A brief example of how interacting with SQS works in a Lambda environment

sqsClient.js

const SQS = require('aws-sdk/clients/sqs')

const {
  AWS_REGION = 'eu-west-1',
  MY_QUEUE_URL,
} = process.env

const sqs = new SQS({ region: AWS_REGION })

/**
 * @param {any} message
 * @param {number} delaySeconds Seconds between 0 and 900
 * @returns
 */
exports.queue = async (message, delaySeconds = 0) => {
  if (delaySeconds > 15 * 60) throw new Error('SQS can only delay messages up to 15 minutes.')

  const sqsParams = {
    QueueUrl: MY_QUEUE_URL,
    MessageBody: JSON.stringify(message),
  }
  
  if (delaySeconds) sqsParams.DelaySeconds = delaySeconds
  
  return sqs.sendMessage(sqsParams).promise()
}

sqsExample.js

const { queue } = require('./sqsClient.js')

const myMainFunction = async () => {
  
  // Something we want to send through the queue
  const superImportantMessage = {
    hello: 'world'
  }
  
  await queue(superImportantMessage)
}
myMainFunction()

sqsHandler.js

/**
 * Parse incoming SQS messages process them
 */
exports.handler = async (event) => {
  for (const record of event.Records) {
    const superImportantMessage = JSON.parse(record.body)
    
    // do something with the message
    console.log(`This is a message for the ${superImportantMessage.hello}`)
  }
}