Difference between sync_to_async vs. database_sync_to_async

[keithhackbarth]

I understand that database_sync_to_async explicitly closes all DB connections. But when I run sync_to_async with Django 5.0 + Postgres - I don't see a difference in the total number of connections. They seem to have the same effect.

Curious what guidance here is? Should I just default to using database_sync_to_async for all cases?

[carltongibson]

Hi @keithhackbarth,

database_sync_to_async() literally just wraps sync_to_async() with a call to Django's (internal) clean up function close_old_connections().

Django itself calls that for each request when dispatching the request_finised signal.

So, if you're running your requests through to Django, likely you'll not need to call it yourself. For requests which go only to Channels consumers, and make use of the database, you likely should use database_sync_to_async().

Make sense?

[keithhackbarth]

@carltongibson - You are my hero! That's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you 👏 👏

[carltongibson]

@keithhackbarth I can’t ask for more than that. 🥰