HangfireIO/Hangfire · error · ArgumentOutOfRangeException

Sliding timeout should be greater than zero

Error message

Sliding timeout should be greater than zero

What it means

SqlServerStorageOptions.SlidingInvisibilityTimeout was set to zero or a negative TimeSpan, which is invalid. The setter requires a strictly positive value and throws ArgumentOutOfRangeException. This optional property controls a sliding visibility window for queued jobs when non-null.

Source

Thrown at src/Hangfire.SqlServer/SqlServerStorageOptions.cs:118

                {
                    throw new ArgumentException(message, nameof(value));
                }

                _queuePollInterval = value;
            }
        }

        [Obsolete("Does not make sense anymore. Background jobs re-queued instantly even after ungraceful shutdown now. Will be removed in 2.0.0.")]
        public TimeSpan InvisibilityTimeout { get; set; }

        public TimeSpan? SlidingInvisibilityTimeout
        {
            get { return _slidingInvisibilityTimeout; }
            set
            {
                if (value <= TimeSpan.Zero)
                {
                    throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(value), "Sliding timeout should be greater than zero");
                }

                _slidingInvisibilityTimeout = value;
            }
        }

        public bool PrepareSchemaIfNecessary { get; set; }

        public TimeSpan JobExpirationCheckInterval 
        {
            get { return _jobExpirationCheckInterval; } 
            set {
                if (value.TotalMilliseconds > int.MaxValue)
                {
                    throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(value), "Job expiration check interval cannot be greater than int.MaxValue");
                }
                _jobExpirationCheckInterval = value;
            }

View on GitHub (pinned to c236dd0f93)

Solutions

1. Set SlidingInvisibilityTimeout to null to disable sliding visibility (the default), rather than zero.
2. If enabling it, use a positive value like TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5).
3. Validate configuration-sourced values before assignment.

Example fix

// before
options.SlidingInvisibilityTimeout = TimeSpan.Zero; // throws
// after — disable by leaving null, or set a positive value
options.SlidingInvisibilityTimeout = null; // disabled
// or:
options.SlidingInvisibilityTimeout = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5);

TimeSpan? sliding = /* from config or null */;
if (sliding.HasValue && sliding.Value <= TimeSpan.Zero)
    throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(sliding), "SlidingInvisibilityTimeout must be positive or null.");

options.SlidingInvisibilityTimeout = sliding;

static bool IsValidSlidingTimeout(TimeSpan? value) => !value.HasValue || value.Value > TimeSpan.Zero;

When it happens

Trigger: Setting SlidingInvisibilityTimeout to TimeSpan.Zero or a negative TimeSpan; passing a computed value that collapses to zero.

Common situations: Disabling sliding timeout by setting it to zero (the correct way is to leave it null); config-driven durations that produce zero; misunderstanding that null means 'disabled'.

Understand the failure class

• Timeouts: ETIMEDOUT, deadlines, and hung requests — what actually expires when a request times out.

Related errors

• The QueuePollInterval property value should be positive. Giv
• Job expiration check interval cannot be greater than int.Max
• Attempts value must be equal or greater than zero.
• DelaysInSeconds value must be an array of non-negative numbe
• WorkerCount property value should be positive.

AI-assisted analysis of HangfireIO/Hangfire@c236dd0f93 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/96da992736a3b863. Report an issue: GitHub.