rq

library2.11.0pypypi✓ verified 27d ago

Simple Python job queue backed by Redis or Valkey. Current version is 2.7.0. Requires Python >=3.9, Redis >=5 or Valkey >=7.2. Much simpler than Celery — no broker config, just a Redis connection. Key API change: job.result property removed in 1.12, replaced by job.return_value(). job.get_status() now returns a JobStatus enum, not a string.

workflow database

pip install rq

github ↗package ↗homepage ↗docs ↗changelog ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · RQ

workflowpythonv2.11.0

Install

2.6s avg

Import

547ms

Disk

25MB

Pass rate

10/ 10

Env Coverage10 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v2.11.0 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 0.592s · 26.2MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 2.6s · import 0.502s · 27MB

25MB installed

● package 25MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

Queue

✓ from rq import Queue

✗ from redis import Redis from rq import Queue

Worker

✓ from rq import Worker

JobStatus

✓ from rq.job import JobStatus

Start Redis first, then run worker: rq worker. Functions must be in importable modules.

# tasks.py — functions must be in an importable module def add(x, y): return x + y def send_email(to, subject, body): # ... email logic return True # enqueue.py — enqueue jobs from redis import Redis from rq import Queue from tasks import add redis_conn = Redis() q = Queue(connection=redis_conn) # Enqueue job = q.enqueue(add, 4, 6) print('Job ID:', job.id) # Enqueue with options job2 = q.enqueue( add, 10, 20, job_timeout=300, # seconds before job is killed result_ttl=500, # seconds to keep result in Redis retry=3 # retry on failure ) # Check result (after worker runs) import time time.sleep(1) print(job.return_value()) # 10 print(job.get_status()) # JobStatus.FINISHED # --- Start worker in separate terminal --- # rq worker

rq --version

Debug

Known issues

breakingjob.result property removed in rq 1.12.0. Accessing job.result raises AttributeError. All tutorials and LLM-generated code using job.result are broken.

fix

Replace job.result with job.return_value(). Note it returns None until the job completes.

affects: >= 1.12

breakingjob.get_status() returns a JobStatus enum (e.g. JobStatus.FINISHED) not a string ('finished'). Comparing with strings like if job.get_status() == 'finished' always evaluates to False.

fix

from rq.job import JobStatus; if job.get_status() == JobStatus.FINISHED: ... Or use job.is_finished, job.is_failed, job.is_started properties.

affects: >= 1.0

breakingPython 3.8 support dropped. Minimum is Python 3.9.

fix

Pin rq<2.0 for Python 3.8 environments.

affects: >= 2.x

breakingredis-py 6.0.0 is explicitly blocked — rq will refuse to install with redis==6.0.0 due to critical incompatibilities. Use redis>=4.0.0,!=6.0.0.

fix

Pin redis!=6.0.0 in requirements. Use redis>=4.0.0,!=6.0.0 or upgrade to a later redis-py patch once fixed.

affects: all

gotchaEnqueued functions must be importable by the worker process. Functions defined in __main__ or interactively (notebooks, scripts run directly) cannot be pickled and will raise PicklingError.

fix

Define task functions in separate module files (e.g. tasks.py). The worker imports them by module path.

affects: all

gotchaWorkers must be started in a separate process. Running rq worker in the same process as enqueuers causes deadlocks. Workers run: rq worker [queue_name]

fix

Start worker in a separate terminal: rq worker. Or use WorkerPool for multiple workers: from rq import WorkerPool; WorkerPool(queues=[q], connection=redis_conn).start()

affects: all

gotchaOn Windows and macOS, the default Worker uses fork() which is not available. Use SpawnWorker instead, which uses multiprocessing.spawn.

fix

from rq import SpawnWorker; SpawnWorker(queues=[q], connection=redis_conn).work(). Or use SimpleWorker for testing (no fork/spawn, runs in-process).

affects: >= 1.16

Upgrade

Version history

2.11.0latest on PyPI · released Aug 17, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

redis>=4.0.0,!=6.0.0requiredRequired. redis-py 6.0.0 is explicitly blocked due to bugs. Installed automatically.

click>=5.0requiredRequired for CLI. Installed automatically.

Agent activity

41 hits · last 30 days

node

OpenAI (training)

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/rq/rq ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/rq/ ↗

homepagehttps://python-rq.org/ ↗

docshttps://python-rq.org/docs/ ↗

changeloghttps://github.com/rq/rq/blob/master/CHANGES.md ↗