diff --git a/src/main/groovy/bpipe/agent/JMSAgent.groovy b/src/main/groovy/bpipe/agent/JMSAgent.groovy
index 56a294cd..8d62ebf0 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/bpipe/agent/JMSAgent.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/bpipe/agent/JMSAgent.groovy
@@ -273,8 +273,19 @@ class JMSAgent extends Agent {
         this.session = connection.createSession(false,
              acknowledgeMode == 'read' ? Session.AUTO_ACKNOWLEDGE  : ActiveMQSession.INDIVIDUAL_ACKNOWLEDGE)
         this.queue = session.createQueue((String)config.commandQueue)
-        this.consumer = session.createConsumer(queue)
-        
+
+        if (config.containsKey('userMessageSelector') && config['userMessageSelector']) {
+            String username = System.getProperty('user.name')
+            String messageSelector = "user='$username'"
+            File userHome = new File(System.getProperty('user.home'))
+            assert userHome.canRead() && userHome.canonicalPath.endsWith(username), "Directory $userHome is not readable or does not reconcile with $username"
+            log.info("Creating consumer for queue=${queue.queueName} with messageSelector=$messageSelector")
+            this.consumer = session.createConsumer(queue, messageSelector)
+        } else {
+            log.info("Creating consumer for queue=${queue.queueName}")
+            this.consumer = session.createConsumer(queue)
+        }
+
         log.info "Connected to ActiveMQ $config.commandQueue @ $config.brokerURL"
     }