diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e79c820..fdfc716 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -17,4 +17,4 @@ WORKDIR /opt/servicelayer
 RUN pip3 install -q --no-cache-dir -e /opt/servicelayer[dev]
 RUN pip3 install -r requirements.txt
 
-CMD /bin/bash
\ No newline at end of file
+CMD /bin/bash
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0c0f17d..1f70608 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ install:
 	pip install -q twine coverage nose moto boto3
 
 dev:
-	python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
+	python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools
 	python3 -m pip install -q -r requirements.txt
 	python3 -m pip install -q -r requirements-dev.txt
 
diff --git a/servicelayer/settings.py b/servicelayer/settings.py
index 25cb151..810bac8 100644
--- a/servicelayer/settings.py
+++ b/servicelayer/settings.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 RABBITMQ_BLOCKED_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT = env.to_int(
     "RABBITMQ_BLOCKED_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT", 300
 )
+RABBITMQ_MAX_PRIORITY = 10
 QUEUE_ALEPH = "aleph_queue"
 QUEUE_INGEST = "ingest_queue"
 QUEUE_INDEX = "index_queue"
diff --git a/servicelayer/taskqueue.py b/servicelayer/taskqueue.py
index 8c51b7f..393bad4 100644
--- a/servicelayer/taskqueue.py
+++ b/servicelayer/taskqueue.py
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ class Task:
     operation: str
     context: dict
     payload: dict
+    priority: int
     collection_id: Optional[str] = None
 
     @property
@@ -211,6 +212,7 @@ def get_task(body, delivery_tag) -> Task:
         operation=body["operation"],
         context=body["context"] or {},
         payload=body["payload"] or {},
+        priority=body["priority"] or 0,
     )
 
 
@@ -370,8 +372,8 @@ def ack_message(self, task, channel):
         skip_ack = task.context.get("skip_ack")
         if skip_ack:
             log.info(
-                f"Skipping acknowledging message {task.delivery_tag}"
-                "for task_id {task.task_id}"
+                f"""Skipping acknowledging message
+                {task.delivery_tag} for task_id {task.task_id}"""
             )
         else:
             log.info(
@@ -395,6 +397,11 @@ def run(self):
         def process():
             return self.process(blocking=True)
 
+        if not self.num_threads:
+            # TODO - seems like we need at least one thread
+            # consuming and processing require separate threads
+            self.num_threads = 1
+
         threads = []
         for _ in range(self.num_threads):
             thread = threading.Thread(target=process)
@@ -409,7 +416,11 @@ def process():
         channel.basic_qos(prefetch_count=self.prefetch_count)
         on_message_callback = functools.partial(self.on_message, args=(connection,))
         for queue in self.queues:
-            channel.queue_declare(queue=queue, durable=True)
+            channel.queue_declare(
+                queue=queue,
+                durable=True,
+                arguments={"x-max-priority": settings.RABBITMQ_MAX_PRIORITY},
+            )
             channel.basic_consume(queue=queue, on_message_callback=on_message_callback)
         channel.start_consuming()
 
@@ -430,15 +441,34 @@ def get_rabbitmq_connection():
                     )
                 )
                 local.connection = connection
+
             if local.connection.is_open:
                 channel = local.connection.channel()
-                channel.queue_declare(queue=settings.QUEUE_ALEPH, durable=True)
-                channel.queue_declare(queue=settings.QUEUE_INGEST, durable=True)
-                channel.queue_declare(queue=settings.QUEUE_INDEX, durable=True)
+
+                channel.queue_declare(
+                    queue=settings.QUEUE_ALEPH,
+                    durable=True,
+                    arguments={"x-max-priority": settings.RABBITMQ_MAX_PRIORITY},
+                )
+
+                channel.queue_declare(
+                    queue=settings.QUEUE_INGEST,
+                    durable=True,
+                    arguments={"x-max-priority": settings.RABBITMQ_MAX_PRIORITY},
+                )
+
+                channel.queue_declare(
+                    queue=settings.QUEUE_INDEX,
+                    durable=True,
+                    arguments={"x-max-priority": settings.RABBITMQ_MAX_PRIORITY},
+                )
+
                 channel.close()
                 return local.connection
+
         except (pika.exceptions.AMQPConnectionError, pika.exceptions.AMQPError):
             log.exception("RabbitMQ error")
         local.connection = None
+
         backoff(failures=attempt)
     raise RuntimeError("Could not connect to RabbitMQ")
diff --git a/tests/test_taskqueue.py b/tests/test_taskqueue.py
index dfa7e9b..aa45589 100644
--- a/tests/test_taskqueue.py
+++ b/tests/test_taskqueue.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 from unittest import TestCase
 from unittest.mock import patch
 import json
+from random import randrange
 
+import pika
 
 from servicelayer import settings
 from servicelayer.cache import get_fakeredis
@@ -29,6 +31,7 @@ def test_task_queue(self):
         conn = get_fakeredis()
         collection_id = 2
         task_id = "test-task"
+        priority = randrange(1, settings.RABBITMQ_MAX_PRIORITY + 1)
         body = {
             "collection_id": 2,
             "job_id": "test-job",
@@ -36,11 +39,13 @@ def test_task_queue(self):
             "operation": "test-op",
             "context": {},
             "payload": {},
+            "priority": priority,
         }
         connection = get_rabbitmq_connection()
         channel = connection.channel()
         channel.queue_purge(settings.QUEUE_INGEST)
         channel.basic_publish(
+            properties=pika.BasicProperties(priority=priority),
             exchange="",
             routing_key=settings.QUEUE_INGEST,
             body=json.dumps(body),
@@ -71,6 +76,7 @@ def test_task_queue(self):
             channel = connection.channel()
             channel.queue_purge(settings.QUEUE_INGEST)
             channel.basic_publish(
+                properties=pika.BasicProperties(priority=priority),
                 exchange="",
                 routing_key=settings.QUEUE_INGEST,
                 body=json.dumps(body),