Celery python 3.11 support (Fix)

The Fix

pip install celery==5.3.1

Based on closed celery/celery issue #8227 · PR/commit linked

Production note: This usually shows up under retries/timeouts. Treat it as a side-effect risk until you can verify behavior with a canary + real traffic.

Open PR/Commit

@@ -29,13 +29,12 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        python-version: ['3.8', '3.9', '3.10', 'pypy-3.9', 'pypy-3.8']
+        python-version: ['3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', 'pypy-3.9']
         os: ["ubuntu-latest", "windows-latest"]

fix.md

Option A — Upgrade to fixed release\npip install celery==5.3.1\nWhen NOT to use: This fix should not be used if compatibility with earlier Python versions is required.\n\n

Why This Fix Works in Production

Trigger: Error:
Mechanism: Added initial support for Python 3.11 in Celery.
Why the fix works: Added initial support for Python 3.11 in Celery. (first fixed release: 5.3.1).

Production impact:

If left unfixed, failures can be intermittent under concurrency (hard to reproduce; shows up as sporadic 5xx/timeouts).

Why This Breaks in Prod

Shows up under Python 3.11 in real deployments (not just unit tests).
Surfaces as: Error:

Proof / Evidence

GitHub issue: #8227
Fix PR: https://github.com/celery/celery/pull/8304
First fixed release: 5.3.1
Reproduced locally: No (not executed)
Last verified: 2026-02-09
Confidence: 0.95
Did this fix it?: Yes (upstream fix exists)
Own content ratio: 0.26

Discussion

High-signal excerpts from the issue thread (symptoms, repros, edge-cases).

Jump to Sources Open on GitHub

“I will release a point release of kombu and celery 5.3.x by 15th of june”

@auvipy · 2023-06-12 · source

“> @lachaib > > @Nusnus modified the milestones: 5.3, 5.4 last week > > A pity, really. I was moving around issues progressively; this should…”

@Nusnus · 2023-06-06 · source

“there is 1 issue with python 3.11 (2 issues if you're using sqs extra, both reported to kombu issues) that are blocking upgrade on python3.11…”

@maciejstromich · 2023-06-06 · source

“done https://github.com/celery/celery/pull/8304”

@auvipy · 2023-06-08 · source

Failure Signature (Search String)

Error:

Error Message

Stack trace

error.txt

Error Message
-------------
Error:

Stack trace

error.txt

Error Message
-------------
File "/project-root/venv/bin/celery", line 8, in <module>\n    sys.exit(main())\n             ^^^^^^\n  File "/project-root/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/celery/__main__.py", line 15, in main\n    sys.exit(_main())\n             ^^^^^^^\n  File "/project-root/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/celery/bin/celery.py", line 236, in main\n    return celery(auto_envvar_prefix="CELERY")\n           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n  File "/project-root/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1157, in __call__\n    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)\n           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n  File "/project-root/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1078, in main\n    rv = self.invoke(ctx)\n         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n  File "/project-root/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1686, in invoke\n    sub_ctx = cmd.make_context(cmd_name, args, parent=ctx)\n              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n  File "/project-root/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/click/core.py", line 943, in make_context\n    self.parse_args(ctx, args)\n  File "/project-root/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1404, in parse_args\n    parser = self.make_parser(ctx)\n             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n  File "/project-root/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1315, in make_parser\n    for param in self.get_para
... (truncated) ...

Environment

Python: 3.11

Fix Options (Details)

Option A — Upgrade to fixed release Safe default (recommended)

pip install celery==5.3.1

When NOT to use: This fix should not be used if compatibility with earlier Python versions is required.

Use when you can deploy the upstream fix. It is usually lower-risk than long-lived workarounds.

Fix reference: https://github.com/celery/celery/pull/8304

First fixed release: 5.3.1

Last verified: 2026-02-09. Validate in your environment.

When NOT to Use This Fix

This fix should not be used if compatibility with earlier Python versions is required.

Did This Fix Work in Your Case?

Quick signal helps us prioritize which fixes to verify and improve.

Prevention

Add a stress test that runs high-concurrency workloads and fails on thread dumps / blocked locks.
Enable watchdog dumps in prod (faulthandler, thread dump endpoint) to capture deadlocks quickly.

Version Compatibility Table

Version	Status
5.3.1	Fixed

Related Issues

No related fixes found.

Cluster: celery:race-condition Celery hub Celery best practices All hubs All clusters

Related clusters: Configuration error Data consistency Duplicates

Sources

We don’t republish the full GitHub discussion text. Use the links above for context.