allow disabling preload for faster startup times on larger installs

Signed-off-by: David Young <davidy@funkypenguin.co.nz>

.env-sample

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ FASTAPI_HOST=0.0.0.0
 FASTAPI_PORT=8000
 FASTAPI_WORKERS=1 # set to -1 for auto-scaling (min((os.cpu_count() or 1) * 2 + 1, 12))
 USE_GUNICORN=True # Will use uvicorn if False or if on Windows
+GUNICORN_PRELOAD_APP=True # Set to False to start workers without preloading the app (reduces startup cost but requires schema to exist)
 
 # ============================== #
 # Dashboard Settings             #

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 * add optional PostgreSQL read replica routing with transparent primary fallback
 * add optional database-backed anime mapping cache with configurable refresh interval
+* add `GUNICORN_PRELOAD_APP` setting to control whether workers inherit a preloaded app or initialize independently
 * add `DATABASE_STARTUP_CLEANUP_INTERVAL` to throttle heavy startup cleanup sweeps across workers
 
 ## [2.31.0](https://github.com/g0ldyy/comet/compare/v2.30.0...v2.31.0) (2025-12-08)

comet/core/models.py

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ class AppSettings(BaseSettings):
     FASTAPI_PORT: Optional[int] = 8000
     FASTAPI_WORKERS: Optional[int] = 1
     USE_GUNICORN: Optional[bool] = True
+    GUNICORN_PRELOAD_APP: Optional[bool] = True
     ADMIN_DASHBOARD_PASSWORD: Optional[str] = "".join(
         random.choices(string.ascii_letters + string.digits, k=16)
     )

comet/main.py

@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ def run_with_gunicorn():
         "worker_class": "uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker",
         "timeout": 120,
         "keepalive": 5,
-        "preload_app": True,
+        "preload_app": bool(settings.GUNICORN_PRELOAD_APP),
         "proxy_protocol": True,
         "forwarded_allow_ips": "*",
         "loglevel": "warning",