---
id: rq
version: "2.10.0"
license: BSD-2-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# rq — RQ is a simple, lightweight, library for creating background jobs, and processing them.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 12.4M/mo

## What it is and what it does

RQ is a job queue library that lets you offload long-running or blocking function calls to background workers. You define a function, enqueue it with arguments, and RQ stores the job in Redis; separate worker processes pick up and execute jobs asynchronously. It supports job prioritization across multiple queues, scheduled execution at specific times or intervals, cron-style scheduling, automatic retries on failure, and webhooks to notify external systems when jobs finish or fail.

The library is designed for low barrier to entry—basic usage requires only Redis and a few lines of Python—while scaling to high-volume systems. It integrates into web frameworks easily and handles job deduplication, repeating jobs with configurable intervals, and custom serializers. Workers can run as single processes or in pools, and the package includes built-in scheduling via the `rq cron` command.

Use it for:

- Send emails or notifications asynchronously without blocking web requests
- Schedule periodic maintenance tasks (database cleanup, report generation) using cron syntax or fixed intervals
- Process long-running computations (image resizing, data analysis) in background workers while keeping the web tier responsive
- Retry failed jobs automatically with configurable backoff intervals
- Prioritize urgent tasks by enqueueing them to high-priority queues that workers process first

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

RQ is a Python library for queueing jobs and processing them in the background with workers, backed by Redis or Valkey. It handles job scheduling, prioritization, retries, and webhooks with a simple API.

Yes. RQ is production-stable, actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and low install friction. It solves a common problem (background job processing) with a straightforward API and reasonable defaults. The pickle security warning is documented and mitigated by using JSONSerializer for untrusted inputs. Suitable for projects of any size that need job queueing backed by Redis.

## Install

pip install rq
uv add rq
poetry add rq

## Installing rq

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel. Active maintenance with recent releases; last commit 2026-08-14. Requires Redis >= 5 or Valkey >= 7.2 as a runtime dependency, not bundled.

License in practice: BSD-2-Clause (permissive) allows commercial use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions. Suitable for proprietary projects.

Quickstart:

pip install rq

from redis import Redis
from rq import Queue

queue = Queue(connection=Redis())
job = queue.enqueue(my_function, arg1, arg2)

Requires a running Redis (>= 5) or Valkey (>= 7.2) instance; rq will not work without it. Python >= 3.10 required.

Verify before relying:

- Whether pickle deserialization security risk (noted in docs) affects typical production deployments or only untrusted Redis sources
- Performance overhead of Worker vs SimpleWorker in typical real-world workloads beyond the microbenchmark cited

## Package facts

- License: BSD-2-Clause (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 12.4M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

background job queue, redis job processing, async task scheduling, distributed job worker, cron job scheduling, task queue python, job retry and retry logic, job-queue, background-tasks, redis-backed

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