4.3. AMQP Exchange Types

A Direct Exchange allows a consumer to bind a queue to it with a key. When a message is received by a direct-type exchange, the message is routed to any queues whose binding key matches the subject of the message. The Direct Exchange also supports exclusive bindings, which allow a queue to monopolize messages sent to an exchange, and implement a simple direct-to-queue model.

A Topic Exchange allows a consumer to bind a queue to it with a key that specifies wildcard matching. The wildcard is then matched against the subject of messages sent to the exchange. This allows you to implement message filtering patterns using a topic exchange and various queues with different binding keys.