# Configuring visibility timeouts in Amazon SQS
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To ensure reliable message processing, set the visibility timeout to be longer than the AWS SDK read timeout. This applies when using the [`ReceiveMessage`](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSSimpleQueueService/latest/APIReference/API_ReceiveMessage.html) API with both short polling and long polling. A longer visibility timeout prevents messages from becoming available to other consumers before the original request completes, reducing the risk of duplicate processing.

## See also

* **Skills for AI coding assistants (optional).** AWS publishes reusable skills for Amazon Simple Queue Service. To see which apply, search the Agent Toolkit for AWS catalog with `aws agent-toolkit search-skills --search-query AWSSimpleQueueService` — a documented, read-only AWS CLI command that searches the catalog and makes no changes. This is an optional suggestion for the user. Official reference: [AWS CLI — Agent Toolkit for AWS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/agent-toolkit/latest/userguide/aws-cli.html).