Understanding RabbitMQ Exchange Types with Go: Default, Direct, Fanout, and Topic

5. Bonus: Direct Exchange with Wabbit

The repo also includes a direct exchange example using the wabbit library, which provides a higher-level abstraction over AMQP.

It simplifies channel and message handling, but the underlying logic (Direct Exchange routing) remains the same.

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How to Run the Examples

1. Start RabbitMQ locally (via Docker or system install). docker run -p 5672:5672 -p 15672:15672 rabbitmq:3-management RabbitMQ Management UI: http://localhost:15672 (default login: guest/guest).
2. Navigate to the example folder, e.g.: cd direct/publisher go run main.go
3. Run one or more consumers in separate terminals: cd direct/consumer_1 go run main.go
4. Observe how different exchanges deliver messages differently!

Quick Comparison

Exchange Type	Routing Logic	Example Use Case
Default	Queue name = routing key	Simple task queue
Direct	Exact key match	Error vs info log separation
Fanout	Broadcast to all queues	Notifications, cache invalidation
Topic	Pattern match (*, #)	Orders by region, IoT sensors
Headers	Match headers	Advanced filtering (not in repo)

Conclusion

RabbitMQ exchanges give you powerful ways to route messages between producers and consumers.

• Use Default/Direct for simple exact matching.
• Use Fanout to broadcast to many consumers.
• Use Topic for flexible routing with patterns.
• (Optional) Use Headers for metadata-based filtering.

The examples in this repo are a great way to learn how these exchanges work in practice using Go.