Setting process priority for Laravel Horizon workers - Rocketeers app

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Setting process priority for Laravel Horizon workers
====================================================

### [\#Laravel](https://rocketeersapp.com/knowledge/laravel)

Laravel Horizon lets you set the Linux nice value for worker processes, giving them more or less CPU scheduling priority.

 Published by [Manoj Hortulanus](https://rocketeersapp.com/author/manoj-hortulanus) on June 24, 2026 · 1 minute read

1. [Why you'd want this](#content-why-youd-want-this)
2. [How to configure it](#content-how-to-configure-it)
3. [Permissions](#content-permissions)
4. [Apply the changes](#content-apply-the-changes)
5. [Reverting](#content-reverting)

[\#](#content-why-youd-want-this "Permalink")Why you'd want this
----------------------------------------------------------------

Linux schedules CPU time using a **nice value** between `-20` (highest priority) and `19` (lowest). By default processes start at `0`.

If your server is dedicated to queue processing or you're handling time-sensitive, CPU-intensive jobs, lowering the nice value gives workers a bigger slice of CPU time. On a shared server running web traffic alongside workers, you'd leave it at `0` or increase it to avoid starving your web processes.

[\#](#content-how-to-configure-it "Permalink")How to configure it
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Add a `nice` key to the supervisor block in `config/horizon.php`:

 ```
'environments' => [
    'production' => [
        'supervisor-1' => [
            'connection' => 'redis',
            'queue'      => ['default'],
            'balance'    => 'auto',
            'processes'  => 20,
            'nice'       => -5,
        ],
    ],
],

```

Horizon calls PHP's `proc_nice()` when it starts each worker.

[\#](#content-permissions "Permalink")Permissions
-------------------------------------------------

Raising the nice value (e.g. `0 → 10`) works for any user. Lowering it (e.g. `0 → -5`) requires either root or the `CAP_SYS_NICE` capability. Without those privileges Horizon throws:

 ```
proc_nice(): Operation not permitted

```

To grant the capability to PHP without running as root:

 ```
sudo setcap cap_sys_nice=eip /usr/bin/php8.4

```

Verify it was applied:

 ```
getcap /usr/bin/php8.4
# /usr/bin/php8.4 cap_sys_nice=eip

```

Note: this grants the capability to the binary itself, so any PHP script running under that binary can adjust process priorities.

[\#](#content-apply-the-changes "Permalink")Apply the changes
-------------------------------------------------------------

 ```
php artisan config:clear
php artisan horizon:terminate

```

If Horizon is managed by Supervisor:

 ```
sudo supervisorctl restart horizon:*

```

[\#](#content-reverting "Permalink")Reverting
---------------------------------------------

Remove the capability from the PHP binary:

 ```
sudo setcap -r /usr/bin/php8.4

```

No output from `getcap` afterwards means no capabilities are set. Also set `'nice' => 0` in `config/horizon.php` (or remove the key entirely) and restart Horizon.

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