.. _django-first-steps:

=========================
 First steps with Django
=========================

Using Celery with Django
========================

.. note::

    Previous versions of Celery required a separate library to work with Django,
    but since 3.1 this is no longer the case. Django is supported out of the
    box now so this document only contains a basic way to integrate Celery and
    Django. You'll use the same API as non-Django users so you're recommended
    to read the :ref:`first-steps` tutorial
    first and come back to this tutorial. When you have a working example you can
    continue to the :ref:`next-steps` guide.

.. note::

    Celery 4.0 supports Django 1.8 and newer versions. Please use Celery 3.1
    for versions older than Django 1.8.

To use Celery with your Django project you must first define
an instance of the Celery library (called an "app")

If you have a modern Django project layout like::

    - proj/
      - manage.py
      - proj/
        - __init__.py
        - settings.py
        - urls.py

then the recommended way is to create a new `proj/proj/celery.py` module
that defines the Celery instance:

:file: `proj/proj/celery.py`

.. literalinclude:: ../../examples/django/proj/celery.py

Then you need to import this app in your :file:`proj/proj/__init__.py`
module. This ensures that the app is loaded when Django starts
so that the ``@shared_task`` decorator (mentioned later) will use it:

:file:`proj/proj/__init__.py`:

.. literalinclude:: ../../examples/django/proj/__init__.py

Note that this example project layout is suitable for larger projects,
for simple projects you may use a single contained module that defines
both the app and tasks, like in the :ref:`tut-celery` tutorial.

Let's break down what happens in the first module,
first we import absolute imports from the future, so that our
``celery.py`` module won't clash with the library:

.. code-block:: python

    from __future__ import absolute_import

Then we set the default :envvar:`DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE` environment variable
for the :program:`celery` command-line program:

.. code-block:: python

    os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'proj.settings')

You don't need this line, but it saves you from always passing in the
settings module to the ``celery`` program. It must always come before
creating the app instances, as is what we do next:

.. code-block:: python

    app = Celery('proj')

This is our instance of the library, you can have many instances
but there's probably no reason for that when using Django.

We also add the Django settings module as a configuration source
for Celery. This means that you don't have to use multiple
configuration files, and instead configure Celery directly
from the Django settings; but you can also separate them if wanted.

.. code-block:: python

    app.config_from_object('django.conf:settings', namespace='CELERY')

The uppercase name-space means that all Celery configuration options
must be specified in uppercase instead of lowercase, and start with
``CELERY_``, so for example the :setting:`task_always_eager` setting
becomes ``CELERY_TASK_ALWAYS_EAGER``, and the :setting:`broker_url`
setting becomes ``CELERY_BROKER_URL``.

You can pass the settings object directly instead, but using a string
is better since then the worker doesn't have to serialize the object.
The ``CELERY_`` namespace is also optional, but recommended (to
prevent overlap with other Django settings).

Next, a common practice for reusable apps is to define all tasks
in a separate ``tasks.py`` module, and Celery does have a way to
auto-discover these modules:

.. code-block:: python

    app.autodiscover_tasks()

With the line above Celery will automatically discover tasks from all
of your installed apps, following the ``tasks.py`` convention::

    - app1/
        - tasks.py
        - models.py
    - app2/
        - tasks.py
        - models.py


This way you don't have to manually add the individual modules
to the :setting:`CELERY_IMPORTS <imports>` setting.

Finally, the ``debug_task`` example is a task that dumps
its own request information. This is using the new ``bind=True`` task option
introduced in Celery 3.1 to easily refer to the current task instance.

Using the ``@shared_task`` decorator
------------------------------------

The tasks you write will probably live in reusable apps, and reusable
apps cannot depend on the project itself, so you also cannot import your app
instance directly.

The ``@shared_task`` decorator lets you create tasks without having any
concrete app instance:

:file:`demoapp/tasks.py`:

.. literalinclude:: ../../examples/django/demoapp/tasks.py


.. seealso::

    You can find the full source code for the Django example project at:
    https://github.com/celery/celery/tree/master/examples/django/

.. admonition:: Relative Imports

    You have to be consistent in how you import the task module.
    For example, if you have ``project.app`` in ``INSTALLED_APPS``, then you
    must also import the tasks ``from project.app`` or else the names
    of the tasks will end up being different.

    See :ref:`task-naming-relative-imports`

Extensions
==========

.. _django-celery-results:

``django-celery-results`` - Using the Django ORM/Cache as a result backend
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The :pypi:`django-celery-results` extension provides result backends
using either the Django ORM, or the Django Cache framework.

To use this with your project you need to follow these steps:

#. Install the :pypi:`django-celery-results` library:

    .. code-block:: console

        $ pip install django-celery-results

#. Add ``django_celery_results`` to ``INSTALLED_APPS`` in your
   Django project's :file:`settings.py`::

        INSTALLED_APPS = (
            ...,
            'django_celery_results',
        )

   Note that there is no dash in the module name, only underscores.

#. Create the Celery database tables by performing a database migrations:

    .. code-block:: console

        $ python manage.py migrate django_celery_results

#. Configure Celery to use the :pypi:`django-celery-results` backend.

    Assuming you are using Django's :file:`settings.py` to also configure
    Celery, add the following settings:

    .. code-block:: python

        CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND = 'django-db'

    For the cache backend you can use:

    .. code-block:: python

        CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND = 'django-cache'

``django-celery-beat`` - Database-backed Periodic Tasks with Admin interface.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

See :ref:`beat-custom-schedulers` for more information.

Starting the worker process
===========================

In a production environment you'll want to run the worker in the background
as a daemon - see :ref:`daemonizing` - but for testing and
development it is useful to be able to start a worker instance by using the
:program:`celery worker` manage command, much as you'd use Django's
:command:`manage.py runserver`:

.. code-block:: console

    $ celery -A proj worker -l info

For a complete listing of the command-line options available,
use the help command:

.. code-block:: console

    $ celery help

Where to go from here
=====================

If you want to learn more you should continue to the
:ref:`Next Steps <next-steps>` tutorial, and after that you
can study the :ref:`User Guide <guide>`.