Receive messages from a pull subscription

This document describes how to receive messages from a pull subscription. You can use the Google Cloud console, the Google Cloud CLI, the client library, or the Pub/Sub API to create a pull subscription.

Before you begin

Create a pull subscription.

Required roles and permissions

To get the permissions that you need to pull messages from subscriptions and manage them, ask your administrator to grant you the Pub/Sub Subscriber (roles/pubsub.subscriber) IAM role on the project. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

This predefined role contains the permissions required to pull messages from subscriptions and manage them. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand the Required permissions section:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to pull messages from subscriptions and manage them:

Pull from a subscription: pubsub.subscriptions.consume
Create a subscription: pubsub.subscriptions.create
Delete a subscription: pubsub.subscriptions.delete
Get a subscription: pubsub.subscriptions.get
List a subscription: pubsub.subscriptions.list
Update a subscription: pubsub.subscriptions.update
Attach a subscription to a topic: pubsub.topics.attachSubscription
Get the IAM policy for a subscription: pubsub.subscriptions.getIamPolicy
Configure the IAM policy for a subscription: pubsub.subscriptions.setIamPolicy
Grant the consume messages from a subscription permission on the pull subscription: pubsub.subscriptions.consume

You might also be able to get these permissions with custom roles or other predefined roles.

Pull a message from a subscription

The following samples demonstrate how to pull a message from a subscription using either the StreamingPull API or the Pull API.

StreamingPull API

To use the StreamingPull API, you must use a client library.

The Google Cloud console and Google Cloud CLI don't support the StreamingPull API.

StreamingPull and high-level client library code samples

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::move(h).ack();
        PleaseIgnoreThisSimplifiesTestingTheSamples();
      });
};

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;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class PullMessagesAsyncSample
{
    public async Task<int> PullMessagesAsync(string projectId, string subscriptionId, bool acknowledge)
    {
        SubscriptionName subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.FromProjectSubscription(projectId, subscriptionId);
        SubscriberClient subscriber = await SubscriberClient.CreateAsync(subscriptionName);
        // SubscriberClient runs your message handle function on multiple
        // threads to maximize throughput.
        int messageCount = 0;
        Task startTask = subscriber.StartAsync((PubsubMessage message, CancellationToken cancel) =>
        {
            string text = message.Data.ToStringUtf8();
            Console.WriteLine($"Message {message.MessageId}: {text}");
            Interlocked.Increment(ref messageCount);
            return Task.FromResult(acknowledge ? SubscriberClient.Reply.Ack : SubscriberClient.Reply.Nack);
        });
        // Run for 5 seconds.
        await Task.Delay(5000);
        await subscriber.StopAsync(CancellationToken.None);
        // Lets make sure that the start task finished successfully after the call to stop.
        await startTask;
        return messageCount;
    }
}

Go

The following sample uses the major version of the Go Pub/Sub client library (v2). If you are still using the v1 library, see the migration guide to v2. To see a list of v1 code samples, see the deprecated code samples.

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"
	"sync/atomic"
	"time"

	"cloud.google.com/go/pubsub/v2"
)

func pullMsgs(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()

	// client.Subscriber can be passed a subscription ID (e.g. "my-sub") or
	// a fully qualified name (e.g. "projects/my-project/subscriptions/my-sub").
	// If a subscription ID is provided, the project ID from the client is used.
	sub := client.Subscriber(subID)

	// 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()

	var received int32
	err = sub.Receive(ctx, func(_ context.Context, msg *pubsub.Message) {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "Got message: %q\n", string(msg.Data))
		atomic.AddInt32(&received, 1)
		msg.Ack()
	})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("sub.Receive: %w", err)
	}
	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Received %d messages\n", received)

	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.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 SubscribeAsyncExample {
  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";

    subscribeAsyncExample(projectId, subscriptionId);
  }

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

    // Instantiate an asynchronous message receiver.
    MessageReceiver receiver =
        (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());
          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 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 subscriptionNameOrId = 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME_OR_ID';
// const timeout = 60;

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

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

function listenForMessages(subscriptionNameOrId, timeout) {
  // References an existing subscription; if you are unsure if the
  // subscription will exist, try the optimisticSubscribe sample.
  const subscription = pubSubClient.subscription(subscriptionNameOrId);

  // Create an event handler to handle messages
  let messageCount = 0;
  const messageHandler = message => {
    console.log(`Received message ${message.id}:`);
    console.log(`\tData: ${message.data}`);
    console.log(`\tAttributes: ${message.attributes}`);
    messageCount += 1;

    // "Ack" (acknowledge receipt of) the message
    message.ack();
  };

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

  // Wait a while for the subscription to run. (Part of the sample only.)
  setTimeout(() => {
    subscription.removeListener('message', messageHandler);
    console.log(`${messageCount} message(s) received.`);
  }, timeout * 1000);
}

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 subscriptionNameOrId = 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME_OR_ID';
// const timeout = 60;

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

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

function listenForMessages(subscriptionNameOrId: string, timeout: number) {
  // References an existing subscription; if you are unsure if the
  // subscription will exist, try the optimisticSubscribe sample.
  const subscription = pubSubClient.subscription(subscriptionNameOrId);

  // Create an event handler to handle messages
  let messageCount = 0;
  const messageHandler = (message: Message) => {
    console.log(`Received message ${message.id}:`);
    console.log(`\tData: ${message.data}`);
    console.log(`\tAttributes: ${message.attributes}`);
    messageCount += 1;

    // "Ack" (acknowledge receipt of) the message
    message.ack();
  };

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

  // Wait a while for the subscription to run. (Part of the sample only.)
  setTimeout(() => {
    subscription.removeListener('message', messageHandler);
    console.log(`${messageCount} message(s) received.`);
  }, timeout * 1000);
}

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 concurrent.futures import TimeoutError
from google.cloud import pubsub_v1

# 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}.")
    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:
    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

The following sample uses Ruby Pub/Sub client library v3. If you are still using the v2 library, see the migration guide to v3. To see a list of Ruby v2 code samples, see the deprecated code samples.

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.

# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"

pubsub = Google::Cloud::PubSub.new
subscriber = pubsub.subscriber subscription_id

listener = subscriber.listen do |received_message|
  puts "Received message: #{received_message.data}"
  received_message.acknowledge!
end

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

Retrieve custom attributes using the high-level client library

The following samples show how to pull messages asynchronously and retrieve the custom attributes from the metadata.

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 with attributes:\n";
        for (auto& kv : m.attributes()) {
          std::cout << "  " << kv.first << ": " << kv.second << "\n";
        }
        std::move(h).ack();
        PleaseIgnoreThisSimplifiesTestingTheSamples();
      });
};

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;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class PullMessagesWithCustomAttributesAsyncSample
{
    public async Task<List<PubsubMessage>> PullMessagesWithCustomAttributesAsync(string projectId, string subscriptionId, bool acknowledge)
    {
        SubscriptionName subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.FromProjectSubscription(projectId, subscriptionId);

        SubscriberClient subscriber = await SubscriberClient.CreateAsync(subscriptionName);
        var messages = new List<PubsubMessage>();
        Task startTask = subscriber.StartAsync((PubsubMessage message, CancellationToken cancel) =>
        {
            messages.Add(message);
            string text = message.Data.ToStringUtf8();
            Console.WriteLine($"Message {message.MessageId}: {text}");
            if (message.Attributes != null)
            {
                foreach (var attribute in message.Attributes)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine($"{attribute.Key} = {attribute.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 messages;
    }
}

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/v2"
)

func pullMsgsCustomAttributes(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()

	// client.Subscriber can be passed a subscription ID (e.g. "my-sub") or
	// a fully qualified name (e.g. "projects/my-project/subscriptions/my-sub").
	// If a subscription ID is provided, the project ID from the client is used.
	sub := client.Subscriber(subID)

	// 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()

	// Receive blocks until the context is cancelled or an error occurs.
	err = sub.Receive(ctx, func(_ context.Context, msg *pubsub.Message) {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "Got message :%q\n", string(msg.Data))
		fmt.Fprintln(w, "Attributes:")
		for key, value := range msg.Attributes {
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s = %s\n", key, value)
		}
		msg.Ack()
	})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("sub.Receive: %w", err)
	}

	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.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 SubscribeWithCustomAttributesExample {
  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";

    subscribeWithCustomAttributesExample(projectId, subscriptionId);
  }

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

    // Instantiate an asynchronous message receiver.
    MessageReceiver receiver =
        (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());
          // Print message attributes.
          message
              .getAttributesMap()
              .forEach((key, value) -> System.out.println(key + " = " + value));
          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 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 subscriptionNameOrId = 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME_OR_ID';
// const timeout = 60;

// 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 listenWithCustomAttributes(subscriptionNameOrId, timeout) {
  // References an existing subscription, e.g. "my-subscription"
  const subscription = pubSubClient.subscription(subscriptionNameOrId);

  // Create an event handler to handle messages
  const messageHandler = message => {
    console.log(
      `Received message: id ${message.id}, data ${
        message.data
      }, attributes: ${JSON.stringify(message.attributes)}`,
    );

    // "Ack" (acknowledge receipt of) the message
    message.ack();
  };

  // Wait a while for the subscription to run. (Part of the sample only.)
  subscription.on('message', messageHandler);
  setTimeout(() => {
    subscription.removeListener('message', messageHandler);
  }, timeout * 1000);
}

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 concurrent.futures import TimeoutError
from google.cloud import pubsub_v1

# 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()
subscription_path = subscriber.subscription_path(project_id, subscription_id)

def callback(message: pubsub_v1.subscriber.message.Message) -> None:
    print(f"Received {message.data!r}.")
    if message.attributes:
        print("Attributes:")
        for key in message.attributes:
            value = message.attributes.get(key)
            print(f"{key}: {value}")
    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:
    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

The following sample uses Ruby Pub/Sub client library v3. If you are still using the v2 library, see the migration guide to v3. To see a list of Ruby v2 code samples, see the deprecated code samples.

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.

# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"

pubsub = Google::Cloud::PubSub.new
subscriber = pubsub.subscriber subscription_id

listener = subscriber.listen do |received_message|
  puts "Received message: #{received_message.data}"
  unless received_message.attributes.empty?
    puts "Attributes:"
    received_message.attributes.each do |key, value|
      puts "#{key}: #{value}"
    end
  end
  received_message.acknowledge!
end

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

Handle errors using the high-level client library

The following samples show how to handle errors that arise when subscribing to messages.

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;
using ::google::cloud::future;
auto sample = [](pubsub::Subscriber subscriber) {
  return subscriber
      .Subscribe([&](pubsub::Message const& m, pubsub::AckHandler h) {
        std::cout << "Received message " << m << "\n";
        std::move(h).ack();
        PleaseIgnoreThisSimplifiesTestingTheSamples();
      })
      // Setup an error handler for the subscription session
      .then([](future<google::cloud::Status> f) {
        std::cout << "Subscription session result: " << f.get() << "\n";
      });
};

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/v2"
)

func pullMsgsError(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()

	// If the service returns a non-retryable error, Receive returns that error after
	// all of the outstanding calls to the handler have returned.
	// client.Subscriber can be passed a subscription ID (e.g. "my-sub") or
	// a fully qualified name (e.g. "projects/my-project/subscriptions/my-sub").
	// If a subscription ID is provided, the project ID from the client is used.
	sub := client.Subscriber(subID)
	err = sub.Receive(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, msg *pubsub.Message) {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "Got message: %q\n", string(msg.Data))
		msg.Ack()
	})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("Receive: %w", err)
	}
	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.api.gax.core.ExecutorProvider;
import com.google.api.gax.core.InstantiatingExecutorProvider;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.AckReplyConsumer;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.MessageReceiver;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.Subscriber;
import com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ProjectSubscriptionName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.PubsubMessage;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class SubscribeWithErrorListenerExample {
  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";

    subscribeWithErrorListenerExample(projectId, subscriptionId);
  }

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

    // Instantiate an asynchronous message receiver.
    MessageReceiver receiver =
        (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());
          consumer.ack();
        };

    Subscriber subscriber = null;
    try {
      // Provides an executor service for processing messages.
      ExecutorProvider executorProvider =
          InstantiatingExecutorProvider.newBuilder().setExecutorThreadCount(4).build();

      subscriber =
          Subscriber.newBuilder(subscriptionName, receiver)
              .setExecutorProvider(executorProvider)
              .build();

      // Listen for unrecoverable failures.
      subscriber.addListener(
          new Subscriber.Listener() {
            public void failed(Subscriber.State from, Throwable failure) {
              System.out.println("Unrecoverable subscriber failure:" + failure.getStackTrace());
            }
          },
          MoreExecutors.directExecutor());

      // 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 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 subscriptionNameOrId = 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME_OR_ID';
// const timeout = 10;

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

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

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

  // Create an event handler to handle messages
  const messageHandler = message => {
    // Do something with the message
    console.log(`Message: ${message}`);

    // "Ack" (acknowledge receipt of) the message
    message.ack();
  };

  // Create an event handler to handle errors
  const errorHandler = error => {
    // Do something with the error
    console.error(`ERROR: ${error}`);
    throw error;
  };

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

  // Wait a while for the subscription to run. (Part of the sample only.)
  setTimeout(() => {
    subscription.removeListener('message', messageHandler);
    subscription.removeListener('error', errorHandler);
  }, timeout * 1000);
}

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)
# 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()
subscription_path = subscriber.subscription_path(project_id, subscription_id)

def callback(message: pubsub_v1.subscriber.message.Message) -> None:
    print(f"Received {message}.")
    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 Exception as e:
        print(
            f"Listening for messages on {subscription_path} threw an exception: {e}."
        )
        streaming_pull_future.cancel()  # Trigger the shutdown.
        streaming_pull_future.result()  # Block until the shutdown is complete.

Ruby

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.

# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"

pubsub = Google::Cloud::PubSub.new
subscriber = pubsub.subscriber subscription_id

listener = subscriber.listen do |received_message|
  puts "Received message: #{received_message.data}"
  received_message.acknowledge!
end

# Propagate exception from child threads to the main thread as soon as it is
# raised. Exceptions happened in the callback thread are collected in the
# callback thread pool and do not propagate to the main thread
Thread.abort_on_exception = true

begin
  listener.start
  # Let the main thread sleep for 60 seconds so the thread for listening
  # messages does not quit
  sleep 60
  listener.stop.wait!
rescue StandardError => e
  puts "Exception #{e.inspect}: #{e.message}"
  raise "Stopped listening for messages."
end

Unary pull

To use the Unary API, you can use the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI, or a client library.

Considerations

Pub/Sub delivers a list of messages. If the list has multiple messages, Pub/Sub orders the messages with the same ordering key. The following are some important caveats:

Setting a value for max_messages in the request does not guarantee that max_messages are returned, even if there are that many messages in the backlog. The Pub/Sub Pull API might return fewer than max_messages in order to reduce the delivery latency for messages that are readily available to be delivered.
A pull response that comes with 0 messages must not be used as an indicator that there are no messages in the backlog. It's possible to get a response with 0 messages and have a subsequent request that returns messages.

Console

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

Go to Subscriptions
Click the name of the subscription that you want to pull from.
In the Messages tab, click Pull.

You should see the messages that you published to this subscription and the time they were published.

When using the Google Cloud console, an individual pull for a low message volume can often return zero messages. If you don't see messages, click Pull multiple times to issue multiple pull requests. This is not an issue with the Pub/Sub Client Libraries.

gcloud

To pull a message from a subscription, run the gcloud pubsub subscriptions pull command. The gcloud CLI prints the message to the command line.

gcloud pubsub subscriptions pull SUBSCRIPTION_NAME --auto-ack

Replace:

SUBSCRIPTION_NAME: The name of the subscription from which you want to pull messages.

Client Libraries

Here's some sample code to pull and acknowledge a fixed number of messages.

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.

[](google::cloud::pubsub::Subscriber subscriber) {
  auto response = subscriber.Pull();
  if (!response) throw std::move(response).status();
  std::cout << "Received message " << response->message << "\n";
  std::move(response->handler).ack();
}

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;
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;

public class PullMessagesSyncSample
{
    public int PullMessagesSync(string projectId, string subscriptionId, bool acknowledge)
    {
        SubscriptionName subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.FromProjectSubscription(projectId, subscriptionId);
        SubscriberServiceApiClient subscriberClient = SubscriberServiceApiClient.Create();
        int messageCount = 0;
        try
        {
            // Pull messages from server,
            // allowing an immediate response if there are no messages.
            PullResponse response = subscriberClient.Pull(subscriptionName, maxMessages: 20);
            // Print out each received message.
            foreach (ReceivedMessage msg in response.ReceivedMessages)
            {
                string text = msg.Message.Data.ToStringUtf8();
                Console.WriteLine($"Message {msg.Message.MessageId}: {text}");
                Interlocked.Increment(ref messageCount);
            }
            // If acknowledgement required, send to server.
            if (acknowledge && messageCount > 0)
            {
                subscriberClient.Acknowledge(subscriptionName, response.ReceivedMessages.Select(msg => msg.AckId));
            }
        }
        catch (RpcException ex) when (ex.Status.StatusCode == StatusCode.Unavailable)
        {
            // UNAVAILABLE due to too many concurrent pull requests pending for the given subscription.
        }
        return messageCount;
    }
}

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.stub.GrpcSubscriberStub;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.stub.SubscriberStub;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.stub.SubscriberStubSettings;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.AcknowledgeRequest;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ProjectSubscriptionName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.PullRequest;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.PullResponse;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ReceivedMessage;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class SubscribeSyncExample {
  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";
    Integer numOfMessages = 10;

    subscribeSyncExample(projectId, subscriptionId, numOfMessages);
  }

  public static void subscribeSyncExample(
      String projectId, String subscriptionId, Integer numOfMessages) throws IOException {
    SubscriberStubSettings subscriberStubSettings =
        SubscriberStubSettings.newBuilder()
            .setTransportChannelProvider(
                SubscriberStubSettings.defaultGrpcTransportProviderBuilder()
                    .setMaxInboundMessageSize(20 * 1024 * 1024) // 20MB (maximum message size).
                    .build())
            .build();

    try (SubscriberStub subscriber = GrpcSubscriberStub.create(subscriberStubSettings)) {
      String subscriptionName = ProjectSubscriptionName.format(projectId, subscriptionId);
      PullRequest pullRequest =
          PullRequest.newBuilder()
              .setMaxMessages(numOfMessages)
              .setSubscription(subscriptionName)
              .build();

      // Use pullCallable().futureCall to asynchronously perform this operation.
      PullResponse pullResponse = subscriber.pullCallable().call(pullRequest);

      // Stop the program if the pull response is empty to avoid acknowledging
      // an empty list of ack IDs.
      if (pullResponse.getReceivedMessagesList().isEmpty()) {
        System.out.println("No message was pulled. Exiting.");
        return;
      }

      List<String> ackIds = new ArrayList<>();
      for (ReceivedMessage message : pullResponse.getReceivedMessagesList()) {
        // Handle received message
        // ...
        ackIds.add(message.getAckId());
      }

      // Acknowledge received messages.
      AcknowledgeRequest acknowledgeRequest =
          AcknowledgeRequest.newBuilder()
              .setSubscription(subscriptionName)
              .addAllAckIds(ackIds)
              .build();

      // Use acknowledgeCallable().futureCall to asynchronously perform this operation.
      subscriber.acknowledgeCallable().call(acknowledgeRequest);
      System.out.println(pullResponse.getReceivedMessagesList());
    }
  }
}

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 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 synchronousPull(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}`);
    if (message.ackId) {
      ackIds.push(message.ackId);
    }
  }

  if (ackIds.length !== 0) {
    // 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 Node.js setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Node.js API reference documentation.

use Google\Cloud\PubSub\PubSubClient;

/**
 * Pulls all Pub/Sub messages for a subscription.
 *
 * @param string $projectId  The Google project ID.
 * @param string $subscriptionName  The Pub/Sub subscription name.
 */
function pull_messages($projectId, $subscriptionName)
{
    $pubsub = new PubSubClient([
        'projectId' => $projectId,
    ]);
    $subscription = $pubsub->subscription($subscriptionName);
    foreach ($subscription->pull() as $message) {
        printf('Message: %s' . PHP_EOL, $message->data());
        // Acknowledge the Pub/Sub message has been received, so it will not be pulled multiple times.
        $subscription->acknowledge($message);
    }
}

Ruby

The following sample uses Ruby Pub/Sub client library v3. If you are still using the v2 library, see the migration guide to v3. To see a list of Ruby v2 code samples, see the deprecated code samples.

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.

# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"

pubsub = Google::Cloud::PubSub.new
subscriber = pubsub.subscriber subscription_id

subscriber.pull(immediate: false).each do |message|
  puts "Message pulled: #{message.data}"
  message.acknowledge!
end

Protocol

Request:

POST https://pubsub.googleapis.com/v1/projects/myproject/subscriptions/mysubscription:pull

{
  "returnImmediately": "false",
  "maxMessages": "1"
}

Response:

200 OK

{
  "receivedMessages": [{
    "ackId": "dQNNHlAbEGEIBERNK0EPKVgUWQYyODM2LwgRHFEZDDsLRk1SK...",
    "message": {
      "data": "SGVsbG8gQ2xvdWQgUHViL1N1YiEgSGVyZSBpcyBteSBtZXNzYWdlIQ==",
      "messageId": "19917247034"
    }
  }]
}

Request:

POST https://pubsub.googleapis.com/v1/projects/myproject/subscriptions/mysubscription:acknowledge

{
  "ackIds": [
    "dQNNHlAbEGEIBERNK0EPKVgUWQYyODM2LwgRHFEZDDsLRk1SK..."
  ]
}

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.api_core import retry
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)

NUM_MESSAGES = 3

# Wrap the subscriber in a 'with' block to automatically call close() to
# close the underlying gRPC channel when done.
with subscriber:
    # The subscriber pulls a specific number of messages. The actual
    # number of messages pulled may be smaller than max_messages.
    response = subscriber.pull(
        request={"subscription": subscription_path, "max_messages": NUM_MESSAGES},
        retry=retry.Retry(deadline=300),
    )

    if len(response.received_messages) == 0:
        return

    ack_ids = []
    for received_message in response.received_messages:
        print(f"Received: {received_message.message.data}.")
        ack_ids.append(received_message.ack_id)

    # Acknowledges the received messages so they will not be sent again.
    subscriber.acknowledge(
        request={"subscription": subscription_path, "ack_ids": ack_ids}
    )

    print(
        f"Received and acknowledged {len(response.received_messages)} messages from {subscription_path}."
    )

What's next

Create or modify a subscription with gcloud commands.
Create or modify a subscription with REST APIs.
Create or modify a subscription with RPC APIs.

Receive messages from a pull subscription Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.

Before you begin

Required roles and permissions

Required permissions

Pull a message from a subscription

StreamingPull API

StreamingPull and high-level client library code samples

C++

C#

Go

Java

Node.js

Node.js

Python

Ruby

Retrieve custom attributes using the high-level client library

C++

C#

Go

Java

Node.js

Python

Ruby

Handle errors using the high-level client library

C++

Go

Java

Node.js

Python

Ruby

Unary pull

Considerations

Console

gcloud

Client Libraries

C++

C#

Java

Node.js

PHP

Ruby

Protocol

Python

What's next

Receive messages from a pull subscription