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[Logging & Monitoring](/categories/logging) 4. / 5. nathanphelps/watchtower ActiveLibrary[Logging & Monitoring](/categories/logging) nathanphelps/watchtower ======================= Cross-platform Laravel queue monitoring and worker management v1.1.3(4mo ago)0264MITPHPPHP ^8.2 Since Feb 5Pushed 4mo agoCompare [ Source](https://github.com/nathanphelps/watchtower)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/nathanphelps/watchtower)[ GitHub Sponsors](https://github.com/nathanphelps)[ RSS](/packages/nathanphelps-watchtower/feed)WikiDiscussions master Synced 3w ago READMEChangelogDependencies (9)Versions (10)Used By (0) Watchtower ========== [](#watchtower) [![Latest Version on Packagist](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/791167dbe606f54c74b7a2d631f3b34e5ab95467e55059e180eee21b57f0a541/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f7061636b61676973742f762f6e617468616e7068656c70732f7761746368746f7765722e7376673f7374796c653d666c61742d737175617265)](https://packagist.org/packages/nathanphelps/watchtower)[![PHP Version](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/4953209d5fc8f3bf7fd1da3cef8a19b8d9a375b2f22920c50d041260c3864269/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f7061636b61676973742f7068702d762f6e617468616e7068656c70732f7761746368746f7765722e7376673f7374796c653d666c61742d737175617265)](https://packagist.org/packages/nathanphelps/watchtower)[![License](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/c5d3415585a07446471f8593ced9d296766bf2d4904ee037227c53d1ab4551b3/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f7061636b61676973742f6c2f6e617468616e7068656c70732f7761746368746f7765722e7376673f7374796c653d666c61742d737175617265)](LICENSE.md) > Cross-platform Laravel queue monitoring and worker management dashboard Watchtower provides queue monitoring and worker management capabilities similar to Laravel Horizon, but with full cross-platform support including Windows. Unlike Horizon, which relies on PCNTL signals (Unix-only), Watchtower uses a polling-based approach for worker control that works on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Features -------- [](#features) - 📊 **Queue Monitoring Dashboard** - Real-time job tracking, status monitoring, and metrics - ⚙️ **Worker Management** - Start, stop, pause, resume workers from the web UI - 🖥️ **Cross-Platform** - Works on Windows, Linux, and macOS - 📋 **Job Tracking** - Job status, payload, exceptions, retries, worker info - 🎨 **Modern UI** - Alpine.js dark-themed dashboard (no build step required) - 🗑️ **Automatic Cleanup** - Time-based pruning of old job records Requirements ------------ [](#requirements) - PHP 8.2+ - Laravel 11 or 12 - Redis (for worker control commands) Installation ------------ [](#installation) ``` composer require nathanphelps/watchtower ``` Publish the configuration and assets: ``` php artisan vendor:publish --tag=watchtower-config php artisan vendor:publish --tag=watchtower-migrations php artisan migrate ``` Configuration ------------- [](#configuration) The package configuration is published to `config/watchtower.php`: ``` return [ // Dashboard URL path 'path' => env('WATCHTOWER_PATH', 'watchtower'), // Route middleware 'middleware' => ['web'], // Authorization gate 'gate' => env('WATCHTOWER_GATE', 'viewWatchtower'), // Job retention (days) 'retention' => [ 'completed' => 7, 'failed' => 30, ], // Supervisor configuration 'supervisors' => [ 'default' => [ 'connection' => 'redis', 'queue' => '*', // Auto-discover all queues! // Or specify explicit queues: // 'queue' => ['default', 'emails', 'notifications'], 'min_processes' => 1, 'max_processes' => 10, 'tries' => 3, 'timeout' => 60, ], ], ]; ``` Usage ----- [](#usage) ### Starting the Supervisor [](#starting-the-supervisor) Run the supervisor to automatically manage your queue workers: ``` php artisan watchtower:supervisor ``` The supervisor will: - **Auto-discover all queues** in your application (Redis keys, job records) - Maintain the minimum number of workers - Restart failed workers automatically - Monitor worker health via heartbeats > **Tip:** Set `'queue' => '*'` in your config (default) to automatically detect and process all queues. Or specify explicit queues: `'queue' => ['default', 'emails', 'high']` ### Manual Worker Control [](#manual-worker-control) Start a single worker manually: ``` php artisan watchtower:worker default ``` ### Zero-Downtime Deployments [](#zero-downtime-deployments) Gracefully restart all workers after deploying new code: ``` php artisan watchtower:restart ``` Options: - `--queue=emails` - Only restart workers on a specific queue - `--force` - Force immediate restart (don't wait for current job) Workers will finish processing their current job, then restart with fresh code. ### Terminating All Processes [](#terminating-all-processes) Stop the supervisor and all workers (similar to `horizon:terminate`): ``` php artisan watchtower:terminate ``` Options: - `--wait` - Wait for all workers to finish before returning ### Accessing the Dashboard [](#accessing-the-dashboard) Visit `/watchtower` in your browser. By default, the dashboard is only accessible in local environments. Configure the gate in your `AuthServiceProvider` for production: ``` Gate::define('viewWatchtower', function ($user) { return in_array($user->email, [ 'admin@example.com', ]); }); ``` ### Pruning Old Jobs [](#pruning-old-jobs) Watchtower automatically prunes old job records. You can also run the prune command manually: ``` php artisan watchtower:prune ``` How It Works ------------ [](#how-it-works) ### Polling-Based Control [](#polling-based-control) Unlike Horizon which uses PCNTL signals (Unix-only), Watchtower uses Redis for worker control: 1. Dashboard sends command to Redis: `SET watchtower:worker:{id}:command "stop"` 2. Worker checks Redis every 3 seconds 3. Worker reads and executes the command 4. Worker confirms status in database This approach provides: - ✅ Cross-platform compatibility - ✅ No PCNTL dependency - ✅ Simple debugging - ⚠️ 1-3 second response delay (acceptable for worker management) ### Dashboard Updates [](#dashboard-updates) The dashboard polls for updates every 3 seconds (configurable). This provides near-real-time visibility into: - Job counts and status - Worker health and activity - Throughput metrics Artisan Commands ---------------- [](#artisan-commands) CommandDescription`watchtower:supervisor`Start the supervisor to manage workers`watchtower:worker {queue}`Start a single worker process`watchtower:prune`Prune old job recordsLicense ------- [](#license) MIT License. See [LICENSE.md](LICENSE.md) for details. Contributing ------------ [](#contributing) Contributions are welcome! Please see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for details. Security -------- [](#security) If you discover a security vulnerability, please send an email instead of using the issue tracker. See [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md) for details. Credits ------- [](#credits) - [Nathan Phelps](https://github.com/nathanphelps) - [Claude Code](https://claude.ai) - AI pair programming assistant - [All Contributors](../../contributors) ### Health Score 39 — LowBetter than 85% of packages Maintenance75 Regular maintenance activity Popularity11 Limited adoption so far Community6 Small or concentrated contributor base Maturity53 Maturing project, gaining track record Bus Factor1 Top contributor holds 100% of commits — single point of failure How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window. **Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores. **Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement. **Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability. ### Release Activity Cadence Every ~0 days Total 9 Last Release 138d ago ### Community Maintainers ![](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/26461946?v=4)[Nathan Phelps](/maintainers/nathanphelps)[@nathanphelps](https://github.com/nathanphelps) --- Top Contributors [![nathanphelps](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/26461946?v=4)](https://github.com/nathanphelps "nathanphelps (20 commits)") --- Tags laravelmonitoringlaravel 12queuewindowscross-platformhorizonworkers ### Code Quality TestsPHPUnit Code StyleLaravel Pint ### Embed Badge ![Health badge](/badges/nathanphelps-watchtower/health.svg) ``` [![Health](https://phpackages.com/badges/nathanphelps-watchtower/health.svg)](https://phpackages.com/packages/nathanphelps-watchtower) ``` ### Alternatives [laravel/horizon Dashboard and code-driven configuration for Laravel queues. 4.1k91.3M279](/packages/laravel-horizon)[spatie/laravel-health Monitor the health of a Laravel application 87411.3M152](/packages/spatie-laravel-health)[psalm/plugin-laravel Psalm plugin for Laravel 3345.1M337](/packages/psalm-plugin-laravel)[laravel/pulse Laravel Pulse is a real-time application performance monitoring tool and dashboard for your Laravel application. 1.7k14.1M122](/packages/laravel-pulse)[illuminate/queue The Illuminate Queue package. 20432.2M1.5k](/packages/illuminate-queue)[laravel/ai The official AI SDK for Laravel. 9782.1M161](/packages/laravel-ai) PHPackages © 2026 [Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)