> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mergent.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Tasks Work

> An overview of Mergent Tasks

In Mergent, each unit of background work is represented by a **task**. Tasks are
created by your application using Mergent's client libraries (like
[mergent-js](https://github.com/mergentlabs/mergent-js)) or the API.

When a task gets created on Mergent, it is added to a **queue**, which reliably
persists tasks until they are ready to be processed by your application. You can
set tasks to process immediately, after a `delay`, or at a specific
`scheduled_for` time.

When a task is ready to be processed, Mergent sends a task request to your
application via an HTTP POST request. Each individual task request is
automatically logged and stored as an **invocation**.

<Tip>
  <>
    Tip: Your application should keep Mergent's HTTP request open while
    performing the task so that Mergent can keep track of the result.
  </>

  <>
    Respond with a `200 OK` status code if the task was successful, or a `500
            Internal Server Error` status code if the task failed.
  </>

  <>
    In the case where a task fails or the task cannot be processed for any other
    reason (e.g., if your server is down), Mergent will attempt to retry the
    task request according to our [retry
    policy](/concepts/request-failures-and-retries).
  </>
</Tip>

**Example**: Let's say you have an e-commerce platform and a customer makes a
purchase. Sending a confirmation email is important but it isn't time-sensitive
and can be processed outside of the main flow, preventing slowdowns for other
users.

In this scenario, you would create a task in Mergent that holds the information
about the email and when it's ready to be processed, Mergent sends a request to
your application to send the email.

<CardGroup>
  <Snippet file="cards/get_started.mdx" />

  <Snippet file="cards/how_schedules_work.mdx" />

  <Snippet file="cards/tasks_and_schedules.mdx" />
</CardGroup>