diff --git a/src/backend/common/database/drizzle/drizzleUtils.ts b/src/backend/common/database/drizzle/drizzleUtils.ts
index 76814d7a..5fa2c74b 100644
--- a/src/backend/common/database/drizzle/drizzleUtils.ts
+++ b/src/backend/common/database/drizzle/drizzleUtils.ts
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ export const getDb = (dbVal: string, opts: { logger?: Logger, backupPath?: strin
     logger = loggerNoop,
   } = opts;
   const db = drizzle({relations: relations, logger: createDrizzleLogger(logger), connection: {path: dbVal, allowExtension: true}});
-  if(dbVal !== ':memory:') {
+  if(dbVal !== MEMORY_DB_NAME) {
     logger.debug('Loading honker extension');
     db.$client.loadExtension(extensionPath());
     db.run('SELECT honker_bootstrap()');
diff --git a/src/backend/common/database/honker/HonkerQueue.ts b/src/backend/common/database/honker/HonkerQueue.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f4ac3e85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/common/database/honker/HonkerQueue.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+import { sql } from 'drizzle-orm';
+import type { DbConcrete } from '../drizzle/drizzleUtils.ts';
+import type {Job} from '@russellthehippo/honker-node';
+
+export interface HonkerJobData {
+    id: number,
+    queue: string
+    payload: string
+    worker_id: string
+    attempts: number
+    claim_expires_at: number
+}
+
+export class Queue<T> {
+    private readonly name: string;
+    private readonly maxAttempts: number;
+    private readonly visibilityTimeout: number;
+    private db: DbConcrete;
+    constructor(
+        db: DbConcrete,
+        name: string,
+        maxAttempts: number = 3
+    ) {
+        this.db = db;
+        this.name = name;
+        this.maxAttempts = maxAttempts;
+    }
+
+    enqueue(
+        payload: T,
+        opts: { delay?: number; priority?: number, tx?: DbConcrete } = {},
+    ): number {
+        const db = opts.tx ?? this.db;
+        const row = db.get<{ id: number }>(sql`
+      SELECT honker_enqueue(
+        ${this.name},
+        ${JSON.stringify(payload)},
+        NULL,
+        ${opts.delay ?? null},
+        ${opts.priority ?? 0},
+        ${this.maxAttempts},
+        NULL
+      ) AS id
+    `);
+        return row!.id;
+    }
+}
+
+export type HonkerJob<T> = Omit<Job, 'payload'> & {payload: T};
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/backend/tests/honker/honker.test.ts b/src/backend/tests/honker/honker.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..39f29755
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/tests/honker/honker.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import chai, { expect } from 'chai';
+import asPromised from 'chai-as-promised';
+import { describe, it } from 'mocha';
+import { transientDb } from '../utils/TransientTestUtils.ts';
+import { Queue, type HonkerJob } from '../../common/database/honker/HonkerQueue.ts';
+import type { JsonPlayObject, QueueContext } from '../../../core/Atomic.ts';
+import { generateJsonPlay } from '../../../core/tests/utils/PlayTestUtils.ts';
+import honker from '@russellthehippo/honker-node';
+
+chai.use(asPromised);
+
+
+describe('Expected behavior for queues', function () {
+
+    it('enqueues and claims a job', async function () {
+        const db = await transientDb();
+        const a = db.$client.location()
+        const hdb = honker.open(a);
+        type PlayJob = { context: QueueContext, play: JsonPlayObject };
+        const queue = new Queue<PlayJob>(db, 'source-discovery-1');
+        const p = generateJsonPlay();
+        queue.enqueue({ context: {}, play: p });
+
+        const honkerQueue = hdb.queue('source-discovery-1');
+
+        honkerQueue.sweepExpired
+
+        const waker = honkerQueue.claimWaker();
+        while (true) {
+            const job = await waker.next('worker-1') as unknown as HonkerJob<PlayJob>;
+            if (!job) break;
+            try {
+                expect(job.payload.play.data.track).eq(p.data.track);
+                job.ack();
+                break;
+            } catch (err) {
+                job.retry(60, String(err));
+            }
+        }
+    });
+});
\ No newline at end of file