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title: When Should You Use after_commit in Rails? | daily.dev
description: A deep dive explains why Rails after_save callbacks can enqueue a background job before the surrounding transaction commits, causing intermittent...
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# When Should You Use after_commit in Rails?

**[RUBYLAND](https://daily.dev/sources/rubyla)** · 14 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

A deep dive explains why Rails after_save callbacks can enqueue a background job before the surrounding transaction commits, causing intermittent ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound errors when a worker connects on a different database connection. It traces the mechanics of after_save versus after_commit, shows how Rails 7.2's Account.current_transaction.after_commit and Active Job's enqueue_after_transaction_commit setting (boolean, defaults false in Rails 8.1.3) can fix the ordering, and warns that even after_commit cannot guarantee delivery if the process dies afterward — recommending a durable outbox pattern for critical obligations like billing. It also covers a testing gotcha where transactional test wrappers let after_commit callbacks fire even though the database change is rolled back at teardown.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://railsrevelry.substack.com/p/when-should-you-use-after-commit-in-rails>

## Questions this post answers

### Why does my Sidekiq worker get ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound right after account creation in Rails?

The job likely got enqueued from an after_save callback before the surrounding database transaction committed. after_save runs on the record's own connection while the transaction is still open, so a worker on another connection cannot see the uncommitted row yet under normal isolation rules. Retrying often masks the bug because the next attempt lands after commit.

_Developers chasing transaction-ordering race conditions in Rails compare after_save and after_commit fixes on daily.dev._

### What is the difference between after_save and after_commit in Rails for triggering background jobs?

after_save runs after the SQL write succeeds on the current connection but before the transaction closes, so a raised exception there can still roll back the write; after_commit waits until the entire surrounding transaction commits, guaranteeing other connections can see the row. Use after_save when the extra work belongs in the rollback path, and after_commit when another process must rely on committed state.

_Rails developers weighing callback placement for job enqueuing can track these patterns on daily.dev._

### Does Rails 8.1 defer Active Job enqueuing until after a database transaction commits by default?

No, in Rails 8.1.3 the enqueue_after_transaction_commit setting is a boolean that defaults to false, so jobs are not automatically deferred until commit unless a job class opts in. Rails 7.2 previously used symbols (:default, :always, :never) with :never as the default, and Rails 8.0 changed the job-class default to boolean false while deprecating the symbol values.

_Teams configuring transactional job safety in Rails can follow these version-specific defaults on daily.dev._

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---

Tags: [#ruby](https://daily.dev/tags/ruby), [#rails](https://daily.dev/tags/rails)

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