That makes sense, and this is actually close to what I keep ending up with in different projects.

I usually start with something simple, then add a task table, then locking, retries, then some kind of worker process, and eventually it turns into a small job system anyway.

At some point it starts feeling like I'm rebuilding the same queue/worker setup over and over, which is why I'm wondering if this should live outside the app entirely.

Thanks, this discussion is really helpful.