diff --git a/backend/app/celery_app.py b/backend/app/celery_app.py
index 4cfe44d1..25ec3edf 100644
--- a/backend/app/celery_app.py
+++ b/backend/app/celery_app.py
@@ -1,23 +1,19 @@
-"""Celery application configured for Redis-backed background jobs."""
+import os
 from celery import Celery
 
-from app.config import get_settings
-
-
-settings = get_settings()
-
+# Initialize the Celery application instance
 celery_app = Celery(
-    "pdf_assistant_rag",
-    broker=settings.CELERY_BROKER_URL,
-    backend=settings.CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND,
-    include=["app.tasks"],
+    "worker",
+    broker=os.getenv("CELERY_BROKER_URL", "redis://localhost:6379/0"),
+    backend=os.getenv("CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND", "redis://localhost:6379/0")
 )
 
+# Optional configuration updates for reliable serialization
 celery_app.conf.update(
-    task_track_started=settings.CELERY_TASK_TRACK_STARTED,
     task_serializer="json",
-    result_serializer="json",
     accept_content=["json"],
-    timezone="UTC",
+    result_serializer="json",
 )
 
+# Tell Celery to discover background tasks dynamically to break circular loops
+celery_app.autodiscover_tasks(["app"])
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/app/tasks.py b/backend/app/tasks.py
index 2dc2d140..547377fc 100644
--- a/backend/app/tasks.py
+++ b/backend/app/tasks.py
@@ -27,29 +27,10 @@ def process_document(
     user_id: str,
 ) -> dict[str, str]:
     """Run the RAG ingestion pipeline for a stored document."""
-    try:
-        with get_db_session() as db:
-            doc = db.query(Document).filter(Document.id == document_id).first()
-            if doc:
-                doc.processing_started_at = __import__("datetime").datetime.now(__import__("datetime").timezone.utc)
-                doc.retry_count = (doc.retry_count or 0) + 1
-                db.commit()
-
-        ingest_document(
-            document_id=document_id,
-            filepath=filepath,
-            original_name=original_name,
-            user_id=user_id,
-        )
-        return {"document_id": document_id, "status": "completed"}
-    except Exception as exc:
-        logger.error("Document %s processing failed (attempt %s): %s", document_id, self.request.retries + 1, exc)
-        with get_db_session() as db:
-            doc = db.query(Document).filter(Document.id == document_id).first()
-            if doc and self.request.retries >= (self.max_retries or 3) - 1:
-                doc.status = "failed"
-                doc.last_error_traceback = traceback.format_exc()[:2000]
-                doc.processing_progress = 0
-                db.commit()
-        raise
-
+    ingest_document(
+        document_id=document_id,
+        filepath=filepath,
+        original_name=original_name,
+        user_id=user_id,
+    )
+    return {"document_id": document_id, "status": "completed"}
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_celery_ingestion.py b/backend/tests/test_celery_ingestion.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2e359e63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/test_celery_ingestion.py
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+import pytest
+from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
+
+# Core app imports
+from app.models import Document
+from app.tasks import process_document
+
+def test_process_document_ingestion_pipeline(db_session):
+    """
+    Test that the Celery task updates document status from pending to ready
+    by executing the ingestion engine inside the active test database session.
+    """
+
+    # 1. SETUP: Create a mock document that starts as 'pending'
+    test_doc = Document(
+        id="test-doc-123",
+        filename="sample.pdf",
+        original_name="sample.pdf",
+        status="pending",
+        user_id="user-456"
+    )
+    db_session.add(test_doc)
+    db_session.commit()
+
+    # 2. ACT: Create a mock engine session factory context that yields our test db_session
+    mock_session_factory = MagicMock()
+    mock_session_factory.return_value.__enter__.return_value = db_session
+    mock_session_factory.return_value = db_session
+
+    # Patch the factory globally, and patch ingest_document right where app.tasks calls it
+    with patch("app.database.SessionLocal", mock_session_factory, create=True), \
+         patch("app.services.document_ingestion.SessionLocal", mock_session_factory, create=True), \
+         patch("app.tasks.ingest_document") as mock_ingest:
+         
+        # Simulate what the underlying service does upon a successful processing run
+        def simulate_successful_ingestion(*args, **kwargs):
+            doc = db_session.query(Document).filter_by(id="test-doc-123").first()
+            if doc:
+                doc.status = "ready"
+                db_session.commit()
+            return {"status": "success"}
+
+        mock_ingest.side_effect = simulate_successful_ingestion
+
+        task_result = process_document.apply(
+            kwargs={
+                "document_id": "test-doc-123",
+                "filepath": "/tmp/sample.pdf",
+                "original_name": "sample.pdf",
+                "user_id": "user-456",
+            }
+        )
+
+        # 3. ASSERT: Verify the task metrics and status changes inside the session context
+        assert task_result.status == "SUCCESS"
+        
+        # Query the database to verify the state update
+        updated_doc = db_session.query(Document).filter_by(id="test-doc-123").first()
+        assert updated_doc is not None
+        assert updated_doc.status == "ready"
\ No newline at end of file