Background Callbacks

Support for background callbacks on @dash.callback was introduced in Dash 2.6.
If you’re using an earlier version of Dash 2.x, you can use long_callback for long-running callbacks.

To get the most out of this page, make sure you’ve read about
Basic Callbacks in the Dash Fundamentals.

Most web servers have a 30 second timeout by default, which is an issue for callbacks that take longer to complete.
While you can increase the timeout on the web server, you risk allowing long-running callbacks to use all of your app’s
workers, preventing other requests from going through. Background callbacks offer a scalable solution for using long-running
callbacks by running them in a separate background queue. In the background queue, the callbacks are executed one-by-one
in the order that they came in by dedicated queue worker(s).

You can configure a callback to run in the background by setting background=True on the callback.
Callbacks with background=True use a backend configured by you to run the callback logic. There are currently two options:

A DiskCache backend that runs callback logic in a separate
process and stores the results to disk using the diskcache library. This is the easiest backend to use for local
development, but is not recommended for production.
A Celery backend that runs callback
logic in a Celery worker and returns results to the Dash app through a Celery broker
like Redis.
This is recommended for production as, unlike Disk Cache, it queues the background callbacks, running them one-by-one in the order that they were received by dedicated Celery worker(s). Celery is a widely adopted, production-ready job queue library.
For further information on the benefits of job queues, see the Why Job Queues? section below.

Dash Enterprise makes it easy to deploy Celery and Redis for using background callbacks in production. Get Pricing or see Dash in action at our next demo session.

Getting Started

The following examples use the diskcache manager when running locally. Install with:

pip install dash[diskcache]

When these examples are deployed to Dash Enterprise, they use celery.

pip install dash[celery]

Basic Steps

To use a background callback, you first need to configure a manager using your chosen backend.
The @dash.callback decorator requires this manager instance.
You can provide the manager instance to the dash.Dash app constructor as the background_callback_manager keyword argument,
or as the manager argument to the @dash.callback decorator.

In the next five examples, we’ll discuss in more detail how to implement background callbacks.

Example 1: Simple Example

Here is a simple example of a background callback that updates an html.P
element with the number of times that a button has been clicked.
The callback uses time.sleep to simulate a long-running operation.

import time
import os

import dash
from dash import DiskcacheManager, CeleryManager, Input, Output, html

if 'REDIS_URL' in os.environ:
    # Use Redis & Celery if REDIS_URL set as an env variable
    from celery import Celery
    celery_app = Celery(__name__, broker=os.environ['REDIS_URL'], backend=os.environ['REDIS_URL'])
    background_callback_manager = CeleryManager(celery_app)

else:
    # Diskcache for non-production apps when developing locally
    import diskcache
    cache = diskcache.Cache("./cache")
    background_callback_manager = DiskcacheManager(cache)

app = dash.Dash(__name__)

app.layout = html.Div(
    [
        html.Div([html.P(id="paragraph_id", children=["Button not clicked"])]),
        html.Button(id="button_id", children="Run Job!"),
    ]
)

@dash.callback(
    output=Output("paragraph_id", "children"),
    inputs=Input("button_id", "n_clicks"),
    background=True,
    manager=background_callback_manager,
)
def update_clicks(n_clicks):
    time.sleep(2.0)
    return [f"Clicked {n_clicks} times"]


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Simple example

Example 2: Disable Button While Callback Is Running

Notice how in the previous example, there is no visual indication that the background callback is running.
A user might click the “Run Job!” button multiple times before the original job can complete.
You can also disable the button while the callback is running and re-enable it when the callback completes.

To do this, use the running argument to @dash.callback. This argument accepts a list of 3-element
tuples. The first element of each tuple must be an Output dependency object referencing a property of a component in
the app layout. The second element is the value that the property should be set to while the callback is running, and
the third element is the value the property should be set to when the callback completes.

This example uses running to set the disabled property of the button to True while the callback is running,
and False when it completes.

Note: In this example, the background_callback_manager is provided to the dash.Dash app constructor instead of
the @dash.callback decorator.

import time
import os

import dash
from dash import DiskcacheManager, CeleryManager, Input, Output, html

if 'REDIS_URL' in os.environ:
    # Use Redis & Celery if REDIS_URL set as an env variable
    from celery import Celery
    celery_app = Celery(__name__, broker=os.environ['REDIS_URL'], backend=os.environ['REDIS_URL'])
    background_callback_manager = CeleryManager(celery_app)

else:
    # Diskcache for non-production apps when developing locally
    import diskcache
    cache = diskcache.Cache("./cache")
    background_callback_manager = DiskcacheManager(cache)

app = dash.Dash(__name__, background_callback_manager=background_callback_manager)

app.layout = html.Div(
    [
        html.Div([html.P(id="paragraph_id", children=["Button not clicked"])]),
        html.Button(id="button_id", children="Run Job!"),
    ]
)

@dash.callback(
    output=Output("paragraph_id", "children"),
    inputs=Input("button_id", "n_clicks"),
    background=True,
    running=[
        (Output("button_id", "disabled"), True, False),
    ],
)
def update_clicks(n_clicks):
    time.sleep(2.0)
    return [f"Clicked {n_clicks} times"]


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Disable button while callback is running example

Example 3: Cancelable Callback

This example builds on the previous example, adding support for canceling a long-running callback using
the cancel argument to the @dash.callback decorator. We set the cancel argument to a list
of Input dependency objects that reference a property of a component in the app’s layout.
When the value of this property changes while a callback is running, the callback is canceled.
Note that the value of the property is not significant — any change in value cancels the running job (if any).

import time
import os

import dash
from dash import DiskcacheManager, CeleryManager, Input, Output, html

if 'REDIS_URL' in os.environ:
    # Use Redis & Celery if REDIS_URL set as an env variable
    from celery import Celery
    celery_app = Celery(__name__, broker=os.environ['REDIS_URL'], backend=os.environ['REDIS_URL'])
    background_callback_manager = CeleryManager(celery_app)

else:
    # Diskcache for non-production apps when developing locally
    import diskcache
    cache = diskcache.Cache("./cache")
    background_callback_manager = DiskcacheManager(cache)

app = dash.Dash(__name__, background_callback_manager=background_callback_manager)

app.layout = html.Div(
    [
        html.Div([html.P(id="paragraph_id", children=["Button not clicked"])]),
        html.Button(id="button_id", children="Run Job!"),
        html.Button(id="cancel_button_id", children="Cancel Running Job!"),
    ]
)

@dash.callback(
    output=Output("paragraph_id", "children"),
    inputs=Input("button_id", "n_clicks"),
    background=True,
    running=[
        (Output("button_id", "disabled"), True, False),
        (Output("cancel_button_id", "disabled"), False, True),
    ],
    cancel=[Input("cancel_button_id", "n_clicks")],
)
def update_clicks(n_clicks):
    time.sleep(2.0)
    return [f"Clicked {n_clicks} times"]


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Cancelable callback example

Example 4: Progress Bar

This example uses the progress argument to the @dash.callback decorator to update a progress bar while the
callback is running. We set the progress argument to an Output dependency grouping that references properties
of components in the app’s layout.

When a dependency grouping is assigned to the progress argument of @dash.callback, the decorated function
is called with a new special argument as the first argument to the function.
This special argument, named set_progress in the example below, is a function handle that the decorated function
calls in order to provide updates to the app on its current progress. The set_progress function accepts a single
argument, which corresponds to the grouping of properties specified in the Output dependency grouping passed to
the progress argument of @dash.callback.

import time
import os

import dash
from dash import DiskcacheManager, CeleryManager, Input, Output, html

if 'REDIS_URL' in os.environ:
    # Use Redis & Celery if REDIS_URL set as an env variable
    from celery import Celery
    celery_app = Celery(__name__, broker=os.environ['REDIS_URL'], backend=os.environ['REDIS_URL'])
    background_callback_manager = CeleryManager(celery_app)

else:
    # Diskcache for non-production apps when developing locally
    import diskcache
    cache = diskcache.Cache("./cache")
    background_callback_manager = DiskcacheManager(cache)

app = dash.Dash(__name__, background_callback_manager=background_callback_manager)

app.layout = html.Div(
    [
        html.Div(
            [
                html.P(id="paragraph_id", children=["Button not clicked"]),
                html.Progress(id="progress_bar", value="0"),
            ]
        ),
        html.Button(id="button_id", children="Run Job!"),
        html.Button(id="cancel_button_id", children="Cancel Running Job!"),
    ]
)

@dash.callback(
    output=Output("paragraph_id", "children"),
    inputs=Input("button_id", "n_clicks"),
    background=True,
    running=[
        (Output("button_id", "disabled"), True, False),
        (Output("cancel_button_id", "disabled"), False, True),
        (
            Output("paragraph_id", "style"),
            {"visibility": "hidden"},
            {"visibility": "visible"},
        ),
        (
            Output("progress_bar", "style"),
            {"visibility": "visible"},
            {"visibility": "hidden"},
        ),
    ],
    cancel=Input("cancel_button_id", "n_clicks"),
    progress=[Output("progress_bar", "value"), Output("progress_bar", "max")],
    prevent_initial_call=True
)
def update_progress(set_progress, n_clicks):
    total = 5
    for i in range(total + 1):
        set_progress((str(i), str(total)))
        time.sleep(1)

    return f"Clicked {n_clicks} times"


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Progress bar example

Example 5: Progress Bar Chart Graph

The progress argument to the @dash.callback decorator can be used to update arbitrary component properties.
This example creates and updates a Plotly bar graph to display the current calculation status.

This example also uses the progress_default argument to specify a grouping of values that
should be assigned to the components specified by the progress argument when the callback is not in progress.
If progress_default is not provided, all the dependency properties specified in progress are set to None
when the callback is not running. In this case, progress_default is set to a figure with a zero width bar.

import time
import os

import dash
from dash import DiskcacheManager, CeleryManager, Input, Output, html, dcc
import plotly.graph_objects as go

if 'REDIS_URL' in os.environ:
    # Use Redis & Celery if REDIS_URL set as an env variable
    from celery import Celery
    celery_app = Celery(__name__, broker=os.environ['REDIS_URL'], backend=os.environ['REDIS_URL'])
    background_callback_manager = CeleryManager(celery_app)

else:
    # Diskcache for non-production apps when developing locally
    import diskcache
    cache = diskcache.Cache("./cache")
    background_callback_manager = DiskcacheManager(cache)

def make_progress_graph(progress, total):
    progress_graph = (
        go.Figure(data=[go.Bar(x=[progress])])
        .update_xaxes(range=[0, total])
        .update_yaxes(
            showticklabels=False,
        )
        .update_layout(height=100, margin=dict(t=20, b=40))
    )
    return progress_graph


app = dash.Dash(__name__, background_callback_manager=background_callback_manager)

app.layout = html.Div(
    [
        html.Div(
            [
                html.P(id="paragraph_id", children=["Button not clicked"]),
                dcc.Graph(id="progress_bar_graph", figure=make_progress_graph(0, 10)),
            ]
        ),
        html.Button(id="button_id", children="Run Job!"),
        html.Button(id="cancel_button_id", children="Cancel Running Job!"),
    ]
)

@dash.callback(
    output=Output("paragraph_id", "children"),
    inputs=Input("button_id", "n_clicks"),
    background=True,
    running=[
        (Output("button_id", "disabled"), True, False),
        (Output("cancel_button_id", "disabled"), False, True),
        (
            Output("paragraph_id", "style"),
            {"visibility": "hidden"},
            {"visibility": "visible"},
        ),
        (
            Output("progress_bar_graph", "style"),
            {"visibility": "visible"},
            {"visibility": "hidden"},
        ),
    ],
    cancel=[Input("cancel_button_id", "n_clicks")],
    progress=Output("progress_bar_graph", "figure"),
    progress_default=make_progress_graph(0, 10)
)
def update_progress(set_progress, n_clicks):
    total = 10
    for i in range(total):
        time.sleep(0.5)
        set_progress(make_progress_graph(i, 10))

    return [f"Clicked {n_clicks} times"]


if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Progress bar chart graph example

Why Job Queues?

When your app is deployed in production, a finite number of CPUs serve requests for that app.
Callbacks that take longer than 30 seconds often experience timeouts when deployed in production.
And even callbacks that take less than 30 seconds can tie up all available server resources when multiple
users access your app at the same time. When all CPUs are processing callbacks, new visitors to your app see a
blank screen and eventually a “Server Timed Out” message.

Example with no job queue

Job queues are a solution to these timeout issues. Like the web processes serving your Dash app, job queues run
with a dedicated number of CPU workers. These workers go through the jobs one at a time and aren’t subject to timeouts.
While the job queue workers are processing the data, the web processes serving the Dash app and the regular callbacks
display informative loading screens, progress bars, and the results of the job queues.
End users never see a timeout and always see a responsive app.

Example with no job queue

Number of workers

In production apps, you can tune the number of workers you want to process your web requests versus process background
jobs in the queue using command line flags in Gunicorn and Celery.

Here is an example of a Procfile with 4 CPUs dedicated to regular Dash callbacks and 2 CPUs dedicated to
processing background callbacks in a queue.

web: gunicorn app:server --workers 4
queue: celery -A app:celery_app worker --loglevel=INFO --concurrency=2

The ratio of Gunicorn web workers to Celery queue workers will depend on your app.
You’ll want enough web workers that your app remains responsive to new users opening your app and enough
background queue workers so tasks don’t wait too long in the queue.

If your regular callbacks respond
quickly (less than 500ms), consider configuring fewer web gunicorn workers.

For deploying to Dash Enterprise, you’ll also need to update your DOKKU_SCALE file:

web=1
queue=1