How did you implement the Outbox worker — did you write your own polling or use an infrastructural tool?

Outbox worker — is a component responsible for sending messages or events from the system, ensuring their delivery.

Implementation can be of two types:

1. Custom polling — a loop is written that periodically checks the database or queue for new messages to send. Example:

while True:
    messages = get_unsent_messages()
    for msg in messages:
        send(msg)
        mark_as_sent(msg)
    sleep(poll_interval)

Pros: full control, can be adapted to specific requirements. Cons: more difficult to maintain, possible delays and redundant requests.

2. Infrastructure tool — using ready-made systems, such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, AWS SQS, which provide reliable queuing and message processing.

Pros: reliability, scalability, less code. Cons: dependency on external services, need for their configuration.

In most modern projects, it is preferable to use infrastructure tools to avoid reinventing the wheel and ensure reliability. However, in simple cases or with constraints, you can implement your own polling.