pgmq (which is linked on this gist) provides an api to this functionality. It can be 0 seconds, or 10 years if you want. It's not a row lock in, which can be ex

pgmq (which is linked on this gist) provides an api to this functionality. It can be 0 seconds, or 10 years if you want. It's not a row lock in, which can be expensive. In pgmq, its build into the design of the visibility timeout. FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED is there to ensure that only a single consumer gets any message, and then the visibility timeout lets consumer determine how long it should continue to remain unavailable to other consumers.