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Django + RQ . Self-hosted . Open source

Django RQ Dashboard

Run RQ inside a Django app and you have working background jobs. Run RQ with z4j and you also have a dashboard, persistent history, the task controls this adapter can execute safely, scheduler integration, RBAC with invitations, and a tamper-evident audit log. z4j is one container or one Python process; the agent is one pip extra in your existing Django venv.

Django + RQ via django-rq is a clean, focused stack. z4j layers on Postgres-backed history (RQ's Redis-resident records have a TTL), bulk requeue actions, RBAC across multiple Django projects, and full schedule CRUD if you also run rq-scheduler. The z4j-django adapter handles registration; z4j-rq instruments the worker without monkey-patching.

Install z4j Django integration details RQ adapter details
install

Install z4j alongside Django + RQ

1. Install the brain

bash 
pip install z4j && z4j serve

First boot prints a setup URL to stderr. Open it, create the first admin, and mint a token + HMAC secret for this agent.

2. Add the agent to your Django venv

bash 
pip install z4j-django[rq]

3. Wire it into Django

python 
# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS += ["z4j_django"]

Z4J = {
    "brain_url":   env("Z4J_BRAIN_URL"),
    "token":       env("Z4J_TOKEN"),
    "hmac_secret": env("Z4J_HMAC_SECRET"),
    "project_id":  env("Z4J_PROJECT_ID"),
    "agent_name":  env("Z4J_AGENT_NAME", default=None),
}
# That's it. No CELERY_APP, no Z4J_DEV_MODE, no dev_mode kwarg.
# Auto-detect checks the documented candidate layouts. Add CELERY_APP when
# none of those candidates resolves your application.

What you get

  • Persistent RQ task history in Postgres or SQLite
  • Adapter-advertised controls: submit_task, retry_task, cancel_task, bulk_retry, purge_queue, requeue_dead_letter
  • Scheduler integration via rq scheduler; available controls depend on that scheduler adapter
  • RBAC with invitations and password reset
  • HMAC-chained tamper-evident audit log
  • Notifications: email, Slack, Telegram, webhook
License

z4j-django and z4j-rq are Apache 2.0. Importing them into your Django app does not affect your application's licensing. z4j is AGPL-3.0-or-later, isolated in its own process.

RQ actions exposed

What the dashboard can actually do

Native actions

  • submit_task
  • retry_task
  • cancel_task
  • bulk_retry
  • purge_queue
  • requeue_dead_letter

Event capture

Worker-wrap monkey-patch plus per-job callbacks. No code changes required in your jobs.

Reconciliation

rq.job.Job: status + ended_at + exc_info from the Redis hash.

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Start using Django RQ Dashboard

Self-hosted, open source, no SaaS, no telemetry. z4j runs anywhere Python or Docker runs.

Install z4j Read the docs