Handle message failures

Subscribers might not be able to handle messages for a variety of reasons. For example, there could be transient issues retrieving data needed to process a message. Or, a message could be in a format that the subscriber does not expect.

This page explains how to handle such processing failures by using a subscription retry policy or by forwarding undelivered messages to a dead-letter topic (also known as a dead-letter queue).

Note that these features are not supported by Dataflow. Refer to the Unsupported Pub/Sub features section of the Dataflow documentation for further information.

Subscription retry policy

If Pub/Sub attempts to deliver a message but the subscriber can't acknowledge it, Pub/Sub automatically tries to resend the message. This redelivery attempt is known as the subscription retry policy. This isn't a feature that you can turn on or off. However, you can choose what type of retry policy you want to use.

When you first create and configure your subscription, you can choose to use one of the following retry policies, immediate redelivery or exponential backoff. By default, subscriptions use immediate redelivery.

Immediate redelivery

By default, Pub/Sub tries resending the message immediately (and potentially to the same subscriber client). However, if the conditions that prevented the message acknowledgment haven't changed, immediate redelivery can cause issues. In this case, it's possible that Pub/Sub will resend multiple messages that can't be acknowledged.

To address immediate redelivery issues, Pub/Sub lets you configure an exponential backoff policy.

Exponential backoff

Exponential backoff lets you add progressively longer delays between retry attempts. After the first delivery failure, Pub/Sub waits for a minimum backoff time before retrying. For each consecutive message failure, more time is added to the delay, up to a maximum delay (0 and 600 seconds).

The maximum and minimum delay intervals are not fixed, and should be configured based on local factors to your application.

Note the following considerations about exponential backoff:

  • Exponential backoff triggers on the following actions:
    • When a negative acknowledgment is received.
    • When the acknowledgment deadline of a message expires.
  • Exponential backoff is only applied per-message, rather than to all the messages in a subscription (global).
  • While using exponential backoff, Pub/Sub continues to deliver other messages, even if previous messages received negative acknowledgments (unless, you're using ordered message delivery).

Use the retry policy to delay the delivery and processing of a subset of messages to accommodate a transient inability to process some messages upon delivery. The feature is applied on a best-effort basis and each message is evaluated for retry policy separately.

We don't recommend to use this feature to introduce intentional delays in message delivery. If you negatively acknowledge (nack) a large number of messages on a subscription configured with a retry policy, it is possible that some of those messages are delivered with less or no backoff. Pub/Sub might also slow down the delivery of all messages if you nack a large number of messages.

If you need to schedule deliveries, consider using Cloud Tasks.

Configure exponential backoff

Console

When creating a new subscription, you can configure an exponential backoff retry policy using the following steps:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Pub/Sub subscriptions page.

    Go to subscriptions

  2. Click Create subscription.

  3. In the Subscription ID field, enter a name.

    For information on how to name a subscription, see Guidelines to name a topic or a subscription.

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

    The subscription receives messages from the topic.

  5. Select a Delivery type.

  6. Under Retry policy, select Retry after exponential backoff.

  7. Enter a Minimum backoff and Maximum backoff between 0 and 600 seconds.

    The default values are 10 seconds for minimum backoff, and 600 seconds for maximum backoff.

  8. Click Create.

gcloud

To create a new subscription with an exponential backoff retry policy, run the gcloud pubsub create command with the flags shown below:

gcloud pubsub subscriptions create SUBSCRIPTION_ID \
  --topic=TOPIC_ID \
  --min-retry-delay=MIN_RETRY_DELAY \
  --max-retry-delay=MAX_RETRY_DELAY

Dead-letter topic

If the Pub/Sub service attempts to deliver a message but the subscriber can't acknowledge it, Pub/Sub can forward the undeliverable message to a dead-letter topic.

How dead-letter topics work with Pub/Sub

A dead-letter topic is a subscription property, not a topic property. This means that you set a dead-letter topic when you create a subscription, not when you create a topic.

If you create a dead-letter topic, you can set the following subscription properties:

  • Maximum number of delivery attempts: A numeric value that signifies the number of delivery attempts that Pub/Sub makes for a specific message. If the subscriber client cannot acknowledge the message within the configured number of delivery attempts, the message is forwarded to a dead-letter topic.

    • Default value = 5
    • Maximum value = 100
    • Minimum value = 5

  • Project with the dead-letter topic: If the dead-letter topic is in a different project from the subscription, you must specify the project with the dead-letter topic. Set the dead-letter topic to a different topic from the topic to which the subscription is attached.

How maximum delivery attempts are calculated

Pub/Sub only counts delivery attempts when a dead-letter topic is configured correctly and includes the correct IAM permissions.

The maximum number of delivery attempts is approximate because Pub/Sub forwards undeliverable messages on a best-effort basis.

The tracked number of delivery attempts for a message may also reset to zero, especially for a pull subscription with inactive subscribers. As a result, the messages might be delivered to the subscriber client more times than the configured maximum number of delivery attempts.

Configure a dead-letter topic

To configure a dead-letter topic, the source topic must first have a subscription. You can specify a dead-letter topic when you create the subscription, or you can update an existing subscription to have a dead-letter topic.

The following is the workflow for enabling dead lettering on a subscription.

  1. Create the dead-letter topic. This topic is separate from the source topic.

  2. Set the dead-letter topic on the subscription for the source topic.

  3. To avoid losing messages from the dead-letter topic, attach at least one other subscription to the dead-letter topic. The secondary subscription receives messages from the dead-letter topic.

  4. Grant the publisher and subscriber roles to the Pub/Sub service account. For more information, see Grant forwarding permissions.

Set a dead-letter topic on a new subscription

You can create a subscription and set a dead-letter topic using the Google Cloud console, the Google Cloud CLI, the client libraries, or the Pub/Sub API.

Console

To create a subscription and set a dead-letter topic, complete the following 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 Dead lettering section, select Enable dead lettering.

  6. Choose or create a dead-letter topic from the drop-down menu.

  7. If the chosen dead-letter topic does not have a subscription, the system prompts you to create one.

  8. In the Maximum delivery attempts field, specify an integer between 5 and 100.

  9. Click Create.

  10. The details panel shows a list of possible action items. If any of the items show an error icon , click the action item to resolve the issue.

gcloud

To create a subscription and set a dead-letter topic, use the gcloud pubsub subscriptions create command:

gcloud pubsub subscriptions create subscription-id \
  --topic=topic-id \
  --dead-letter-topic=dead-letter-topic-name \
  [--max-delivery-attempts=max-delivery-attempts] \
  [--dead-letter-topic-project=dead-letter-topic-project]

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;
namespace pubsub_admin = ::google::cloud::pubsub_admin;
[](pubsub_admin::SubscriptionAdminClient client,
   std::string const& project_id, std::string const& topic_id,
   std::string const& subscription_id,
   std::string const& dead_letter_topic_id,
   int dead_letter_delivery_attempts) {
  google::pubsub::v1::Subscription request;
  request.set_name(
      pubsub::Subscription(project_id, subscription_id).FullName());
  request.set_topic(pubsub::Topic(project_id, topic_id).FullName());
  request.mutable_dead_letter_policy()->set_dead_letter_topic(
      pubsub::Topic(project_id, dead_letter_topic_id).FullName());
  request.mutable_dead_letter_policy()->set_max_delivery_attempts(
      dead_letter_delivery_attempts);
  auto sub = client.CreateSubscription(request);
  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";

  std::cout << "It will forward dead letter messages to: "
            << sub->dead_letter_policy().dead_letter_topic() << "\n";

  std::cout << "After " << sub->dead_letter_policy().max_delivery_attempts()
            << " delivery attempts.\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 System;

public class CreateSubscriptionWithDeadLetterPolicySample
{
    public Subscription CreateSubscriptionWithDeadLetterPolicy(string projectId, string topicId, string subscriptionId, string deadLetterTopicId)
    {
        SubscriberServiceApiClient subscriber = SubscriberServiceApiClient.Create();
        // This is the subscription you want to create with a dead letter policy.
        var subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.FromProjectSubscription(projectId, subscriptionId);
        // This is an existing topic that you want to attach the subscription with dead letter policy to.
        var topicName = TopicName.FromProjectTopic(projectId, topicId);
        // This is an existing topic that the subscription with dead letter policy forwards dead letter messages to.
        var deadLetterTopic = TopicName.FromProjectTopic(projectId, deadLetterTopicId).ToString();
        var subscriptionRequest = new Subscription
        {
            SubscriptionName = subscriptionName,
            TopicAsTopicName = topicName,
            DeadLetterPolicy = new DeadLetterPolicy
            {
                DeadLetterTopic = deadLetterTopic,
                // The maximum number of times that the service attempts to deliver a
                // message before forwarding it to the dead letter topic. Must be [5-100].
                MaxDeliveryAttempts = 10
            },
            AckDeadlineSeconds = 30
        };

        var subscription = subscriber.CreateSubscription(subscriptionRequest);
        Console.WriteLine("Created subscription: " + subscription.SubscriptionName.SubscriptionId);
        Console.WriteLine($"It will forward dead letter messages to: {subscription.DeadLetterPolicy.DeadLetterTopic}");
        Console.WriteLine($"After {subscription.DeadLetterPolicy.MaxDeliveryAttempts} delivery attempts.");
        // Remember to attach a subscription to the dead letter topic because
        // messages published to a topic with no subscriptions are lost.
        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"
	"time"

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

// createSubWithDeadLetter creates a subscription with a dead letter policy.
func createSubWithDeadLetter(w io.Writer, projectID, subID string, topicID string, fullyQualifiedDeadLetterTopic string) error {
	// projectID := "my-project-id"
	// subID := "my-sub"
	// topicID := "my-topic"
	// fullyQualifiedDeadLetterTopic := "projects/my-project/topics/my-dead-letter-topic"
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := pubsub.NewClient(ctx, projectID)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("pubsub.NewClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	topic := client.Topic(topicID)

	subConfig := pubsub.SubscriptionConfig{
		Topic:       topic,
		AckDeadline: 20 * time.Second,
		DeadLetterPolicy: &pubsub.DeadLetterPolicy{
			DeadLetterTopic:     fullyQualifiedDeadLetterTopic,
			MaxDeliveryAttempts: 10,
		},
	}

	sub, err := client.CreateSubscription(ctx, subID, subConfig)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("CreateSubscription: %w", err)
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Created subscription (%s) with dead letter topic (%s)\n", sub.String(), fullyQualifiedDeadLetterTopic)
	fmt.Fprintln(w, "To process dead letter messages, remember to add a subscription to your dead letter topic.")
	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.DeadLetterPolicy;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ProjectSubscriptionName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ProjectTopicName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.Subscription;
import java.io.IOException;

public class CreateSubscriptionWithDeadLetterPolicyExample {

  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    // This is the subscription you want to create with a dead letter policy.
    String subscriptionId = "your-subscription-id";
    // This is an existing topic that you want to attach the subscription with dead letter policy
    // to.
    String topicId = "your-topic-id";
    // This is an existing topic that the subscription with dead letter policy forwards dead letter
    // messages to.
    String deadLetterTopicId = "your-dead-letter-topic-id";

    CreateSubscriptionWithDeadLetterPolicyExample.createSubscriptionWithDeadLetterPolicyExample(
        projectId, subscriptionId, topicId, deadLetterTopicId);
  }

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

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

      DeadLetterPolicy deadLetterPolicy =
          DeadLetterPolicy.newBuilder()
              .setDeadLetterTopic(deadLetterTopicName.toString())
              // The maximum number of times that the service attempts to deliver a
              // message before forwarding it to the dead letter topic. Must be [5-100].
              .setMaxDeliveryAttempts(10)
              .build();

      Subscription request =
          Subscription.newBuilder()
              .setName(subscriptionName.toString())
              .setTopic(topicName.toString())
              .setDeadLetterPolicy(deadLetterPolicy)
              .build();

      Subscription subscription = subscriptionAdminClient.createSubscription(request);

      System.out.println("Created subscription: " + subscription.getName());
      System.out.println(
          "It will forward dead letter messages to: "
              + subscription.getDeadLetterPolicy().getDeadLetterTopic());
      System.out.println(
          "After "
              + subscription.getDeadLetterPolicy().getMaxDeliveryAttempts()
              + " delivery attempts.");
      // Remember to attach a subscription to the dead letter topic because
      // messages published to a topic with no subscriptions are lost.
    }
  }
}

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';
// const deadLetterTopicNameOrId = 'YOUR_DEAD_LETTER_TOPIC_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 createSubscriptionWithDeadLetterPolicy(
  topicNameOrId,
  subscriptionNameOrId,
  deadLetterTopicNameOrId
) {
  // Creates a new subscription
  const options = {
    deadLetterPolicy: {
      deadLetterTopic: pubSubClient.topic(deadLetterTopicNameOrId).name,
      maxDeliveryAttempts: 10,
    },
  };
  await pubSubClient
    .topic(topicNameOrId)
    .createSubscription(subscriptionNameOrId, options);
  console.log(
    `Created subscription ${subscriptionNameOrId} with dead letter topic ${deadLetterTopicNameOrId}.`
  );
  console.log(
    'To process dead letter messages, remember to add a subscription to your dead letter topic.'
  );
}

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';
// const deadLetterTopicNameOrId = 'YOUR_DEAD_LETTER_TOPIC_NAME_OR_ID';

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

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

async function createSubscriptionWithDeadLetterPolicy(
  topicNameOrId: string,
  subscriptionNameOrId: string,
  deadLetterTopicNameOrId: string
) {
  // Creates a new subscription
  const options: CreateSubscriptionOptions = {
    deadLetterPolicy: {
      deadLetterTopic: pubSubClient.topic(deadLetterTopicNameOrId).name,
      maxDeliveryAttempts: 10,
    },
  };
  await pubSubClient
    .topic(topicNameOrId)
    .createSubscription(subscriptionNameOrId, options);
  console.log(
    `Created subscription ${subscriptionNameOrId} with dead letter topic ${deadLetterTopicNameOrId}.`
  );
  console.log(
    'To process dead letter messages, remember to add a subscription to your dead letter topic.'
  );
}

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 dead letter policy enabled.
 *
 * @param string $projectId  The Google project ID.
 * @param string $topicName  The Pub/Sub topic name.
 * @param string $subscriptionName  The Pub/Sub subscription name.
 * @param string $deadLetterTopicName The Pub/Sub topic to use for dead letter policy.
 */
function dead_letter_create_subscription($projectId, $topicName, $subscriptionName, $deadLetterTopicName)
{
    $pubsub = new PubSubClient([
        'projectId' => $projectId,
    ]);

    $topic = $pubsub->topic($topicName);
    $deadLetterTopic = $pubsub->topic($deadLetterTopicName);

    $subscription = $topic->subscribe($subscriptionName, [
        'deadLetterPolicy' => [
            'deadLetterTopic' => $deadLetterTopic
        ]
    ]);

    printf(
        'Subscription %s created with dead letter topic %s' . PHP_EOL,
        $subscription->name(),
        $deadLetterTopic->name()
    );
}

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
from google.cloud.pubsub_v1.types import DeadLetterPolicy

# TODO(developer)
# project_id = "your-project-id"
# endpoint = "https://my-test-project.appspot.com/push"
# TODO(developer): This is an existing topic that the subscription
# with dead letter policy is attached to.
# topic_id = "your-topic-id"
# TODO(developer): This is an existing subscription with a dead letter policy.
# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"
# TODO(developer): This is an existing dead letter topic that the subscription
# with dead letter policy will forward dead letter messages to.
# dead_letter_topic_id = "your-dead-letter-topic-id"
# TODO(developer): This is the maximum number of delivery attempts allowed
# for a message before it gets delivered to a dead letter topic.
# max_delivery_attempts = 5

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)
dead_letter_topic_path = publisher.topic_path(project_id, dead_letter_topic_id)

dead_letter_policy = DeadLetterPolicy(
    dead_letter_topic=dead_letter_topic_path,
    max_delivery_attempts=max_delivery_attempts,
)

with subscriber:
    request = {
        "name": subscription_path,
        "topic": topic_path,
        "dead_letter_policy": dead_letter_policy,
    }
    subscription = subscriber.create_subscription(request)

print(f"Subscription created: {subscription.name}")
print(
    f"It will forward dead letter messages to: {subscription.dead_letter_policy.dead_letter_topic}."
)
print(
    f"After {subscription.dead_letter_policy.max_delivery_attempts} delivery attempts."
)

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.

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. 

# topic_id             = "your-topic-id"
# subscription_id      = "your-subscription-id"
# dead_letter_topic_id = "your-dead-letter-topic-id"

pubsub = Google::Cloud::Pubsub.new

topic             = pubsub.topic topic_id
dead_letter_topic = pubsub.topic dead_letter_topic_id
subscription      = topic.subscribe subscription_id,
                                    dead_letter_topic:                 dead_letter_topic,
                                    dead_letter_max_delivery_attempts: 10

puts "Created subscription #{subscription_id} with dead letter topic #{dead_letter_topic_id}."
puts "To process dead letter messages, remember to add a subscription to your dead letter topic."

Set a dead-letter topic for an existing subscription

You can update a subscription and set a dead-letter topic using the Google Cloud console, the Google Cloud CLI, the client libraries, or the Pub/Sub API.

Console

To update a subscription and set a dead-letter topic, complete the following steps.

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

    Go to Subscriptions

  2. Next to the subscription to update, click More actions.

  3. In the context menu, select Edit.

    The context menu with the Edit option highlighted.

  4. In the Dead lettering section, select Enable dead lettering.

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

  6. If the chosen topic does not have a subscription, the system prompts you to create one.

  7. In the Maximum delivery attempts field, specify an integer between 5 and 100.

  8. Click Update.

  9. The details panel shows a list of possible action items. If any of the items show an error icon , click the action item to resolve the issue.

gcloud

To update a subscription and set a dead-letter topic, use the gcloud pubsub subscriptions update command:

gcloud pubsub subscriptions update subscription-id \
  --dead-letter-topic=dead-letter-topic-name \
  [--max-delivery-attempts=max-delivery-attempts] \
  [--dead-letter-topic-project=dead-letter-topic-project]

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_admin = ::google::cloud::pubsub_admin;
namespace pubsub = ::google::cloud::pubsub;
[](pubsub_admin::SubscriptionAdminClient client,
   std::string const& project_id, std::string const& subscription_id,
   std::string const& dead_letter_topic_id,
   int dead_letter_delivery_attempts) {
  google::pubsub::v1::UpdateSubscriptionRequest request;
  request.mutable_subscription()->set_name(
      pubsub::Subscription(project_id, subscription_id).FullName());
  request.mutable_subscription()
      ->mutable_dead_letter_policy()
      ->set_dead_letter_topic(
          pubsub::Topic(project_id, dead_letter_topic_id).FullName());
  request.mutable_subscription()
      ->mutable_dead_letter_policy()
      ->set_max_delivery_attempts(dead_letter_delivery_attempts);
  *request.mutable_update_mask()->add_paths() = "dead_letter_policy";
  auto sub = client.UpdateSubscription(request);
  if (!sub) throw std::move(sub).status();

  std::cout << "The subscription has been updated to: " << sub->DebugString()
            << "\n";

  std::cout << "It will forward dead letter messages to: "
            << sub->dead_letter_policy().dead_letter_topic() << "\n";

  std::cout << "After " << sub->dead_letter_policy().max_delivery_attempts()
            << " delivery attempts.\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 Google.Protobuf.WellKnownTypes;

public class UpdateDeadLetterPolicySample
{
    public Subscription UpdateDeadLetterPolicy(string projectId, string topicId, string subscriptionId, string deadLetterTopicId)
    {
        SubscriberServiceApiClient subscriber = SubscriberServiceApiClient.Create();
        // This is an existing topic that the subscription with dead letter policy is attached to.
        TopicName topicName = TopicName.FromProjectTopic(projectId, topicId);
        // This is an existing subscription with a dead letter policy.
        SubscriptionName subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.FromProjectSubscription(projectId, subscriptionId);
        // This is an existing dead letter topic that the subscription with dead letter policy forwards
        // dead letter messages to.
        var deadLetterTopic = TopicName.FromProjectTopic(projectId, deadLetterTopicId).ToString();


        // Construct the subscription with the dead letter policy you expect to have after the update.
        // Here, values in the required fields (name, topic) help identify the subscription.
        var subscription = new Subscription
        {
            SubscriptionName = subscriptionName,
            TopicAsTopicName = topicName,
            DeadLetterPolicy = new DeadLetterPolicy
            {
                DeadLetterTopic = deadLetterTopic,
                MaxDeliveryAttempts = 20,
            }
        };

        var request = new UpdateSubscriptionRequest
        {
            Subscription = subscription,
            // Construct a field mask to indicate which field to update in the subscription.
            UpdateMask = new FieldMask { Paths = { "dead_letter_policy" } }
        };
        var updatedSubscription = subscriber.UpdateSubscription(request);
        return updatedSubscription;
    }
}

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"
)

// updateDeadLetter updates an existing subscription with a dead letter policy.
func updateDeadLetter(w io.Writer, projectID, subID string, fullyQualifiedDeadLetterTopic string) error {
	// projectID := "my-project-id"
	// subID := "my-sub"
	// fullyQualifiedDeadLetterTopic := "projects/my-project/topics/my-dead-letter-topic"
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := pubsub.NewClient(ctx, projectID)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("pubsub.NewClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	updateConfig := pubsub.SubscriptionConfigToUpdate{
		DeadLetterPolicy: &pubsub.DeadLetterPolicy{
			DeadLetterTopic:     fullyQualifiedDeadLetterTopic,
			MaxDeliveryAttempts: 20,
		},
	}

	subConfig, err := client.Subscription(subID).Update(ctx, updateConfig)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("Update: %w", err)
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Updated subscription config: %+v\n", subConfig)
	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.protobuf.FieldMask;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.DeadLetterPolicy;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.Subscription;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.SubscriptionName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.TopicName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.UpdateSubscriptionRequest;
import java.io.IOException;

public class UpdateDeadLetterPolicyExample {
  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    // This is an existing subscription with a dead letter policy.
    String subscriptionId = "your-subscription-id";
    // This is an existing topic that the subscription with dead letter policy is attached to.
    String topicId = "your-topic-id";
    // This is an existing dead letter topic that the subscription with dead letter policy forwards
    // dead letter messages to.
    String deadLetterTopicId = "your-dead-letter-topic-id";

    UpdateDeadLetterPolicyExample.updateDeadLetterPolicyExample(
        projectId, subscriptionId, topicId, deadLetterTopicId);
  }

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

      SubscriptionName subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.of(projectId, subscriptionId);

      System.out.println(
          "Before: " + subscriptionAdminClient.getSubscription(subscriptionName).getAllFields());

      TopicName topicName = TopicName.of(projectId, topicId);
      TopicName deadLetterTopicName = TopicName.of(projectId, deadLetterTopicId);

      // Construct the dead letter policy you expect to have after the update.
      DeadLetterPolicy deadLetterPolicy =
          DeadLetterPolicy.newBuilder()
              .setDeadLetterTopic(deadLetterTopicName.toString())
              .setMaxDeliveryAttempts(20)
              .build();

      // Construct the subscription with the dead letter policy you expect to have
      // after the update. Here, values in the required fields (name, topic) help
      // identify the subscription.
      Subscription subscription =
          Subscription.newBuilder()
              .setName(subscriptionName.toString())
              .setTopic(topicName.toString())
              .setDeadLetterPolicy(deadLetterPolicy)
              .build();

      // Construct a field mask to indicate which field to update in the subscription.
      FieldMask updateMask =
          FieldMask.newBuilder().addPaths("dead_letter_policy.max_delivery_attempts").build();

      UpdateSubscriptionRequest request =
          UpdateSubscriptionRequest.newBuilder()
              .setSubscription(subscription)
              .setUpdateMask(updateMask)
              .build();

      Subscription response = subscriptionAdminClient.updateSubscription(request);

      System.out.println("After: " + response.getAllFields());
      System.out.println(
          "Max delivery attempts is now "
              + response.getDeadLetterPolicy().getMaxDeliveryAttempts());
    }
  }
}

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 updateDeadLetterPolicy(topicNameOrId, subscriptionNameOrId) {
  const metadata = {
    deadLetterPolicy: {
      deadLetterTopic: pubSubClient.topic(topicNameOrId).name,
      maxDeliveryAttempts: 15,
    },
  };

  await pubSubClient
    .topic(topicNameOrId)
    .subscription(subscriptionNameOrId)
    .setMetadata(metadata);

  console.log('Max delivery attempts updated successfully.');
}

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;

/**
 * Set the dead letter policy on an existing subscription.
 *
 * @param string $projectId  The Google project ID.
 * @param string $topicName  The Pub/Sub topic name.
 * @param string $deadLetterTopicName The Pub/Sub topic to use for dead letter policy.
 */
function dead_letter_update_subscription(
    string $projectId,
    string $topicName,
    string $subscriptionName,
    string $deadLetterTopicName
): void {
    $pubsub = new PubSubClient([
        'projectId' => $projectId,
    ]);

    $topic = $pubsub->topic($topicName);
    $deadLetterTopic = $pubsub->topic($deadLetterTopicName);

    $subscription = $topic->subscription($subscriptionName);
    $subscription->update([
        'deadLetterPolicy' => [
            'deadLetterTopic' => $deadLetterTopic
        ]
    ]);

    printf(
        'Subscription %s updated with dead letter topic %s' . PHP_EOL,
        $subscription->name(),
        $deadLetterTopic->name()
    );
}

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
from google.cloud.pubsub_v1.types import DeadLetterPolicy, FieldMask

# TODO(developer)
# project_id = "your-project-id"
# TODO(developer): This is an existing topic that the subscription
# with dead letter policy is attached to.
# topic_id = "your-topic-id"
# TODO(developer): This is an existing subscription with a dead letter policy.
# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"
# TODO(developer): This is an existing dead letter topic that the subscription
# with dead letter policy will forward dead letter messages to.
# dead_letter_topic_id = "your-dead-letter-topic-id"
# TODO(developer): This is the maximum number of delivery attempts allowed
# for a message before it gets delivered to a dead letter topic.
# max_delivery_attempts = 5

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)
dead_letter_topic_path = publisher.topic_path(project_id, dead_letter_topic_id)

subscription_before_update = subscriber.get_subscription(
    request={"subscription": subscription_path}
)
print(f"Before the update: {subscription_before_update}.")

# Indicates which fields in the provided subscription to update.
update_mask = FieldMask(paths=["dead_letter_policy"])

# Construct a dead letter policy you expect to have after the update.
dead_letter_policy = DeadLetterPolicy(
    dead_letter_topic=dead_letter_topic_path,
    max_delivery_attempts=max_delivery_attempts,
)

# Construct the subscription with the dead letter policy you expect to have
# after the update. Here, values in the required fields (name, topic) help
# identify the subscription.
subscription = pubsub_v1.types.Subscription(
    name=subscription_path,
    topic=topic_path,
    dead_letter_policy=dead_letter_policy,
)

with subscriber:
    subscription_after_update: gapic_types.Subscription = (
        subscriber.update_subscription(
            request={"subscription": subscription, "update_mask": update_mask}
        )
    )

print(f"After the update: {subscription_after_update}.")

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.

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. 

# subscription_id       = "your-subscription-id"
# role                  = "roles/pubsub.publisher"
# service_account_email = "serviceAccount:account_name@project_name.iam.gserviceaccount.com"

pubsub = Google::Cloud::Pubsub.new

subscription = pubsub.subscription subscription_id
subscription.dead_letter_max_delivery_attempts = 20
puts "Max delivery attempts is now #{subscription.dead_letter_max_delivery_attempts}."

Grant IAM roles to use dead-letter topics

To forward undeliverable messages to a dead-letter topic, Pub/Sub must have permission to do the following:

  • Publish messages to the topic.
  • Acknowledge the messages, which removes them from the subscription.

Pub/Sub creates and maintains a service account for each project: service-project-number@gcp-sa-pubsub.iam.gserviceaccount.com. You can grant forwarding permissions by assigning publisher and subscriber roles to this service account.

Console

To grant Pub/Sub permission to publish messages to a dead-letter topic, complete the following steps:

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

    Go to Subscriptions

  2. Click the name of the subscription that has the dead-letter topic.

  3. Click the Dead lettering tab.

  4. To assign a publisher role, click Grant publisher role. If the publisher role is assigned successfully, you see a blue check .

  5. To assign a subscriber role, click Grant subscriber role. If the publisher role is assigned successfully, you see a blue check .

gcloud

To grant Pub/Sub permission to publish messages to a dead-letter topic, run the following command:

PUBSUB_SERVICE_ACCOUNT="service-project-number@gcp-sa-pubsub.iam.gserviceaccount.com"

gcloud pubsub topics add-iam-policy-binding dead-letter-topic-name \
  --member="serviceAccount:$PUBSUB_SERVICE_ACCOUNT"\
  --role="roles/pubsub.publisher"

To grant Pub/Sub permission to acknowledge forwarded undeliverable messages, run the following command:

PUBSUB_SERVICE_ACCOUNT="service-project-number@gcp-sa-pubsub.iam.gserviceaccount.com"

gcloud pubsub subscriptions add-iam-policy-binding subscription-id \
  --member="serviceAccount:$PUBSUB_SERVICE_ACCOUNT"\
  --role="roles/pubsub.subscriber"

Track delivery attempts

After you enable a dead-letter topic for a subscription, every message from that subscription has a field that specifies the number of delivery attempts:

  • Messages received from a pull subscription include the delivery_attempt field.

  • Messages received from a push subscription include the deliveryAttempt field.

The following samples show you how to get the number of delivery attempts:

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;
auto sample = [](pubsub::Subscriber subscriber) {
  return subscriber.Subscribe(
      [&](pubsub::Message const& m, pubsub::AckHandler h) {
        std::cout << "Received message " << m << "\n";
        std::cout << "Delivery attempt: " << h.delivery_attempt() << "\n";
        std::move(h).ack();
        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.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class PullMessagesAsyncWithDeliveryAttemptsSample
{
    public async Task<int> PullMessagesAsyncWithDeliveryAttempts(string projectId, string subscriptionId, bool acknowledge)
    {
        // This is an existing subscription with a dead letter policy.
        SubscriptionName subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.FromProjectSubscription(projectId, subscriptionId);

        SubscriberClient subscriber = await SubscriberClient.CreateAsync(subscriptionName);

        int deliveryAttempt = 0;
        Task startTask = subscriber.StartAsync((PubsubMessage message, CancellationToken cancel) =>
        {
            string text = message.Data.ToStringUtf8();
            System.Console.WriteLine($"Delivery Attempt: {message.GetDeliveryAttempt()}");
            if (message.GetDeliveryAttempt() != null)
            {
                deliveryAttempt = message.GetDeliveryAttempt().Value;
            }
            return Task.FromResult(acknowledge ? SubscriberClient.Reply.Ack : SubscriberClient.Reply.Nack);
        });
        // Run for 7 seconds.
        await Task.Delay(7000);
        await subscriber.StopAsync(CancellationToken.None);
        // Lets make sure that the start task finished successfully after the call to stop.
        await startTask;
        return deliveryAttempt;
    }
}

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"
)

func pullMsgsDeadLetterDeliveryAttempt(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()

	// 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()

	sub := client.Subscription(subID)
	err = sub.Receive(ctx, func(_ context.Context, msg *pubsub.Message) {
		// When dead lettering is enabled, the delivery attempt field is a pointer to the
		// the number of times the service has attempted to delivery a message.
		// Otherwise, the field is nil.
		if msg.DeliveryAttempt != nil {
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "message: %s, delivery attempts: %d", msg.Data, *msg.DeliveryAttempt)
		}
		msg.Ack()
	})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("got error in 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.AckReplyConsumer;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.MessageReceiver;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.Subscriber;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ProjectSubscriptionName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.PubsubMessage;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class ReceiveMessagesWithDeliveryAttemptsExample {

  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    // This is an existing subscription with a dead letter policy.
    String subscriptionId = "your-subscription-id";

    ReceiveMessagesWithDeliveryAttemptsExample.receiveMessagesWithDeliveryAttemptsExample(
        projectId, subscriptionId);
  }

  public static void receiveMessagesWithDeliveryAttemptsExample(
      String projectId, String subscriptionId) {

    ProjectSubscriptionName subscriptionName =
        ProjectSubscriptionName.of(projectId, subscriptionId);

    // Instantiate an asynchronous message receiver.
    MessageReceiver receiver =
        new MessageReceiver() {
          @Override
          public void receiveMessage(PubsubMessage message, AckReplyConsumer consumer) {
            // Handle incoming message, then ack the received message.
            System.out.println("Id: " + message.getMessageId());
            System.out.println("Data: " + message.getData().toStringUtf8());
            System.out.println("Delivery Attempt: " + Subscriber.getDeliveryAttempt(message));
            consumer.ack();
          }
        };

    Subscriber subscriber = null;
    try {
      subscriber = Subscriber.newBuilder(subscriptionName, receiver).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 these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';
// const subscriptionNameOrId = 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME_OR_ID';

// Imports the Google Cloud client library. v1 is for the lower level
// proto access.
const {v1} = require('@google-cloud/pubsub');

// Creates a client; cache this for further use.
const subClient = new v1.SubscriberClient();

async function synchronousPullWithDeliveryAttempts(
  projectId,
  subscriptionNameOrId
) {
  // The low level API client requires a name only.
  const formattedSubscription =
    subscriptionNameOrId.indexOf('/') >= 0
      ? subscriptionNameOrId
      : subClient.subscriptionPath(projectId, subscriptionNameOrId);

  // The maximum number of messages returned for this request.
  // Pub/Sub may return fewer than the number specified.
  const request = {
    subscription: formattedSubscription,
    maxMessages: 10,
  };

  // The subscriber pulls a specified number of messages.
  const [response] = await subClient.pull(request);

  // Process the messages.
  const ackIds = [];
  for (const message of response.receivedMessages || []) {
    console.log(`Received message: ${message.message.data}`);
    console.log(`Delivery Attempt: ${message.deliveryAttempt}`);
    if (message.ackId) {
      ackIds.push(message.ackId);
    }
  }

  // Acknowledge all of the messages. You could also acknowledge
  // these individually, but this is more efficient.
  const ackRequest = {
    subscription: formattedSubscription,
    ackIds: ackIds,
  };
  await subClient.acknowledge(ackRequest);

  console.log('Done.');
}

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\Message;
use Google\Cloud\PubSub\PubSubClient;

/**
 * Get the delivery attempt from a pulled message.
 *
 * @param string $projectId  The Google project ID.
 * @param string $topicName  The Pub/Sub topic name.
 * @param string $subscriptionName  The Pub/Sub subscription name.
 * @param string $message The contents of a pubsub message data field.
 */
function dead_letter_delivery_attempt($projectId, $topicName, $subscriptionName, $message)
{
    $pubsub = new PubSubClient([
        'projectId' => $projectId,
    ]);

    $topic = $pubsub->topic($topicName);

    // publish test message
    $topic->publish(new Message([
        'data' => $message
    ]));

    $subscription = $topic->subscription($subscriptionName);
    $messages = $subscription->pull();

    foreach ($messages as $message) {
        printf('Received message %s' . PHP_EOL, $message->data());
        printf('Delivery attempt %d' . PHP_EOL, $message->deliveryAttempt());
    }
    print('Done' . PHP_EOL);
}

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

# TODO(developer)
# project_id = "your-project-id"
# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"

subscriber = pubsub_v1.SubscriberClient()
subscription_path = subscriber.subscription_path(project_id, subscription_id)

def callback(message: pubsub_v1.subscriber.message.Message) -> None:
    print(f"Received {message}.")
    print(f"With delivery attempts: {message.delivery_attempt}.")
    message.ack()

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:
    # When `timeout` is not set, result() will block indefinitely,
    # unless an exception is encountered first.
    try:
        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. 

# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"

pubsub = Google::Cloud::Pubsub.new

subscription = pubsub.subscription subscription_id
subscription.pull(immediate: false).each do |message|
  puts "Received message: #{message.data}"
  puts "Delivery Attempt: #{message.delivery_attempt}"
  message.acknowledge!
end

When Pub/Sub forwards an undeliverable message to a dead-letter topic, it adds the following attributes to the message:

  • CloudPubSubDeadLetterSourceDeliveryCount: The number of delivery attempts to the source subscription.
  • CloudPubSubDeadLetterSourceSubscription: The name of the source subscription.
  • CloudPubSubDeadLetterSourceSubscriptionProject: The name of the project that contains the source subscription.
  • CloudPubSubDeadLetterSourceTopicPublishTime: The timestamp when the message was originally published.
  • CloudPubSubDeadLetterSourceDeliveryErrorMessage: The reason the message couldn't be delivered to the original destination. The attribute only exists for export subscriptions.

Monitor forwarded messages

After forwarding an undeliverable message, the Pub/Sub service removes the message from the subscription. You can monitor forwarded messages with Cloud Monitoring.

If you attach a subscription to the dead-letter topic, the messages use the expiration policy of the attached subscription rather than the expiration period of the subscription with the dead-letter topic property.

The subscription/dead_letter_message_count metric records the number of undeliverable messages that Pub/Sub forwards from a subscription.

For more information, see Monitoring forwarded undeliverable messages.

Remove a dead-letter topic

To stop forwarding undeliverable messages, remove the dead-letter topic from the subscription.

You can remove a dead-letter topic from a subscription using the Google Cloud console, the Google Cloud CLI, or the Pub/Sub API.

Console

To remove a dead-letter topic from a subscription, complete the following steps:

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

    Go to Subscriptions

  2. In the list of subscriptions, click next to the subscription to update.

  3. From the context menu, select Edit.

    The context menu with the Edit option highlighted.

  4. In the Dead lettering section, clear Enable dead lettering.

  5. Click Update.

gcloud

To remove a dead-letter topic from a subscription, use the gcloud pubsub subscriptions update command and the --clear-dead-letter-policy flag:

gcloud pubsub subscriptions update subscription-id \
  --clear-dead-letter-policy

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_admin = ::google::cloud::pubsub_admin;
namespace pubsub = ::google::cloud::pubsub;
[](pubsub_admin::SubscriptionAdminClient client,
   std::string const& project_id, std::string const& subscription_id) {
  google::pubsub::v1::UpdateSubscriptionRequest request;
  request.mutable_subscription()->set_name(
      pubsub::Subscription(project_id, subscription_id).FullName());
  request.mutable_subscription()->clear_dead_letter_policy();
  *request.mutable_update_mask()->add_paths() = "dead_letter_policy";
  auto sub = client.UpdateSubscription(request);
  if (!sub) throw std::move(sub).status();

  std::cout << "The subscription has been updated to: " << 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 Google.Protobuf.WellKnownTypes;

public class RemoveDeadLetterPolicySample
{
    public Subscription RemoveDeadLetterPolicy(string projectId, string topicId, string subscriptionId)
    {
        SubscriberServiceApiClient subscriber = SubscriberServiceApiClient.Create();
        // This is an existing topic that the subscription with dead letter policy is attached to.
        TopicName topicName = TopicName.FromProjectTopic(projectId, topicId);
        // This is an existing subscription with dead letter policy.
        SubscriptionName subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.FromProjectSubscription(projectId, subscriptionId);

        var subscription = new Subscription()
        {
            SubscriptionName = subscriptionName,
            TopicAsTopicName = topicName,
            DeadLetterPolicy = null
        };

        var request = new UpdateSubscriptionRequest
        {
            Subscription = subscription,
            UpdateMask = new FieldMask { Paths = { "dead_letter_policy" } }
        };
        var updatedSubscription = subscriber.UpdateSubscription(request);
        return updatedSubscription;
    }
}

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"
)

// removeDeadLetterTopic removes the dead letter policy from a subscription.
func removeDeadLetterTopic(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()

	subConfig, err := client.Subscription(subID).Update(ctx, pubsub.SubscriptionConfigToUpdate{
		DeadLetterPolicy: &pubsub.DeadLetterPolicy{},
	})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("Update: %w", err)
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Updated subscription config: %+v\n", subConfig)
	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.protobuf.FieldMask;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ProjectSubscriptionName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.Subscription;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.TopicName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.UpdateSubscriptionRequest;

public class RemoveDeadLetterPolicyExample {

  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    // This is an existing subscription with dead letter policy.
    String subscriptionId = "your-subscription-id";
    // This is an existing topic that the subscription with dead letter policy is attached to.
    String topicId = "your-topic-id";

    RemoveDeadLetterPolicyExample.removeDeadLetterPolicyExample(projectId, subscriptionId, topicId);
  }

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

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

      // Construct the subscription you expect to have after the request. Here,
      // values in the required fields (name, topic) help identify the subscription.
      // No dead letter policy is supplied.
      Subscription expectedSubscription =
          Subscription.newBuilder()
              .setName(subscriptionName.toString())
              .setTopic(topicName.toString())
              .build();

      // Construct a field mask to indicate which field to update in the subscription.
      FieldMask updateMask = FieldMask.newBuilder().addPaths("dead_letter_policy").build();

      UpdateSubscriptionRequest request =
          UpdateSubscriptionRequest.newBuilder()
              .setSubscription(expectedSubscription)
              .setUpdateMask(updateMask)
              .build();

      Subscription response = subscriptionAdminClient.updateSubscription(request);

      // You should see an empty dead letter topic field inside the dead letter policy.
      System.out.println("After: " + response.getAllFields());
    }
  }
}

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 removeDeadLetterPolicy(topicNameOrId, subscriptionNameOrId) {
  const metadata = {
    deadLetterPolicy: null,
  };

  await pubSubClient
    .topic(topicNameOrId)
    .subscription(subscriptionNameOrId)
    .setMetadata(metadata);

  console.log(
    `Removed dead letter topic from ${subscriptionNameOrId} subscription.`
  );
}

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;

/**
 * Remove dead letter policy from an existing subscription.
 *
 * @param string $projectId  The Google project ID.
 * @param string $topicName  The Pub/Sub topic name.
 * @param string $subscriptionName  The Pub/Sub subscription name.
 */
function dead_letter_remove($projectId, $topicName, $subscriptionName)
{
    $pubsub = new PubSubClient([
        'projectId' => $projectId,
    ]);

    $topic = $pubsub->topic($topicName);

    $subscription = $topic->subscription($subscriptionName);

    // Provide deadLetterPolicy in the update mask, but omit from update fields to unset.
    $subscription->update([], [
        'updateMask' => [
            'deadLetterPolicy'
        ]
    ]);

    printf(
        'Removed dead letter topic from subscription %s' . PHP_EOL,
        $subscription->name()
    );
}

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
from google.cloud.pubsub_v1.types import FieldMask

# TODO(developer)
# project_id = "your-project-id"
# TODO(developer): This is an existing topic that the subscription
# with dead letter policy is attached to.
# topic_id = "your-topic-id"
# TODO(developer): This is an existing subscription with a dead letter policy.
# 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)

subscription_before_update = subscriber.get_subscription(
    request={"subscription": subscription_path}
)
print(f"Before removing the policy: {subscription_before_update}.")

# Indicates which fields in the provided subscription to update.
update_mask = FieldMask(paths=["dead_letter_policy"])

# Construct the subscription (without any dead letter policy) that you
# expect to have after the update.
subscription = pubsub_v1.types.Subscription(
    name=subscription_path, topic=topic_path
)

with subscriber:
    subscription_after_update: gapic_types.Subscription = (
        subscriber.update_subscription(
            request={"subscription": subscription, "update_mask": update_mask}
        )
    )

print(f"After removing the policy: {subscription_after_update}.")

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.

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. 

# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"

pubsub = Google::Cloud::Pubsub.new

subscription = pubsub.subscription subscription_id
subscription.remove_dead_letter_policy
puts "Removed dead letter topic from #{subscription_id} subscription."

Pricing

When the Pub/Sub service forwards undeliverable messages, the following fees apply:

  • Publish fees billed to the billing account associated with the project that contains the dead-letter topic.
  • Subscription fees for outbound messages billed to the billing account associated with the project containing the subscription with the dead-letter topic property.

If you set the dead-letter topic property of a subscription but the message storage location policy of the dead-letter topic topic doesn't allow the region that contains the subscription, publish fees for outbound messages also apply.

Publish fees for outbound messages are billed to the project that contains the dead-letter topic. For more information, see Pricing.

What's next