have an interface for acknowledgment with response (example: Go). You can use this interface to check if the acknowledgment request succeeded. If the acknowledgment request succeeds, the clients are guaranteed to not receive a re-delivery. If the acknowledgment request fails, the clients can expect a re-delivery.

  • Clients can also use the supported client libraries without the acknowledgment interface. However, in such cases, the acknowledgment failures can lead to silent re-deliveries of messages.

  • Supported client libraries have interfaces for setting the minimum lease extension time (example: Go). You must set the value for the minimum lease extension to a high number to avoid any network-related acknowledgment expirations. The maximum value is set at 600 seconds.

The default values and range for the variables related to exactly-once delivery and the names of the variables might differ across client libraries. For example, in the Java client library, the following variables control exactly-once delivery.

Variable Description Value
setEnableExactlyOnceDelivery Enables or disables exactly-once delivery. true or false Default=false
minDurationPerAckExtension The minimum time in seconds to use for extending the modify acknowledgment deadline. Range=0 to 600 Default=none
maxDurationPerAckExtension The maximum time in seconds to use for extending the modify acknowledgment deadline. Range=0 to 600 Default=none

In the case of exactly-once delivery, the modifyAckDeadline or acknowledgment request to Pub/Sub fails when the acknowledgment id is already expired. In such cases, the service considers the expired acknowledgment id as invalid, since a newer delivery might already be in-flight. This is by design for exactly-once delivery. You then see acknowledgment and ModifyAckDeadline requests return an INVALID_ARGUMENT response. When exactly-once delivery is disabled, these requests return OK in cases of expired acknowledgment ids.

To ensure that acknowledgment and ModifyAckDeadline requests have valid acknowledgment ids, consider setting the value for minDurationPerAckExtension to a high number.

Create subscriptions with exactly-once delivery

You can create a subscription with exactly-once delivery using the Google Cloud console, the Google Cloud CLI, client library, or the Pub/Sub API.

Pull subscription

Console

To create a pull subscription with exactly-once delivery, follow these steps:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Subscriptions page.

    Go to Subscriptions

  2. Click Create subscription.

  3. Enter the Subscription ID.

  4. Choose or create a topic from the drop-down menu.

    The subscription receives messages from the topic.

  5. In the Exactly once delivery section, select Enable exactly once delivery.

  6. Click Create.

gcloud

To create a pull subscription with exactly-once delivery, use the gcloud pubsub subscriptions create command with the --enable-exactly-once-delivery flag:

gcloud pubsub subscriptions create SUBSCRIPTION_ID \
  --topic=TOPIC_ID \
  --enable-exactly-once-delivery

Replace the following:

  • SUBSCRIPTION_ID: the ID of the subscription to create
  • TOPIC_ID: the ID of the topic to attach to the subscription

REST

To create a subscription with exactly-once delivery, use the projects.subscriptions.create method.

PUT https://pubsub.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/subscriptions/SUBSCRIPTION_ID
Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: the project ID for the project to create the subscription in
  • SUBSCRIPTION_ID: the ID of the subscription to create

To create a pull subscription with exactly-once delivery, specify this in the request body:

{
  "topic": "projects/PROJECT_ID/topics/TOPIC_ID",
  "enableExactlyOnceDelivery": true,
}

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: the project ID for the project with the topic
  • TOPIC_ID: the ID of the topic to attach to the subscription

C++

Before trying this sample, follow the C++ setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub C++ API reference documentation. 

namespace pubsub = ::google::cloud::pubsub;
[](pubsub::SubscriptionAdminClient client, std::string const& project_id,
   std::string const& topic_id, std::string const& subscription_id) {
  auto sub = client.CreateSubscription(
      pubsub::Topic(project_id, topic_id),
      pubsub::Subscription(project_id, subscription_id),
      pubsub::SubscriptionBuilder{}.enable_exactly_once_delivery(true));
  if (sub.status().code() == google::cloud::StatusCode::kAlreadyExists) {
    std::cout << "The subscription already exists\n";
    return;
  }
  if (!sub) throw std::move(sub).status();

  std::cout << "The subscription was successfully created: "
            << sub->DebugString() << "\n";
}

C#

Before trying this sample, follow the C# setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub C# API reference documentation. 


using Google.Cloud.PubSub.V1;
using Grpc.Core;

public class CreateSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDeliverySample
{
    public Subscription CreateSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDelivery(string projectId, string topicId, string subscriptionId)
    {
        SubscriberServiceApiClient subscriber = SubscriberServiceApiClient.Create();
        TopicName topicName = TopicName.FromProjectTopic(projectId, topicId);
        SubscriptionName subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.FromProjectSubscription(projectId, subscriptionId);

        var subscriptionRequest = new Subscription
        {
            SubscriptionName = subscriptionName,
            TopicAsTopicName = topicName,
            EnableExactlyOnceDelivery = true
        };

        Subscription subscription = null;

        try
        {
            subscription = subscriber.CreateSubscription(subscriptionRequest);
        }
        catch (RpcException e) when (e.Status.StatusCode == StatusCode.AlreadyExists)
        {
            // Already exists.  That's fine.
        }
        return subscription;
    }
}

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Go API reference documentation. 

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	"cloud.google.com/go/pubsub"
)

func createSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDelivery(w io.Writer, projectID, subID string, topic *pubsub.Topic) error {
	// projectID := "my-project-id"
	// subID := "my-sub"
	// topic of type https://godoc.org/cloud.google.com/go/pubsub#Topic
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := pubsub.NewClient(ctx, projectID)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("pubsub.NewClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	sub, err := client.CreateSubscription(ctx, subID, pubsub.SubscriptionConfig{
		Topic:                     topic,
		EnableExactlyOnceDelivery: true,
	})
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Created a subscription with exactly once delivery enabled: %v\n", sub)
	return nil
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Java API reference documentation. 

import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.SubscriptionAdminClient;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ProjectSubscriptionName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ProjectTopicName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.Subscription;
import java.io.IOException;

public class CreateSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDelivery {
  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    String topicId = "your-topic-id";
    String subscriptionId = "your-subscription-id";

    createSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDeliveryExample(projectId, topicId, subscriptionId);
  }

  public static void createSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDeliveryExample(
      String projectId, String topicId, String subscriptionId) throws IOException {
    try (SubscriptionAdminClient subscriptionAdminClient = SubscriptionAdminClient.create()) {

      ProjectTopicName topicName = ProjectTopicName.of(projectId, topicId);
      ProjectSubscriptionName subscriptionName =
          ProjectSubscriptionName.of(projectId, subscriptionId);

      Subscription subscription =
          subscriptionAdminClient.createSubscription(
              Subscription.newBuilder()
                  .setName(subscriptionName.toString())
                  .setTopic(topicName.toString())
                  // Enable exactly once delivery in the subscription.
                  .setEnableExactlyOnceDelivery(true)
                  .build());

      System.out.println(
          "Created a subscription with exactly once delivery enabled: "
              + subscription.getAllFields());
    }
  }
}

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Python API reference documentation. 

from google.cloud import pubsub_v1

# TODO(developer): Choose an existing topic.
# project_id = "your-project-id"
# topic_id = "your-topic-id"
# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"

publisher = pubsub_v1.PublisherClient()
subscriber = pubsub_v1.SubscriberClient()
topic_path = publisher.topic_path(project_id, topic_id)
subscription_path = subscriber.subscription_path(project_id, subscription_id)

with subscriber:
    subscription = subscriber.create_subscription(
        request={
            "name": subscription_path,
            "topic": topic_path,
            "enable_exactly_once_delivery": True,
        }
    )
    print(
        f"Created subscription with exactly once delivery enabled: {subscription}"
    )

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Node.js API reference documentation. 

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const topicNameOrId = 'YOUR_TOPIC_NAME_OR_ID';
// const subscriptionNameOrId = 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME_OR_ID';

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {PubSub} = require('@google-cloud/pubsub');

// Creates a client; cache this for further use
const pubSubClient = new PubSub();

async function createSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDelivery(
  topicNameOrId,
  subscriptionNameOrId
) {
  // Creates a new subscription
  await pubSubClient
    .topic(topicNameOrId)
    .createSubscription(subscriptionNameOrId, {
      enableExactlyOnceDelivery: true,
    });
  console.log(
    `Created subscription ${subscriptionNameOrId} with exactly-once delivery.`
  );
  console.log(
    'To process messages, remember to check the return value of ackWithResponse().'
  );
}

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Node.js API reference documentation. 

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const topicNameOrId = 'YOUR_TOPIC_NAME_OR_ID';
// const subscriptionNameOrId = 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME_OR_ID';

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
import {PubSub} from '@google-cloud/pubsub';

// Creates a client; cache this for further use
const pubSubClient = new PubSub();

async function createSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDelivery(
  topicNameOrId: string,
  subscriptionNameOrId: string
) {
  // Creates a new subscription
  await pubSubClient
    .topic(topicNameOrId)
    .createSubscription(subscriptionNameOrId, {
      enableExactlyOnceDelivery: true,
    });
  console.log(
    `Created subscription ${subscriptionNameOrId} with exactly-once delivery.`
  );
  console.log(
    'To process messages, remember to check the return value of ackWithResponse().'
  );
}

Ruby

Before trying this sample, follow the Ruby setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Ruby API reference documentation. 

require "google/cloud/pubsub"

# Shows how to create a new subscription with exactly once delivery enabled
class PubsubCreateSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDelivery
  def create_subscription_with_exactly_once_delivery project_id:, topic_id:, subscription_id:
    pubsub = Google::Cloud::Pubsub.new project_id: project_id
    topic = pubsub.topic topic_id
    subscription = topic.subscribe subscription_id, enable_exactly_once_delivery: true
    puts "Created subscription with exactly once delivery enabled: #{subscription_id}"
  end

  def self.run
    # TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    project_id = "your-project-id"
    topic_id = "your-topic-id"
    subscription_id = "id-for-new-subcription"
    pubsub_create_subscription_with_exactly_once_delivery = PubsubCreateSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDelivery.new
    pubsub_create_subscription_with_exactly_once_delivery.create_subscription_with_exactly_once_delivery(
      project_id: project_id,
      topic_id: topic_id,
      subscription_id: subscription_id
    )
  end
end

if $PROGRAM_NAME == __FILE__
  PubsubCreateSubscriptionWithExactlyOnceDelivery.run
end

PHP

Before trying this sample, follow the PHP setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub PHP API reference documentation. 

use Google\Cloud\PubSub\PubSubClient;

/**
 * Creates a Pub/Sub subscription with `Exactly Once Delivery` enabled.
 *
 * @param string $projectId  The Google project ID.
 * @param string $topicName  The Pub/Sub topic name.
 * @param string $subscriptionName  The Pub/Sub subscription name.
 */
function create_subscription_with_exactly_once_delivery(
    string $projectId,
    string $topicName,
    string $subscriptionName
): void {
    $pubsub = new PubSubClient([
        'projectId' => $projectId,
    ]);
    $topic = $pubsub->topic($topicName);
    $subscription = $topic->subscription($subscriptionName);
    $subscription->create([
        'enableExactlyOnceDelivery' => true
    ]);

    // Exactly Once Delivery status for the subscription
    $status = $subscription->info()['enableExactlyOnceDelivery'];

    printf('Subscription created with exactly once delivery status: %s' . PHP_EOL, $status ? 'true' : 'false');
}

Subscribe with exactly-once delivery

The following are some code samples for subscribing with exactly-once delivery using client library.

Pull subscription

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Pub/Sub quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"time"

	"cloud.google.com/go/pubsub"
)

// receiveMessagesWithExactlyOnceDeliveryEnabled instantiates a subscriber client.
// This differs from regular subscribing since you must call msg.AckWithResult()
// or msg.NackWithResult() instead of the regular Ack/Nack methods.
// When exactly once delivery is enabled on the subscription, the message is
// guaranteed to not be delivered again if the ack result succeeds.
func receiveMessagesWithExactlyOnceDeliveryEnabled(w io.Writer, projectID, subID string) error {
	// projectID := "my-project-id"
	// subID := "my-sub"
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := pubsub.NewClient(ctx, projectID)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("pubsub.NewClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	sub := client.Subscription(subID)
	// Set MinExtensionPeriod high to avoid any unintentional
	// acknowledgment expirations (e.g. due to network events).
	// This can lead to high tail latency in case of client crashes.
	sub.ReceiveSettings.MinExtensionPeriod = 600 * time.Second

	// Receive messages for 10 seconds, which simplifies testing.
	// Comment this out in production, since `Receive` should
	// be used as a long running operation.
	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 10*time.Second)
	defer cancel()
	err = sub.Receive(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, msg *pubsub.Message) {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "Got message: %q\n", string(msg.Data))
		r := msg.AckWithResult()
		// Block until the result is returned and a pubsub.AcknowledgeStatus
		// is returned for the acked message.
		status, err := r.Get(ctx)
		if err != nil {
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "MessageID: %s failed when calling result.Get: %v", msg.ID, err)
		}

		switch status {
		case pubsub.AcknowledgeStatusSuccess:
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "Message successfully acked: %s", msg.ID)
		case pubsub.AcknowledgeStatusInvalidAckID:
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "Message failed to ack with response of Invalid. ID: %s", msg.ID)
		case pubsub.AcknowledgeStatusPermissionDenied:
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "Message failed to ack with response of Permission Denied. ID: %s", msg.ID)
		case pubsub.AcknowledgeStatusFailedPrecondition:
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "Message failed to ack with response of Failed Precondition. ID: %s", msg.ID)
		case pubsub.AcknowledgeStatusOther:
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "Message failed to ack with response of Other. ID: %s", msg.ID)
		default:
		}
	})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("got err from sub.Receive: %w", err)
	}
	return nil
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the Pub/Sub quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.AckReplyConsumerWithResponse;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.AckResponse;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.MessageReceiverWithAckResponse;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.Subscriber;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ProjectSubscriptionName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.PubsubMessage;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.Future;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class SubscribeWithExactlyOnceConsumerWithResponseExample {
  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    String subscriptionId = "your-subscription-id";

    subscribeWithExactlyOnceConsumerWithResponseExample(projectId, subscriptionId);
  }

  public static void subscribeWithExactlyOnceConsumerWithResponseExample(
      String projectId, String subscriptionId) {
    ProjectSubscriptionName subscriptionName =
        ProjectSubscriptionName.of(projectId, subscriptionId);

    // Instantiate an asynchronous message receiver using `AckReplyConsumerWithResponse`
    // instead of `AckReplyConsumer` to get a future that tracks the result of the ack call.
    // When exactly once delivery is enabled on the subscription, the message is guaranteed
    // to not be delivered again if the ack future succeeds.
    MessageReceiverWithAckResponse receiverWithResponse =
        (PubsubMessage message, AckReplyConsumerWithResponse consumerWithResponse) -> {
          try {
            // Handle incoming message, then ack the message, and receive an ack response.
            System.out.println("Message received: " + message.getData().toStringUtf8());
            Future<AckResponse> ackResponseFuture = consumerWithResponse.ack();

            // Retrieve the completed future for the ack response from the server.
            AckResponse ackResponse = ackResponseFuture.get();

            switch (ackResponse) {
              case SUCCESSFUL:
                // Success code means that this MessageID will not be delivered again.
                System.out.println("Message successfully acked: " + message.getMessageId());
                break;
              case INVALID:
                System.out.println(
                    "Message failed to ack with a response of Invalid. Id: "
                        + message.getMessageId());
                break;
              case PERMISSION_DENIED:
                System.out.println(
                    "Message failed to ack with a response of Permission Denied. Id: "
                        + message.getMessageId());
                break;
              case FAILED_PRECONDITION:
                System.out.println(
                    "Message failed to ack with a response of Failed Precondition. Id: "
                        + message.getMessageId());
                break;
              case OTHER:
                System.out.println(
                    "Message failed to ack with a response of Other. Id: "
                        + message.getMessageId());
                break;
              default:
                break;
            }
          } catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException e) {
            System.out.println(
                "MessageId: " + message.getMessageId() + " failed when retrieving future");
          } catch (Throwable t) {
            System.out.println("Throwable caught" + t.getMessage());
          }
        };

    Subscriber subscriber = null;
    try {
      subscriber = Subscriber.newBuilder(subscriptionName, receiverWithResponse).build();
      // Start the subscriber.
      subscriber.startAsync().awaitRunning();
      System.out.printf("Listening for messages on %s:\n", subscriptionName.toString());
      // Allow the subscriber to run for 30s unless an unrecoverable error occurs.
      subscriber.awaitTerminated(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    } catch (TimeoutException timeoutException) {
      // Shut down the subscriber after 30s. Stop receiving messages.
      subscriber.stopAsync();
    }
  }
}

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the Pub/Sub quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment this variable before running the sample.
 */
// const subscriptionNameOrId = 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME_OR_ID';

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {PubSub} = require('@google-cloud/pubsub');

// Creates a client; cache this for further use
const pubSubClient = new PubSub();

async function listenForMessagesWithExactlyOnceDelivery(
  subscriptionNameOrId,
  timeout
) {
  // References an existing subscription
  const subscription = pubSubClient.subscription(subscriptionNameOrId);

  // Create an event handler to handle messages
  let messageCount = 0;
  const messageHandler = async message => {
    console.log(`Received message ${message.id}:`);
    console.log(`\tData: ${message.data}`);
    console.log(`\tAttributes: ${message.attributes}`);
    messageCount++;

    // Use `ackWithResponse()` instead of `ack()` to get a Promise that tracks
    // the result of the acknowledge call. When exactly-once delivery is enabled
    // on the subscription, the message is guaranteed not to be delivered again
    // if the ack Promise resolves.
    try {
      // When the Promise resolves, the value is always AckResponses.Success,
      // signaling that the ack was accepted. Note that you may call this
      // method on a subscription without exactly-once delivery, but it will
      // always return AckResponses.Success.
      await message.ackWithResponse();
      console.log(`Ack for message ${message.id} successful.`);
    } catch (e) {
      // In all other cases, the error passed on reject will explain why. This
      // is only for permanent failures; transient errors are retried automatically.
      const ackError = e;
      console.log(
        `Ack for message ${message.id} failed with error: ${ackError.errorCode}`
      );
    }
  };

  // Listen for new messages until timeout is hit
  subscription.on('message', messageHandler);

  setTimeout(() => {
    subscription.removeListener('message', messageHandler);
    console.log(`${messageCount} message(s) received.`);
  }, timeout * 1000);
}

PHP

Before trying this sample, follow the PHP setup instructions in the Pub/Sub quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub PHP API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

use Google\Cloud\PubSub\PubSubClient;

/**
 * Subscribe and pull messages from a subscription
 * with `Exactly Once Delivery` enabled.
 *
 * @param string $projectId
 * @param string $subscriptionId
 */
function subscribe_exactly_once_delivery(
    string $projectId,
    string $subscriptionId
): void {
    $pubsub = new PubSubClient([
        'projectId' => $projectId,
    ]);

    $subscription = $pubsub->subscription($subscriptionId);
    $messages = $subscription->pull();

    foreach ($messages as $message) {
        // When exactly once delivery is enabled on the subscription,
        // the message is guaranteed to not be delivered again if the ack succeeds.
        // Passing the `returnFailures` flag retries any temporary failures received
        // while acking the msg and also returns any permanently failed msgs.
        // Passing this flag on a subscription with exactly once delivery disabled
        // will always return an empty array.
        $failedMsgs = $subscription->acknowledge($message, ['returnFailures' => true]);

        if (empty($failedMsgs)) {
            printf('Acknowledged message: %s' . PHP_EOL, $message->data());
        } else {
            // Either log or store the $failedMsgs to be retried later
        }
    }
}

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the Pub/Sub quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

from concurrent.futures import TimeoutError
from google.cloud import pubsub_v1
from google.cloud.pubsub_v1.subscriber import exceptions as sub_exceptions

# TODO(developer)
# project_id = "your-project-id"
# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"
# Number of seconds the subscriber should listen for messages
# timeout = 5.0

subscriber = pubsub_v1.SubscriberClient()
# The `subscription_path` method creates a fully qualified identifier
# in the form `projects/{project_id}/subscriptions/{subscription_id}`
subscription_path = subscriber.subscription_path(project_id, subscription_id)

def callback(message: pubsub_v1.subscriber.message.Message) -> None:
    print(f"Received {message}.")

    # Use `ack_with_response()` instead of `ack()` to get a future that tracks
    # the result of the acknowledge call. When exactly-once delivery is enabled
    # on the subscription, the message is guaranteed to not be delivered again
    # if the ack future succeeds.
    ack_future = message.ack_with_response()

    try:
        # Block on result of acknowledge call.
        # When `timeout` is not set, result() will block indefinitely,
        # unless an exception is encountered first.
        ack_future.result(timeout=timeout)
        print(f"Ack for message {message.message_id} successful.")
    except sub_exceptions.AcknowledgeError as e:
        print(
            f"Ack for message {message.message_id} failed with error: {e.error_code}"
        )

streaming_pull_future = subscriber.subscribe(subscription_path, callback=callback)
print(f"Listening for messages on {subscription_path}..\n")

# Wrap subscriber in a 'with' block to automatically call close() when done.
with subscriber:
    try:
        # When `timeout` is not set, result() will block indefinitely,
        # unless an exception is encountered first.
        streaming_pull_future.result(timeout=timeout)
    except TimeoutError:
        streaming_pull_future.cancel()  # Trigger the shutdown.
        streaming_pull_future.result()  # Block until the shutdown is complete.

Ruby

Before trying this sample, follow the Ruby setup instructions in the Pub/Sub quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Ruby API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

require "google/cloud/pubsub"

# Shows how to register callback to acknowledge method and access the result passed in
class PubsubSubscriberExactlyOnceDelivery
  def subscriber_exactly_once_delivery project_id:, topic_id:, subscription_id:
    pubsub = Google::Cloud::Pubsub.new project_id: project_id
    topic = pubsub.topic topic_id
    subscription = pubsub.subscription subscription_id
    subscriber   = subscription.listen do |received_message|
      puts "Received message: #{received_message.data}"

      # Pass in callback to access the acknowledge result.
      # For subscription with Exactly once delivery disabled the result will be success always.
      received_message.acknowledge! do |result|
        puts "Acknowledge result's status: #{result.status}"
      end
    end

    subscriber.start
    # Let the main thread sleep for 60 seconds so the thread for listening
    # messages does not quit
    sleep 60
    subscriber.stop.wait!
  end

  def self.run
    # TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    project_id = "your-project-id"
    topic_id = "your-topic-id"
    subscription_id = "id-for-new-subcription" # subscription with exactly once delivery enabled
    PubsubSubscriberExactlyOnceDelivery.new.subscriber_exactly_once_delivery project_id: project_id,
                                                                             topic_id: topic_id,
                                                                             subscription_id: subscription_id
  end
end

if $PROGRAM_NAME == __FILE__
  PubsubSubscriberExactlyOnceDelivery.run
end

C++

Before trying this sample, follow the C++ setup instructions in the Pub/Sub quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub C++ API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

namespace pubsub = ::google::cloud::pubsub;
auto sample = [](pubsub::Subscriber subscriber) {
  return subscriber.Subscribe(
      [&](pubsub::Message const& m, pubsub::ExactlyOnceAckHandler h) {
        std::cout << "Received message " << m << "\n";
        std::move(h).ack().then([id = m.message_id()](auto f) {
          auto status = f.get();
          std::cout << "Message id " << id
                    << " ack() completed with status=" << status << "\n";
        });
        PleaseIgnoreThisSimplifiesTestingTheSamples();
      });
};

C#

Before trying this sample, follow the C# setup instructions in the Pub/Sub quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub C# API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 


using Google.Cloud.PubSub.V1;
using System;
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using static Google.Cloud.PubSub.V1.SubscriberClient;

public class ExactlyOnceDeliverySubscriberAsyncSample
{
    public async Task<IEnumerable<string>> ExactlyOnceDeliverySubscriberAsync(string projectId, string subscriptionId)
    {
        // subscriptionId should be the ID of an exactly-once delivery subscription.
        SubscriptionName subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.FromProjectSubscription(projectId, subscriptionId);
        SubscriberClient subscriber = await SubscriberClient.CreateAsync(subscriptionName);
        // To get the status of ACKnowledge (ACK) or Not ACKnowledge (NACK) request in exactly once delivery subscriptions,
        // create a subscription handler that inherits from Google.Cloud.PubSub.V1.SubscriptionHandler. 
        // For more information see Google.Cloud.PubSub.V1.SubscriptionHandler reference docs here:
        // https://cloud.google.com/dotnet/docs/reference/Google.Cloud.PubSub.V1/latest/Google.Cloud.PubSub.V1.SubscriptionHandler
        var subscriptionHandler = new SampleSubscriptionHandler();
        Task subscriptionTask = subscriber.StartAsync(subscriptionHandler);
        // The subscriber will be running until it is stopped.
        await Task.Delay(5000);
        await subscriber.StopAsync(CancellationToken.None);
        // Let's make sure that the start task finished successfully after the call to stop.
        await subscriptionTask;
        return subscriptionHandler.SuccessfulAckedIds;
    }

    // Sample handler to handle messages and ACK/NACK responses.
    public class SampleSubscriptionHandler : SubscriptionHandler
    {
        public ConcurrentBag<string> SuccessfulAckedIds { get; } = new ConcurrentBag<string>();

        /// <summary>
        /// The function that processes received messages. It should be thread-safe.
        /// Return <see cref="Reply.Ack"/> to ACKnowledge the message (meaning it won't be received again).
        /// Return <see cref="Reply.Nack"/> to Not ACKnowledge the message (meaning it will be received again).
        /// From the point of view of message acknowledgement, throwing an exception is equivalent to returning <see cref="Reply.Nack"/>.
        /// </summary>
        public override async Task<Reply> HandleMessage(PubsubMessage message, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
        {
            string text = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(message.Data.ToArray());
            Console.WriteLine($"Message {message.MessageId}: {text}");
            return await Task.FromResult(Reply.Ack);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// This method will receive responses for all acknowledge requests.
        /// </summary>
        public override void HandleAckResponses(IReadOnlyList<AckNackResponse> responses)
        {
            foreach (var response in responses)
            {
                if (response.Status == AcknowledgementStatus.Success)
                {
                    SuccessfulAckedIds.Add(response.MessageId);
                }

                string result = response.Status switch
                {
                    AcknowledgementStatus.Success => $"MessageId {response.MessageId} successfully acknowledged.",
                    AcknowledgementStatus.PermissionDenied => $"MessageId {response.MessageId} failed to acknowledge due to a permission denied error.",
                    AcknowledgementStatus.FailedPrecondition => $"MessageId {response.MessageId} failed to acknowledge due to a failed precondition.",
                    AcknowledgementStatus.InvalidAckId => $"MessageId {response.MessageId} failed to acknowledge due an invalid or expired AckId.",
                    AcknowledgementStatus.Other => $"MessageId {response.MessageId} failed to acknowledge due to an unknown reason.",
                    _ => $"Unknown acknowledgement status for messageId {response.MessageId}."
                };

                Console.WriteLine(result);
            }
        }
    }
}

Node.js (TypeScript)

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the Pub/Sub quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment. 

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment this variable before running the sample.
 */
// const subscriptionNameOrId = 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME_OR_ID';

// Imports the Google Cloud client library
import {Message, PubSub, AckError} from '@google-cloud/pubsub';

// Creates a client; cache this for further use
const pubSubClient = new PubSub();

async function listenForMessagesWithExactlyOnceDelivery(
  subscriptionNameOrId: string,
  timeout: number
) {
  // References an existing subscription
  const subscription = pubSubClient.subscription(subscriptionNameOrId);

  // Create an event handler to handle messages
  let messageCount = 0;
  const messageHandler = async (message: Message) => {
    console.log(`Received message ${message.id}:`);
    console.log(`\tData: ${message.data}`);
    console.log(`\tAttributes: ${message.attributes}`);
    messageCount++;

    // Use `ackWithResponse()` instead of `ack()` to get a Promise that tracks
    // the result of the acknowledge call. When exactly-once delivery is enabled
    // on the subscription, the message is guaranteed not to be delivered again
    // if the ack Promise resolves.
    try {
      // When the Promise resolves, the value is always AckResponses.Success,
      // signaling that the ack was accepted. Note that you may call this
      // method on a subscription without exactly-once delivery, but it will
      // always return AckResponses.Success.
      await message.ackWithResponse();
      console.log(`Ack for message ${message.id} successful.`);
    } catch (e) {
      // In all other cases, the error passed on reject will explain why. This
      // is only for permanent failures; transient errors are retried automatically.
      const ackError = e as AckError;
      console.log(
        `Ack for message ${message.id} failed with error: ${ackError.errorCode}`
      );
    }
  };

  // Listen for new messages until timeout is hit
  subscription.on('message', messageHandler);

  setTimeout(() => {
    subscription.removeListener('message', messageHandler);
    console.log(`${messageCount} message(s) received.`);
  }, timeout * 1000);
}

Monitor exactly-once delivery subscriptions

The subscription/exactly_once_warning_count metric records the number of events that can lead to possible redeliveries (valid or duplicate). This metric counts the times Pub/Sub fails to process requests associated with acknowledgment IDs (ModifyAckDeadline or Acknowledgment request). The reasons for the failure could be server or client-based. For example, if the persistence layer used to maintain the exactly-once delivery information is unavailable, it would be a server-based event. If the client tries to acknowledge a message with an invalid acknowledgment ID, it would be a client based event.

Understand the metric

subscription/exactly_once_warning_count captures events that may or may not lead to actual redeliveries and can be noisy based on client behavior. For example: repeated Acknowledgment or ModifyAckDeadline requests with invalid acknowledgment IDs increment the metric repeatedly.

The following metrics are also useful in understanding the client behavior:

  • subscription/expired_ack_deadlines_count metric shows the number of acknowledgment ID expirations. Acknowledgment ID expirations can lead to failures for both ModifyAckDeadline and acknowledgment requests.

  • service.serviceruntime.googleapis.com/api/request_count metric can be used to capture failures of ModifyAckDeadline or acknowledgment requests in cases where the requests reach Google Cloud but do not reach Pub/Sub. There are failures that this metric won't capture—for example, when clients are disconnected from Google Cloud.

In most cases of retryable failure events, supported client libraries retry the request automatically.

Quotas

Exactly-once delivery subscriptions are subjected to additional quota requirements. These quota are enforced on:

  • Number of messages consumed from subscriptions with exactly-once delivery enabled per region.
  • Number of messages acknowledged or whose deadline is extended when using subscriptions with exactly-once delivery enabled per region.

For more information regarding these quotas, see the table in the Quotas topic.

Exactly-once delivery and ordered subscriptions

Pub/Sub supports exactly-once delivery with ordered delivery.

When using ordering with exactly-once delivery, Pub/Sub expects the acknowledgments to be in order. If the acknowledgments are out-of-order, the service fails the requests with temporary errors. If the acknowledgment deadline expires before an in-order acknowledgment for the delivery, the client will receive a redelivery of message. Due to this, when you use ordering with exactly-once delivery, the client throughput is limited to an order of thousand messages per second.

Exactly-once delivery and push subscriptions

Pub/Sub supports exactly-once delivery only with pull subscriptions.

Push subscriptions acknowledge messages by responding to the push requests with a successful response. However, clients don't know if Pub/Sub received the response and processed it. This is different from pull subscriptions where acknowledgment requests are initiated by the clients and Pub/Sub responds if the request was successfully processed. Because of this, exactly-once delivery semantics don't align well with push subscriptions.

Things to know

  • If acknowledgment deadline is not specified at CreateSubscription time, exactly-once delivery enabled subscriptions will have a default acknowledgment deadline of 60 seconds.

  • Longer default acknowledgment deadlines are beneficial in avoiding redelivery caused by network events. Supported client libraries don't use the default subscription acknowledgment deadline.

  • Exactly-once delivery subscriptions have significantly higher publish-to-subscribe latency compared to regular subscriptions.

  • If you require high throughput, your exactly-once delivery clients must also use streaming pull.

  • A subscription might receive multiple copies of the same message due to publish side duplicates, even with exactly-once delivery enabled. Publish-side duplicates can be due to multiple unique publish retries by the publishing client or the Pub/Sub service. Multiple unique publishes by the publishing client, across retries, leads to redeliveries with different message IDs. Multiple unique publishes by the Pub/Sub service, to respond to a client publish request, leads to redeliveries with the same message IDs.

  • Failures apart from invalid acknowledgment IDs in subscription/exactly_once_warning_count are retryable and the supported client libraries will retry them automatically.