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Overview

QStash is available in two regions: EU region and US region. Each region is completely independent with its own infrastructure, pricing, resources, logs, and messages.

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Regional URLs

  • EU Region: https://qstash-eu-central-1.upstash.io, or https://qstash.upstash.io
  • US Region: https://qstash-us-east-1.upstash.io

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Key Concepts

Each QStash region maintains:
  • Usage in each region is tracked and billed independently
  • Messages, queues, schedules, URL groups and DLQ are region-specific
  • Each region has its own API tokens and signing keys

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Migration Between Regions

If you don’t have any active resources (active messages, schedules, url groups etc), you can simply update your environment variables with the new region to migrate. If you have active resources, you will need to migrate more gracefully, as described below. You can migrate your QStash resources from one region to another using the Upstash Console:
  1. Navigate to the QStash tab on Upstash Console
  2. Click the Migrate button
  3. Follow the guided migration process
The migration tool will:
  • Help you set up migration mode environment variables
  • Copy and update your QStash resources (schedules, url groups, queues)
Your message logs or DLQ aren’t part of the migration. They will remain in the old region.
After migration, your app will be able to handle requests from both regions simultaneously to ensure a smooth transition.

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Operating Modes

QStash SDK supports two modes of operation:

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Single-Region Mode (Default)

When QSTASH_REGION environment variable is not set, the SDK operates in single-region mode:
  • Uses QSTASH_TOKEN and QSTASH_URL (or defaults to EU region)
  • All outgoing messages are sent through the configured region
  • Incoming messages are verified using default signing keys if signing keys are defined
# Single-region configuration (EU)
QSTASH_URL="https://qstash.upstash.io"
QSTASH_TOKEN="your_eu_token"
QSTASH_CURRENT_SIGNING_KEY="your_eu_current_key"
QSTASH_NEXT_SIGNING_KEY="your_eu_next_key"

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Migration Mode

When QSTASH_REGION is set to US_EAST_1 or EU_CENTRAL_1, the SDK enables migration mode:
  • Uses region-specific credentials (e.g., US_EAST_1_QSTASH_TOKEN)
  • Automatically handles region detection for incoming requests
  • Supports receiving messages from multiple regions simultaneously
If a message was published in one region, it will still be delivered from that region after the migration.
Environment variables: 
# Migration mode configuration with US as primary
QSTASH_REGION="US_EAST_1"

US_EAST_1_QSTASH_URL="https://qstash-us-east-1.upstash.io"
US_EAST_1_QSTASH_TOKEN="your_us_token"
US_EAST_1_QSTASH_CURRENT_SIGNING_KEY="your_us_current_key"
US_EAST_1_QSTASH_NEXT_SIGNING_KEY="your_us_next_key"

EU_CENTRAL_1_QSTASH_URL="https://qstash-eu-central-1.upstash.io"
EU_CENTRAL_1_QSTASH_TOKEN="your_eu_token"
EU_CENTRAL_1_QSTASH_CURRENT_SIGNING_KEY="your_eu_current_key"
EU_CENTRAL_1_QSTASH_NEXT_SIGNING_KEY="your_eu_next_key"
Migration mode relies on environment variables being available via process.env. It won’t work on platforms where process.env is not available, such as Cloudflare Workers.

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Verifying Incoming Requests

QStash includes an upstash-region header with every request to indicate the source region: 
upstash-region: US-EAST-1
With this header, the SDK can determine which signing keys to use when verifying the request if QSTASH_REGION is set. For this to work correctly, value of upstash-region header should be passed to the verify method: 
import { Receiver } from "@upstash/qstash";

// Initialize receiver (works in both modes)
const receiver = new Receiver();

// Verify the incoming request
await receiver.verify({
  signature: request.headers.get("upstash-signature")!,
  body: await request.text(),
  // Pass the region header for multi-region support
  upstashRegion: request.headers.get("upstash-region") ?? undefined,
});

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Platform-Specific Verification

Most platform verifiers automatically handle the region header: 
// Next.js App Router - automatically handles multi-region
import { verifySignatureAppRouter } from "@upstash/qstash/nextjs";

export const POST = verifySignatureAppRouter(async (req) => {
  const body = await req.json();
  return Response.json({ success: true });
});

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SDK Requirements

Migration mode support requires:
  • @upstash/qstash >= 2.9.0
Update your dependency: 
npm install @upstash/qstash@latest