Talk Python to Me is a weekly podcast hosted by developer and entrepreneur Michael Kennedy. We dive deep into the popular packages and software developers, data scientists, and incredible hobbyists doing amazing things with Python. If you're new to Python, you'll quickly learn the ins and outs of the community by hearing from the leaders. And if you've been Pythoning for years, you'll learn about your favorite packages and the hot new ones coming out of open source.
#556: Updates on Django's Async Story
July 26, 2026
1:04:56
11.01 MB ( 51.54 MB less)
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For years, "Django and async" came with an asterisk. The docs themselves warned you off it. Scary performance notes, a story that felt half-finished. Well, that story just got rewritten, literally, and the person who rewrote it is here to tell you why the old framing was wrong.
Carlton Gibson is a former Django Fellow, sat on the security team for eight years, and he's on the steering council. On this episode we get into the async topic doc rewrite, what actually remains versus what was just fear, the new Tasks framework in 6.0, DB-level cascades and fetch modes landing in 6.1, and why free-threading is the bet that's about to pay off big for Django. If you've been told Django's async story isn't ready, this is the episode that puts that myth to bed.
Episode sponsors
Sentry Error Monitoring, Code talkpython26
Python in Production
Talk Python Courses
PyCon Italia: pycon.it
Django on the Med: djangomed.eu
Django Mantle: noumenal.es
PyPI: pypi.org
release notes: docs.djangoproject.com
on_delete: docs.djangoproject.com
Fetch modes: docs.djangoproject.com
HttpRequest.multipart_parser_class: docs.djangoproject.com
async topic doc: docs.djangoproject.com
docs: docs.djangoproject.com
DEP 14: github.com
django-tasks: github.com
django-tasks-local: github.com
Celery: docs.celeryq.dev
PEP 703: peps.python.org
free-threading HOWTO: docs.python.org
PEP 779: peps.python.org
ASGI: docs.djangoproject.com
PGBouncer: www.pgbouncer.org
Channels: channels.readthedocs.io
sync_to_async / async_to_sync: docs.djangoproject.com
noumenal.es: noumenal.es
Django Chat: djangochat.com
@carlton@fosstodon.org: fosstodon.org
Article: Cutting Python Web App Memory Over 31%: mkennedy.codes
Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com
Episode #556 deep-dive: talkpython.fm/556
Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm
Theme Song: Developer Rap
🥁 Served in a Flask 🎸: talkpython.fm/flasksong
---== Don't be a stranger ==---
YouTube: youtube.com/@talkpython
Bluesky: @talkpython.fm
Mastodon: @talkpython@fosstodon.org
X.com: @talkpython
Michael on Bluesky: @mkennedy.codes
Michael on Mastodon: @mkennedy@fosstodon.org
Michael on X.com: @mkennedy
Carlton Gibson is a former Django Fellow, sat on the security team for eight years, and he's on the steering council. On this episode we get into the async topic doc rewrite, what actually remains versus what was just fear, the new Tasks framework in 6.0, DB-level cascades and fetch modes landing in 6.1, and why free-threading is the bet that's about to pay off big for Django. If you've been told Django's async story isn't ready, this is the episode that puts that myth to bed.
Episode sponsors
Sentry Error Monitoring, Code talkpython26
Python in Production
Talk Python Courses
Links from the show
DjangoCon Europe: djangocon.euPyCon Italia: pycon.it
Django on the Med: djangomed.eu
Django Mantle: noumenal.es
PyPI: pypi.org
release notes: docs.djangoproject.com
on_delete: docs.djangoproject.com
Fetch modes: docs.djangoproject.com
HttpRequest.multipart_parser_class: docs.djangoproject.com
async topic doc: docs.djangoproject.com
docs: docs.djangoproject.com
DEP 14: github.com
django-tasks: github.com
django-tasks-local: github.com
Celery: docs.celeryq.dev
PEP 703: peps.python.org
free-threading HOWTO: docs.python.org
PEP 779: peps.python.org
ASGI: docs.djangoproject.com
PGBouncer: www.pgbouncer.org
Channels: channels.readthedocs.io
sync_to_async / async_to_sync: docs.djangoproject.com
noumenal.es: noumenal.es
Django Chat: djangochat.com
@carlton@fosstodon.org: fosstodon.org
Article: Cutting Python Web App Memory Over 31%: mkennedy.codes
Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com
Episode #556 deep-dive: talkpython.fm/556
Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm
Theme Song: Developer Rap
🥁 Served in a Flask 🎸: talkpython.fm/flasksong
---== Don't be a stranger ==---
YouTube: youtube.com/@talkpython
Bluesky: @talkpython.fm
Mastodon: @talkpython@fosstodon.org
X.com: @talkpython
Michael on Bluesky: @mkennedy.codes
Michael on Mastodon: @mkennedy@fosstodon.org
Michael on X.com: @mkennedy