The Built-in Background Tasks Framework

Django 6.0 integrates a background tasks framework directly into the core. For simple use cases (sending emails, cleanup, notifications), you no longer need Celery or RQ: Django handles it natively using the database as a broker.

Configuration and Usage

The system uses the existing database as a queue. Define a task with the @task decorator and launch it with .enqueue(). A built-in worker consumes the tasks.

python 
# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'django.contrib.tasks',
]

# Then: python manage.py migrate
# Start the worker: python manage.py taskworker
python 
# tasks.py
from django.contrib.tasks import task
from django.core.mail import send_mail


@task
def send_welcome_email(user_id: int):
    """Send a welcome email in the background."""
    from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
    User = get_user_model()
    user = User.objects.get(pk=user_id)
    send_mail(
        subject="Welcome!",
        message=f"Hello {user.first_name}, welcome to our site.",
        from_email="noreply@example.com",
        recipient_list=[user.email],
    )


# views.py
from .tasks import send_welcome_email

def signup(request):
    user = create_user(request.POST)
    # Task is enqueued, response is immediate
    send_welcome_email.enqueue(user.id)
    return redirect('home')

Celery vs Built-in Tasks

The built-in framework is designed for simple cases. Celery remains relevant for complex workflows, task routing, advanced retries, and high-performance brokers (Redis, RabbitMQ).

Sources