diff --git a/ami/ml/orchestration/nats_queue.py b/ami/ml/orchestration/nats_queue.py
index 65b6f6f72..489a0dc66 100644
--- a/ami/ml/orchestration/nats_queue.py
+++ b/ami/ml/orchestration/nats_queue.py
@@ -42,13 +42,18 @@ async def get_connection(nats_url: str) -> tuple[nats.NATS, JetStreamContext]:
     return nc, js
 
 
-TASK_TTR = 300  # Default Time-To-Run (visibility timeout) in seconds
+TASK_TTR = getattr(settings, "NATS_TASK_TTR", 30)  # Visibility timeout in seconds (configurable)
 
 
 class TaskQueueManager:
     """
     Manager for NATS JetStream task queue operations.
 
+    Args:
+        nats_url: NATS server URL. Falls back to settings.NATS_URL, then "nats://nats:4222".
+        max_ack_pending: Max unacknowledged messages per consumer. Falls back to
+            settings.NATS_MAX_ACK_PENDING, then 100.
+
     Use as an async context manager:
         async with TaskQueueManager() as manager:
             await manager.publish_task(123, {'data': 'value'})
@@ -56,8 +61,11 @@ class TaskQueueManager:
             await manager.acknowledge_task(tasks[0].reply_subject)
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, nats_url: str | None = None):
+    def __init__(self, nats_url: str | None = None, max_ack_pending: int | None = None):
         self.nats_url = nats_url or getattr(settings, "NATS_URL", "nats://nats:4222")
+        self.max_ack_pending = (
+            max_ack_pending if max_ack_pending is not None else getattr(settings, "NATS_MAX_ACK_PENDING", 100)
+        )
         self.nc: nats.NATS | None = None
         self.js: JetStreamContext | None = None
 
@@ -141,7 +149,7 @@ async def _ensure_consumer(self, job_id: int):
                         ack_wait=TASK_TTR,  # Visibility timeout (TTR)
                         max_deliver=5,  # Max retry attempts
                         deliver_policy=DeliverPolicy.ALL,
-                        max_ack_pending=100,  # Max unacked messages
+                        max_ack_pending=self.max_ack_pending,
                         filter_subject=subject,
                     ),
                 ),
diff --git a/compose/local/django/start b/compose/local/django/start
index 4eaa76436..5a2607cbd 100755
--- a/compose/local/django/start
+++ b/compose/local/django/start
@@ -6,10 +6,26 @@ set -o nounset
 
 python manage.py migrate
 
-# Launch VS Code debug server if DEBUGGER environment variable is set to 1
-# Note that the --reload flag is not compatible with debugpy, so manually restart the server when code changes
+# Set USE_UVICORN=1 to use the original raw uvicorn dev server instead of gunicorn
+if [ "${USE_UVICORN:-0}" = "1" ]; then
+    if [ "${DEBUGGER:-0}" = "1" ]; then
+        exec python -Xfrozen_modules=off -m debugpy --listen 0.0.0.0:5678 -m uvicorn config.asgi:application --host 0.0.0.0
+    else
+        exec uvicorn config.asgi:application --host 0.0.0.0 --reload --reload-include '*.html'
+    fi
+fi
+
+# Gunicorn with UvicornWorker (production-parity mode, now the default)
+# WEB_CONCURRENCY controls worker count (default: 1 for dev with auto-reload)
+WORKERS=${WEB_CONCURRENCY:-1}
+
 if [ "${DEBUGGER:-0}" = "1" ]; then
-    exec python -Xfrozen_modules=off -m debugpy --listen 0.0.0.0:5678 -m uvicorn config.asgi:application --host 0.0.0.0
+    echo "Starting Gunicorn with debugpy (1 worker)..."
+    exec python -Xfrozen_modules=off -m debugpy --listen 0.0.0.0:5678 -m gunicorn config.asgi --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --workers 1 -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker
+elif [ "$WORKERS" -eq 1 ]; then
+    echo "Starting Gunicorn with 1 worker (auto-reload enabled)..."
+    exec gunicorn config.asgi --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --workers 1 -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker --reload
 else
-    exec uvicorn config.asgi:application --host 0.0.0.0 --reload --reload-include '*.html'
+    echo "Starting Gunicorn with $WORKERS workers..."
+    exec gunicorn config.asgi --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 --workers "$WORKERS" -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker
 fi
diff --git a/compose/production/django/start b/compose/production/django/start
index 5dcb00b5a..5a772895a 100644
--- a/compose/production/django/start
+++ b/compose/production/django/start
@@ -6,4 +6,12 @@ set -o nounset
 
 python /app/manage.py collectstatic --noinput
 
+# Gunicorn natively reads WEB_CONCURRENCY as its --workers default.
+# If not set, default to CPU core count.
+if [ -z "${WEB_CONCURRENCY:-}" ]; then
+    export WEB_CONCURRENCY=$(nproc)
+fi
+
+echo "Starting Gunicorn with $WEB_CONCURRENCY worker(s)..."
+
 exec newrelic-admin run-program /usr/local/bin/gunicorn config.asgi --bind 0.0.0.0:5000 --chdir=/app -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker