The logstash agent is 3 parts: inputs -> filters -> outputs.
Each '->' is an internal messaging system. It is implemented with a 'SizedQueue' in Ruby. SizedQueue allows a bounded maximum of items in the queue such that any writes to the queue will block if the queue is full at maximum capacity.
Logstash sets the queue size to 20. This means only 20 events can be pending into the next phase - this helps reduce any data loss and in general avoids logstash trying to act as a data storage system. These internal queues are not for storing messages long-term.
In reverse, here's what happens with a queue fills.