Background Execution Concurrency
Example demonstrating the concurrency limit for background runs.
"""
Example demonstrating the concurrency limit for background runs.
Background runs (background=True) are accepted immediately and persisted with
PENDING status, but only a bounded number execute at once per process. Runs
beyond the limit wait in line as PENDING and start automatically when a slot
frees up. This prevents a burst of submissions from executing all at once.
The limit is process-wide and shared across agents, teams and workflows.
Configure it one of three ways:
- set_background_max_concurrency(n) programmatically (used below)
- AgentOS(queue=QueueConfig(max_concurrency=n)) when serving over AgentOS
- the AGNO_BACKGROUND_MAX_CONCURRENCY environment variable (default: 32)
Requirements:
- PostgreSQL running (./cookbook/scripts/run_pgvector.sh)
- OPENAI_API_KEY set
Usage:
.venvs/demo/bin/python cookbook/02_agents/14_advanced/background_execution_concurrency.py
"""
import asyncio
from agno.agent import Agent
from agno.db.postgres import PostgresDb
from agno.models.openai import OpenAIResponses
from agno.run.base import RunStatus
from agno.run.concurrency import set_background_max_concurrency
db = PostgresDb(
db_url="postgresql+psycopg://ai:ai@localhost:5532/ai",
session_table="background_concurrency_sessions",
)
agent = Agent(
name="BoundedBackgroundAgent",
model=OpenAIResponses(id="gpt-5.5"),
description="An agent whose background runs execute under a concurrency cap",
db=db,
)
async def main():
# Allow at most 2 background runs to execute at once in this process.
# Additional runs are accepted and wait in line as PENDING.
set_background_max_concurrency(2)
# Submit 5 background runs — all are accepted immediately
questions = [
"What is the capital of France? One sentence.",
"What is the capital of Japan? One sentence.",
"What is the capital of Brazil? One sentence.",
"What is the capital of Kenya? One sentence.",
"What is the capital of Canada? One sentence.",
]
outputs = []
for i, question in enumerate(questions):
# One session per run: concurrent background runs sharing one session
# can clobber each other's status updates (fixed in the durable run
# queue PR chain; distinct sessions are also the realistic shape).
run_output = await agent.arun(
question, background=True, session_id=f"bg-concurrency-{i}"
)
print(f"Accepted run {run_output.run_id} with status {run_output.status}")
outputs.append(run_output)
# Poll until all runs complete. At any moment at most 2 are RUNNING;
# the rest wait as PENDING until a slot frees up.
print("\nPolling until all runs complete...")
pending = {output.run_id: output.session_id for output in outputs}
for second in range(120):
await asyncio.sleep(1)
statuses = []
for run_id, session_id in list(pending.items()):
result = await agent.aget_run_output(run_id=run_id, session_id=session_id)
if result is not None and result.status in (
RunStatus.completed,
RunStatus.error,
):
print(f" [{second + 1}s] Run {run_id} finished: {result.status}")
del pending[run_id]
elif result is not None:
statuses.append(str(result.status))
if statuses:
print(f" [{second + 1}s] In progress: {statuses}")
if not pending:
break
if pending:
print(f"\nTimed out waiting for {len(pending)} run(s): {sorted(pending)}")
else:
print("\nAll runs completed!")
if __name__ == "__main__":
asyncio.run(main())Background task lifetime
background=True detaches the run from its consumer while the event loop remains alive. These standalone scripts use asyncio.run: when the main coroutine exits, unfinished tasks are cancelled, including after a polling timeout. Keep the loop alive until the desired terminal state, or explicitly cancel and observe the run before leaving. A saved pending row alone does not restart execution.
A running AgentOS server can keep work alive after client disconnects. For recovery across process restarts, configure its durable queue.
The concurrency semaphore is shared across agents, teams, and workflows on one event loop. A typical worker has one loop, but separate loops or worker processes have separate limits; this is not a deployment-wide cap.
Run the Example
Set up your virtual environment
uv venv --python 3.12
source .venv/bin/activateInstall dependencies
uv pip install -U agno "psycopg[binary]" openai sqlalchemyExport your OpenAI API key
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_openai_api_key_here"Run PgVector
docker run -d \
-e POSTGRES_DB=ai \
-e POSTGRES_USER=ai \
-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=ai \
-e PGDATA=/var/lib/postgresql \
-v pgvolume:/var/lib/postgresql \
-p 5532:5432 \
--name pgvector \
agnohq/pgvector:18Run the example
Save the code above as background_execution_concurrency.py, then run:
python background_execution_concurrency.pyFull source: cookbook/02_agents/14_advanced/background_execution_concurrency.py