Pull subscriptions

This document provides an overview of a pull subscription, its workflow, and associated properties.

In a pull subscription, a subscriber client requests messages from the Pub/Sub server.

The pull mode can use one of the two service APIs, Pull or StreamingPull. To run the chosen API, you can select a Google-provided high-level client library, or a low-level auto-generated client library. You can also choose between asynchronous and synchronous message processing.

Before you begin

Before reading this document, ensure that you're familiar with the following:

Pull subscription workflow

For a pull subscription, your subscriber client initiates requests to a Pub/Sub server to retrieve messages. The subscriber client uses one of the following APIs:

Most subscriber clients don't make these requests directly. Instead, the clients rely on the Google Cloud-provided high-level client library that performs streaming pull requests internally and delivers messages asynchronously. For a subscriber client that needs greater control over how messages are pulled, Pub/Sub uses a low-level and automatically generated gRPC library. This library makes pull or streaming pull requests directly. These requests can be synchronous or asynchronous.

The following two images show the workflow between a subscriber client and a pull subscription.

Flow of messages for a pull subscription
Figure 1. Workflow for a pull subscription



Flow of messages for a streamingPull subscription
Figure 2. Workflow for a streaming pull subscription

Pull workflow

The pull workflow is as follows and references Figure 1:

  1. The subscriber client explicitly calls the pull method, which requests messages for delivery. This request is the PullRequest as shown in the image.

  2. The Pub/Sub server responds with zero or more messages and acknowledgment IDs. A response with zero messages or with an error does not necessarily indicate that there are no messages available to receive. This response is the PullResponse as shown in the image.

  3. The subscriber client explicitly calls the acknowledge method. The client uses the returned acknowledgment ID to acknowledge that the message is processed and need not be delivered again.

For a single streaming pull request, a subscriber client can have multiple responses returned due to the open connection. In contrast, only one response is returned for each pull request.

Properties of a pull subscription

The properties that you configure for a pull subscription determines how you write messages to your subscription. For more information, see subscription properties.

Pub/Sub service APIs

The Pub/Sub pull subscription can use one of the following two APIs for retrieving messages:

  • Pull
  • StreamingPull

Use unary Acknowledge and ModifyAckDeadline RPCs when you receive messages using these APIs. The two Pub/Sub APIs are described in the following tabs.

StreamingPull API

Where possible, the Pub/Sub client libraries use StreamingPull for maximum throughput and lowest latency. Although you might never use the StreamingPull API directly, it's important to know how it differs from the Pull API.

The StreamingPull API relies on a persistent bidirectional connection to receive multiple messages as they become available. The following is the workflow:

  1. The client sends a request to the server to establish a connection. If the connection quota is exceeded, the server returns a resource exhausted error. The client library retries the out-of-quota errors automatically.

  2. If there is no error or the connection quota is available again, the server continuously sends messages to the connected client.

  3. If or when the throughput quota is exceeded, the server stops sending messages. However, the connection is not broken. Whenever there's sufficient throughput quota available again, the stream resumes.

  4. The client or the server eventually closes the connection.

The StreamingPull API keeps an open connection. The Pub/Sub servers recurrently close the connection after a time period to avoid a long-running sticky connection. The client library automatically reopens a StreamingPull connection.

Messages are sent to the connection when they are available. The StreamingPull API thus minimizes latency and maximizes throughput for messages.

Read more about the StreamingPull RPC methods: StreamingPullRequest and StreamingPullResponse.

Pull API

This API is a traditional unary RPC that is based on a request and response model. A single pull response corresponds to a single pull request. The following is the workflow:

  1. The client sends a request to the server for messages. If the throughput quota is exceeded, the server returns a resource exhausted error.

  2. If there is no error or the throughput quota is available again, the server replies with zero or more messages and acknowledgment IDs.

When using the unary Pull API, a response with zero messages or with an error does not necessarily indicate that there are no messages available to receive.

Using the Pull API does not guarantee low latency and a high throughput of messages. To achieve high throughput and low latency with the Pull API, you must have multiple simultaneous outstanding requests. New requests are created when old requests receive a response. Architecting such a solution is error-prone and hard to maintain. We recommend that you use the StreamingPull API for such use cases.

Use the Pull API instead of the StreamingPull API only if you require strict control over the following:

  • The number of messages that the subscriber client can process
  • The client memory and resources

You can also use this API when your subscriber is a proxy between Pub/Sub and another service that operates in a more pull-oriented way.

Read more about the Pull REST methods: Method: projects.subscriptions.pull.

Read more about the Pull RPC methods: PullRequest and PullResponse.

Types of message processing modes

Choose one of the following pull modes for your subscriber clients.

Asynchronous pull mode

Asynchronous pull mode decouples the receiving of messages from the processing of messages in a subscriber client. This mode is the default for most subscriber clients. Asynchronous pull mode can use the StreamingPull API or unary Pull API. Asynchronous pull can also use the high-level client library or low-level auto-generated client library.

You can learn more about client libraries later in this document.

Synchronous pull mode

In synchronous pull mode, the receiving and processing of messages occur in sequence and are not decoupled from each other. Hence, similar to StreamingPull versus unary Pull APIs, asynchronous processing offers lower latency and higher throughput than synchronous processing.

Use synchronous pull mode only for applications where low latency and high throughput are not the most important factors as compared to some other requirements. For example, an application might be limited to using only the synchronous programming model. Or, an application with resource constraints might require more exact control over memory, network, or CPU. In such cases, use synchronous mode with the unary Pull API.

Pub/Sub client libraries

Pub/Sub offers a high-level and a low-level auto-generated client library.

High-level Pub/Sub client library

The high-level client library provides options for controlling the acknowledgment deadlines by using lease management. These options are more granular than when you configure the acknowledgment deadlines by using the console or the CLI at the subscription level. The high-level client library also implements support for features such as ordered delivery, exactly-once delivery, and flow control.

We recommend using asynchronous pull and the StreamingPull API with the high-level client library. Not all languages that are supported for Google Cloud also support the Pull API in the high-level client library.

To use the high-level client libraries, see Pub/Sub client libraries.

Low-level auto-generated Pub/Sub client library

A low-level client library is available for cases where you must use the Pull API directly. You can use synchronous or asynchronous processing with the low-level auto-generated client library. You must manually code features such as ordered delivery, exactly-once delivery, flow control, and lease management when you use the low-level auto-generated client library.

You can use the synchronous processing model when you use the low-level auto-generated client library for all supported languages. You might use the low-level auto-generated client library and synchronous pull in cases where using the Pull API directly makes sense. For example, you might have existing application logic that relies on this model.

To use the low-level auto-generated client libraries directly, see Pub/Sub APIs overview.

Client library code samples

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

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"
)

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()

	sub := client.Subscription(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

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

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

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

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"
)

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()

	sub := client.Subscription(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

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

subscription = pubsub.subscription subscription_id
subscriber   = subscription.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

subscriber.start
# Let the main thread sleep for 60 seconds so the thread for listening
# messages does not quit
sleep 60
subscriber.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"
)

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.
	err = client.Subscription(subID).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. Rebuild a subscriber and restart subscribing
      // when the current subscriber encounters permanent errors.
      subscriber.addListener(
          new Subscriber.Listener() {
            public void failed(Subscriber.State from, Throwable failure) {
              System.out.println(failure.getStackTrace());
              if (!executorProvider.getExecutor().isShutdown()) {
                subscribeWithErrorListenerExample(projectId, subscriptionId);
              }
            }
          },
          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

subscription = pubsub.subscription subscription_id
subscriber   = subscription.listen do |received_message|
  puts "Received message: #{received_message.data}"
  received_message.acknowledge!
end
# Propagate expection 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
  subscriber.start
  # Let the main thread sleep for 60 seconds so the thread for listening
  # messages does not quit
  sleep 60
  subscriber.stop.wait!
rescue StandardError => e
  puts "Exception #{e.inspect}: #{e.message}"
  raise "Stopped listening for messages."
end

Unary pull code samples

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

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

subscription = pubsub.subscription subscription_id
subscription.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}."
    )

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.

  • To achieve low message delivery latency with the unary pull mode, it's essential to have many simultaneously outstanding pull requests. As the throughput of the topic increases, more pull requests are necessary. In general, the StreamingPull mode is preferable for latency-sensitive applications.

Quotas and limits

Both Pull and StreamingPull connections are subject to quotas and limits. For more information, see Pub/Sub quotas and limits.

What's next