Is Workbench free to use?

Workbench is open source under the MIT licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Workbench do?

Inspect, debug, and replay BullMQ queues visually

What is Workbench written in?

Workbench is primarily written in TypeScript. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/pontusab/workbench, and it has 442 GitHub stars.

Workbench: Open Source Messaging & Event Streaming

Workbench

Open-source BullMQ dashboard. Drop-in for any Node or Bun backend.

Workbench is a modern dashboard for BullMQ. Runs jobs, flows, schedulers and metrics, all served from your own backend behind your own auth.

Zero infrastructure — mounts as a route in your existing app, or run as a standalone Docker container
Adapters for Hono, Elysia, Express, Fastify, Koa, NestJS, AdonisJS, Next.js, TanStack Start, Astro, Nuxt, Bun.serve, and h3
Standalone image on GHCR (ghcr.io//workbench-standalone) for Docker / Kubernetes deployments
MCP server for Cursor, Claude Desktop, Zed, and Continue.dev — drive your queues from your editor's chat
Flows & DAG view, metrics, schedulers, search
Dark-mode UI, basic-auth-protected by default
MIT licensed

Website: getworkbench.dev · Documentation

Migrating from bull-board?

Workbench is a drop-in alternative with thirteen first-party framework adapters, FlowProducer DAGs, error triage, and a keyboard-driven UI.

bull-board	Workbench
`@bull-board/express`	`@getworkbench/express`
`@bull-board/fastify`	`@getworkbench/fastify`
`@bull-board/koa`	`@getworkbench/koa`
`@bull-board/nestjs`	`@getworkbench/nestjs`
`@bull-board/hono`	`@getworkbench/hono`
`@bull-board/h3`	`@getworkbench/h3`
`@bull-board/elysia`	`@getworkbench/elysia`

Run npx @getworkbench/cli init to swap the mount in one command. Full comparison: getworkbench.dev/blog/workbench-vs-bull-board

Quick start

npx @getworkbench/cli init

The CLI detects your framework, installs the matching @getworkbench/ package, injects the mount (or scaffolds a route file for Next.js), writes .env.example entries, and optionally drops a docker-compose.yml for Redis.

Manual setup

Pick the adapter that matches your stack:

Hono

npm i @getworkbench/hono bullmq hono

import { Hono } from "hono";
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/hono";

const app = new Hono();
const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

app.route("/jobs", workbench({ queues: [emailQueue] }));

export default app;

Elysia

bun add @getworkbench/elysia bullmq elysia

import { Elysia } from "elysia";
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/elysia";

const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

new Elysia()
  .mount("/jobs", workbench({ queues: [emailQueue], basePath: "/jobs" }))
  .listen(3000);

Express

npm i @getworkbench/express bullmq express

import express from "express";
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/express";

const app = express();
const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

app.use("/jobs", workbench({ queues: [emailQueue] }));
app.listen(3000);

Fastify

npm i @getworkbench/fastify bullmq fastify

import Fastify from "fastify";
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/fastify";

const app = Fastify();
const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

await app.register(workbench({ queues: [emailQueue] }), { prefix: "/jobs" });
await app.listen({ port: 3000 });

NestJS

npm i @getworkbench/nestjs bullmq

import { NestFactory } from "@nestjs/core";
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/nestjs";
import { AppModule } from "./app.module";

async function bootstrap() {
  const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule);

  const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

  await workbench(app, "/jobs", { queues: [emailQueue] });

  await app.listen(3000);
}
bootstrap();

Works on both the Express (default) and Fastify NestJS platforms.

AdonisJS

npm i @getworkbench/adonis bullmq @adonisjs/core

// start/routes.ts
import router from "@adonisjs/core/services/router";
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { mountWorkbench } from "@getworkbench/adonis";

const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

mountWorkbench(router, "/jobs", { queues: [emailQueue] });

Works with AdonisJS 6 and 7. See examples/with-adonis.

Next.js (App Router)

npm i @getworkbench/next bullmq

// app/jobs/[[...workbench]]/route.ts
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/next";

const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

export const { GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE } = workbench({
  queues: [emailQueue],
  basePath: "/jobs",
});

Next doesn't host BullMQ workers itself — run them in a sibling process. See examples/with-next.

TanStack Start

npm i @getworkbench/tanstack-start bullmq @tanstack/react-start

// src/lib/workbench-handlers.ts
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/tanstack-start";

const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

export const workbenchHandlers = workbench({
  queues: [emailQueue],
  basePath: "/jobs",
});

// src/routes/jobs.ts
import { createFileRoute } from "@tanstack/react-router";
import { workbenchHandlers } from "../lib/workbench-handlers";

export const Route = createFileRoute("/jobs")({
  server: { handlers: workbenchHandlers },
});

// src/routes/jobs/$.ts
import { createFileRoute } from "@tanstack/react-router";
import { workbenchHandlers } from "../../lib/workbench-handlers";

export const Route = createFileRoute("/jobs/$")({
  server: { handlers: workbenchHandlers },
});

Register handlers on both /jobs and /jobs/$ so the bare mount and nested paths work. TanStack Start doesn't host BullMQ workers itself — run them in a sibling process. See examples/with-tanstack-start.

Koa

npm i @getworkbench/koa bullmq koa

import Koa from "koa";
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/koa";

const app = new Koa();
const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

app.use(workbench({ queues: [emailQueue], basePath: "/jobs" }));
app.listen(3000);

Koa has no built-in mount helper — pass basePath so the middleware can match its own prefix and forward everything else to the next middleware.

Astro

npm i @getworkbench/astro bullmq

// src/pages/jobs/[...workbench].ts
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/astro";

const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

export const { GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, prerender } = workbench({
  queues: [emailQueue],
  basePath: "/jobs",
});

Astro must be in server output mode (output: "server" or "hybrid"). Astro doesn't host BullMQ workers itself — run them in a sibling process. See examples/with-astro.

Nuxt

npm i @getworkbench/nuxt bullmq

// server/routes/jobs/[...].ts
import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/nuxt";

const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

export default workbench({
  queues: [emailQueue],
  basePath: "/jobs",
});

Nuxt's server runtime (Nitro / h3) doesn't host BullMQ workers itself — run them in a sibling process. See examples/with-nuxt.

Bun.serve

bun add @getworkbench/bun bullmq

import { Queue } from "bullmq";
import { workbench } from "@getworkbench/bun";

const emailQueue = new Queue("email", { connection: { url: process.env.REDIS_URL! } });

What is Workbench?

What it is

Key capabilities

Who uses it and how

Getting started

How it compares

When to use it — and when not to