worker

A container that keeps running without answering requests.

A container that runs continuously without answering requests — a queue consumer, a scheduler, a bot. Ackee keeps the number of copies you ask for running, and replaces any that stop.

ackee.ack

ackee 1
project "shop" {
  cloud  = "aws"
  region = "us-east-1"
}
worker "mailer" {
  image   = "public.ecr.aws/docker/library/node:22-alpine"
  command = ["node", "mailer.js"]
  size    = "small"
  count   = 2
  env = {
    LOG_LEVEL = "info"
  }
}
queue "emails" {}
connect env "mailer" -> "emails"
connect iam "mailer" -> "emails"

Fields

Field	Takes	Meaning
imagerequired	string \| var.NAME	The container image to run.
size	"small" \| "medium" \| "large" default "small"	CPU and memory per copy, on the same ladder as `service`. Must be written out, not referenced.
count	whole number default 1	How many copies to keep running. 0 stops it without removing it.
command	list of strings	The command to run in place of the image's default one; the image's entrypoint still runs first, as with `docker run image node mailer.js`. Leave it out to run the image as built.
env	map	Environment variables, as for `service`.
build	map	Build and redeploy from a repository on every push — see `source`.

Any other field is refused (AK204), and the error names the exact type to declare with node for the setting you wanted.

What it becomes

Cloud	Becomes
AWS	An ECS service on Fargate with no load balancer and no open port.
Google Cloud	A Cloud Run worker pool.
Azure	A Container App with no ingress.

Joins the shared network net: all three clouds.

Notes

command is what Docker calls the command and AWS calls command; Cloud Run and Container Apps call it args, and use their own command for the entrypoint. The portable field means the same thing on all three.