Tarmac Docs
Documentation for working with AWS SQS through Tarmac.
Tarmac is a desktop client for AWS SQS that lets you receive messages into a local cache, inspect them offline, and stage changes before they touch the queue.
How Tarmac Thinks About SQS
SQS is not a database — you cannot "browse" a queue without side effects. Every message you receive starts a visibility timer, and every destructive action is a live API call against shared infrastructure. Tarmac is designed around three ideas that make queue work safe:
- Receive once, inspect locally. Messages you fetch are copied into a local SQLite cache with full-text search and faceted filters. You can search, filter, and re-read thousands of messages without touching SQS again.
- Short visibility windows. Tarmac receives with a short visibility timeout (10 seconds by default), so browsing a queue barely perturbs delivery to your real consumers.
- Stage first, publish deliberately. Deletes, resends, and redrives are staged locally. Nothing changes on the queue until you review the batch and press Publish — and every action reports success, skipped, or failed individually.
Start Here
Getting Started
Connect, fetch your first messages, and publish your first staged action.
Connecting to AWS
Credential modes, SSO, LocalStack, and the IAM permissions Tarmac needs.
Receiving Messages
Fetch mechanics, live tail, visibility timeouts, and the local cache.
Staged Actions
Stage deletes, resends, edits, and redrives — then publish as a reviewed batch.
Features
Search & Filtering
Full-text search, auto-derived facets, and date ranges over the local cache.
DLQ & Redrive
Inspect dead-letter queues and surgically redrive messages back to their source.
S3 Payloads
Automatic detection and retrieval of large payloads offloaded to S3.
Topology
See a queue's SNS producers, dead-letter sources, and redrive target at a glance.