Background Jobs

The Booking Kit uses background jobs for tasks that shouldn’t block the request/response cycle: sending emails, syncing calendars, auto-rejecting overdue bookings.

JobAdapter interface

interface JobAdapter {
  enqueue(jobName: string, payload: unknown, options?: { delay?: number }): Promise<void>;
  scheduleAt(jobName: string, payload: unknown, runAt: Date): Promise<void>;
}

Built-in job types

Job name	Purpose
send-confirmation-email	Send booking confirmation email
send-reminder-email	Send pre-appointment reminder
send-cancellation-email	Send cancellation notice
send-reschedule-email	Send reschedule notice
auto-reject-pending	Reject pending bookings past deadline
sync-to-calendar	Create/update calendar event
delete-from-calendar	Remove cancelled calendar event

Inngest (recommended)

Setup

npm install inngest

Create the API route at app/api/inngest/route.ts:

import { serve } from "inngest/next";
import { inngest } from "@/lib/inngest/client";
import { bookingFunctions } from "@/lib/inngest/functions";

export const { GET, POST, PUT } = serve({
  client: inngest,
  functions: bookingFunctions,
});

Example function

import { inngest } from "./client";
import { sendConfirmationEmail } from "@thebookingkit/core";

export const handleBookingCreated = inngest.createFunction(
  { id: "send-confirmation" },
  { event: "booking/created" },
  async ({ event, step }) => {
    await step.run("send-email", async () => {
      await sendConfirmationEmail(event.data, emailAdapter);
    });

    await step.run("sync-calendar", async () => {
      await syncBookingToCalendar(event.data, calendarAdapter);
    });
  },
);

Environment variables

INNGEST_EVENT_KEY=your-event-key
INNGEST_SIGNING_KEY=your-signing-key  # Production only

Alternative: BullMQ

import { Queue, Worker } from "bullmq";

const bookingQueue = new Queue("bookings", { connection: redis });

// JobAdapter implementation
const bullMqAdapter: JobAdapter = {
  async enqueue(jobName, payload, options) {
    await bookingQueue.add(jobName, payload, {
      delay: options?.delay,
    });
  },
  async scheduleAt(jobName, payload, runAt) {
    const delay = runAt.getTime() - Date.now();
    await bookingQueue.add(jobName, payload, { delay });
  },
};

Alternative: Vercel Cron

For simpler setups, use Vercel Cron for scheduled tasks:

vercel.json

{
  "crons": [
    {
      "path": "/api/cron/auto-reject",
      "schedule": "*/15 * * * *"
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/cron/send-reminders",
      "schedule": "0 * * * *"
    }
  ]
}