# ALT Worker Service

The Worker service handles background tasks, such as market data imports, data normalization, and backtest execution.

## Redis Usage Guidelines

### Purpose
Redis is used as a lightweight, high-performance messaging, coordination, and caching layer for background jobs. It is **not** a source of truth. All critical system states and historical datasets reside in PostgreSQL.

### Key Prefixing Standard
To avoid key collisions and maintain organization, all keys created by the worker **must** use the designated helper package `internal/rediskeys` and strictly follow the format:

```
<prefix>:worker:<purpose>:<id>
```

- `<prefix>`: Configured via `ALT_REDIS_KEY_PREFIX` (defaults to `alt`). This segregates environments or local dev workspaces.
- `worker`: Hardcoded namespace denoting worker-owned keys.
- `<purpose>`: Lowercase segment describing the domain or usage (e.g. `job`, `lock`, `cache`).
- `<id>`: Unique identifier for the specific object (e.g., job ID, lock name).

Always utilize `rediskeys.WorkerKey(prefix, purpose, id)` instead of assembling key strings manually.

## Configuration

Environment variables can be used to customize worker runtime:

| Variable | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| `DATABASE_URL` | PostgreSQL connection string | `postgres://alt:alt@localhost:5432/alt?sslmode=disable` |
| `REDIS_URL` | Redis connection string | `redis://localhost:6379/0` |
| `ALT_REDIS_KEY_PREFIX` | Namespace prefix for Redis keys | `alt` |
| `ALT_WORKER_QUEUE` | Target worker queue to consume from | `default` |