mcpbeat Sign in

Python Background Jobs Agent Skill

Python background job patterns including task queues, workers, and event-driven architecture. Use when implementing async task processing, job queues, long-running operations, or decoupling work from request/response cycles.

3k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
2
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
38452
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/wshobson/agents --skill python-background-jobs

The instruction itself

15 sections, as written by the author

Python Background Jobs & Task Queues

Decouple long-running or unreliable work from request/response cycles. Return immediately to the user while background workers handle the heavy lifting asynchronously.

When to Use This Skill

  • Processing tasks that take longer than a few seconds
  • Sending emails, notifications, or webhooks
  • Generating reports or exporting data
  • Processing uploads or media transformations
  • Integrating with unreliable external services
  • Building event-driven architectures

Core Concepts

1. Task Queue Pattern

API accepts request, enqueues a job, returns immediately with a job ID. Workers process jobs asynchronously.

2. Idempotency

Tasks may be retried on failure. Design for safe re-execution.

3. Job State Machine

Jobs transition through states: pending → running → succeeded/failed.

4. At-Least-Once Delivery

Most queues guarantee at-least-once delivery. Your code must handle duplicates.

Quick Start

This skill uses Celery for examples, a widely adopted task queue. Alternatives like RQ, Dramatiq, and cloud-native solutions (AWS SQS, GCP Tasks) are equally valid choices.

from celery import Celery

app = Celery("tasks", broker="redis://localhost:6379")

@app.task
def send_email(to: str, subject: str, body: str) -> None:
    # This runs in a background worker
    email_client.send(to, subject, body)

# In your API handler
send_email.delay("[email protected]", "Welcome!", "Thanks for signing up")

Fundamental Patterns

Pattern 1: Return Job ID Immediately

For operations exceeding a few seconds, return a job ID and process asynchronously.

from uuid import uuid4
from dataclasses import dataclass
from enum import Enum
from datetime import datetime

class JobStatus(Enum):
    PENDING = "pending"
    RUNNING = "running"
    SUCCEEDED = "succeeded"
    FAILED = "failed"

@dataclass
class Job:
    id: str
    status: JobStatus
    created_at: datetime
    started_at: datetime | None = None
    completed_at: datetime | None = None
    result: dict | None = None
    error: str | None = None

# API endpoint
async def start_export(request: ExportRequest) -> JobResponse:
    """Start export job and return job ID."""
    job_id = str(uuid4())

    # Persist job record
    await jobs_repo.create(Job(
        id=job_id,
        status=JobStatus.PENDING,
        created_at=datetime.utcnow(),
    ))

    # Enqueue task for background processing
    await task_queue.enqueue(
        "export_data",
        job_id=job_id,
        params=request.model_dump(),
    )

    # Return immediately with job ID
    return JobResponse(
        job_id=job_id,
        status="pending",
        poll_url=f"/jobs/{job_id}",
    )

Pattern 2: Celery Task Configuration

Configure Celery tasks with proper retry and timeout settings.

from celery import Celery

app = Celery("tasks", broker="redis://localhost:6379")

# Global configuration
app.conf.update(
    task_time_limit=3600,          # Hard limit: 1 hour
    task_soft_time_limit=3000,      # Soft limit: 50 minutes
    task_acks_late=True,            # Acknowledge after completion
    task_reject_on_worker_lost=True,
    worker_prefetch_multiplier=1,   # Don't prefetch too many tasks
)

@app.task(
    bind=True,
    max_retries=3,
    default_retry_delay=60,
    autoretry_for=(ConnectionError, TimeoutError),
)
def process_payment(self, payment_id: str) -> dict:
    """Process payment with automatic retry on transient errors."""
    try:
        result = payment_gateway.charge(payment_id)
        return {"status": "success", "transaction_id": result.id}
    except PaymentDeclinedError as e:
        # Don't retry permanent failures
        return {"status": "declined", "reason": str(e)}
    except TransientError as e:
        # Retry with exponential backoff
        raise self.retry(exc=e, countdown=2 ** self.request.retries * 60)

Pattern 3: Make Tasks Idempotent

Workers may retry on crash or timeout. Design for safe re-execution.

@app.task(bind=True)
def process_order(self, order_id: str) -> None:
    """Process order idempotently."""
    order = orders_repo.get(order_id)

    # Already processed? Return early
    if order.status == OrderStatus.COMPLETED:
        logger.info("Order already processed", order_id=order_id)
        return

    # Already in progress? Check if we should continue
    if order.status == OrderStatus.PROCESSING:
        # Use idempotency key to avoid double-charging
        pass

    # Process with idempotency key
    result = payment_provider.charge(
        amount=order.total,
        idempotency_key=f"order-{order_id}",  # Critical!
    )

    orders_repo.update(order_id, status=OrderStatus.COMPLETED)

Idempotency Strategies:

  • Check-before-write: Verify state before action
  • Idempotency keys: Use unique tokens with external services
  • Upsert patterns: INSERT ... ON CONFLICT UPDATE
  • Deduplication window: Track processed IDs for N hours

Pattern 4: Job State Management

Persist job state transitions for visibility and debugging.

class JobRepository:
    """Repository for managing job state."""

    async def create(self, job: Job) -> Job:
        """Create new job record."""
        await self._db.execute(
            """INSERT INTO jobs (id, status, created_at)
               VALUES ($1, $2, $3)""",
            job.id, job.status.value, job.created_at,
        )
        return job

    async def update_status(
        self,
        job_id: str,
        status: JobStatus,
        **fields,
    ) -> None:
        """Update job status with timestamp."""
        updates = {"status": status.value, **fields}

        if status == JobStatus.RUNNING:
            updates["started_at"] = datetime.utcnow()
        elif status in (JobStatus.SUCCEEDED, JobStatus.FAILED):
            updates["completed_at"] = datetime.utcnow()

        await self._db.execute(
            "UPDATE jobs SET status = $1, ... WHERE id = $2",
            updates, job_id,
        )

        logger.info(
            "Job status updated",
            job_id=job_id,
            status=status.value,
        )

Detailed worked examples and patterns

Detailed sections (starting with ## Advanced Patterns) live in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation summary above is insufficient.

Best Practices Summary

  • Return immediately - Don't block requests for long operations
  • Persist job state - Enable status polling and debugging
  • Make tasks idempotent - Safe to retry on any failure
  • Use idempotency keys - For external service calls
  • Set timeouts - Both soft and hard limits
  • Implement DLQ - Capture permanently failed tasks
  • Log transitions - Track job state changes
  • Retry appropriately - Exponential backoff for transient errors
  • Don't retry permanent failures - Validation errors, invalid credentials

10. Monitor queue depth - Alert on backlog growth

Other skills for the same job

different authors, same section of the catalogue
MCP Builder
by anthropics
vendor ×13

Guide for creating high-quality MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that enable LLMs to interact with external services through well-designed tools. Use when building MCP servers to integrate external APIs or services, whether in Python (FastMCP) or Node/TypeScript (MCP SDK).

30k tokens scripts
Changelog Generator
by frostant
×9

Automatically creates user-facing changelogs from git commits by analyzing commit history, categorizing changes, and transforming technical commits into clear, customer-friendly release notes. Turns hours of manual changelog writing into minutes of automated generation.

774 tokens
Finishing A Development Branch
by ZhanlinCui
×7

Use when implementation is complete, all tests pass, and you need to decide how to integrate the work - guides completion of development work by presenting structured options for merge, PR, or cleanup

1k tokens
MCP Builder
by JayZeeDesign
×7

Guide for creating high-quality MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that enable LLMs to interact with external services through well-designed tools. Use when building MCP servers to integrate external APIs or services, whether in Python (FastMCP) or Node/TypeScript (MCP SDK).

37k tokens scripts
Vercel React Native Skills
by vercel-labs
vendor ×6

React Native and Expo best practices for building performant mobile apps. Use when building React Native components, optimizing list performance, implementing animations, or working with native modules. Triggers on tasks involving React Native, Expo, mobile performance, or native platform APIs.

39k tokens
Vercel React Best Practices
by ratacat
×5

React and Next.js performance optimization guidelines from Vercel Engineering. This skill should be used when writing, reviewing, or refactoring React/Next.js code to ensure optimal performance patterns. Triggers on tasks involving React components, Next.js pages, data fetching, bundle optimization, or performance improvements.

34k tokens
Next Best Practices
by vercel-labs
vendor ×4

Next.js best practices - file conventions, RSC boundaries, data patterns, async APIs, metadata, error handling, route handlers, image/font optimization, bundling

20k tokens
Using Git Worktrees
by ZhanlinCui
×4

Use when starting feature work that needs isolation from current workspace or before executing implementation plans - creates isolated git worktrees with smart directory selection and safety verification

1k tokens

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take wshobson/python-background-jobs from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.