diff --git a/packages/django-cf/django_cf/__init__.py b/packages/django-cf/django_cf/__init__.py
index 26f3d951..b93d0014 100644
--- a/packages/django-cf/django_cf/__init__.py
+++ b/packages/django-cf/django_cf/__init__.py
@@ -1,11 +1,7 @@
-import os
-
 from workers import wsgi
 
 
 async def handle_wsgi(request, app, env=None):
-    os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_ALLOW_ASYNC_UNSAFE", "1")
-
     return await wsgi.fetch(app, request, env)
 
 
diff --git a/packages/django-cf/django_cf/db/_async_unsafe.py b/packages/django-cf/django_cf/db/_async_unsafe.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8c94f1d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/django-cf/django_cf/db/_async_unsafe.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+"""Helper for removing Django's ``async_unsafe`` guard from backend methods."""
+
+from django.utils import asyncio as _django_asyncio
+
+
+def _async_unsafe_probe():
+    pass
+
+
+# Capture async_unsafe function so we don't accidentally unwrap something else
+_ASYNC_UNSAFE_WRAPPER_CODE = _django_asyncio.async_unsafe(_async_unsafe_probe).__code__
+
+
+def _unwrap_async_unsafe(method):
+    """
+    Unwrap Django's async_unsafe decorator to get the original method.
+
+    This is needed because Django does not allow calling database operations
+    from within an async context, but Python workers always run in an async context.
+
+    All the database backends that django-cf provides are async-safe so we need
+    to unwrap the async_unsafe decorator to allow calling database operations
+    from within an async context.
+    """
+    method_code = getattr(method, "__code__", None)
+    is_async_unsafe = method_code is _ASYNC_UNSAFE_WRAPPER_CODE
+    wrapped = getattr(method, "__wrapped__", None)
+
+    if is_async_unsafe:
+        return wrapped
+
+    return method
diff --git a/packages/django-cf/django_cf/db/base_engine.py b/packages/django-cf/django_cf/db/base_engine.py
index b7a7e29b..9155745f 100644
--- a/packages/django-cf/django_cf/db/base_engine.py
+++ b/packages/django-cf/django_cf/db/base_engine.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
     OperationalError,
     ProgrammingError,
 )
+from django.db.backends.base.base import BaseDatabaseWrapper
 from django.db.backends.sqlite3.base import DatabaseWrapper as SQLiteDatabaseWrapper
 from django.db.backends.sqlite3.client import DatabaseClient as SQLiteDatabaseClient
 from django.db.backends.sqlite3.creation import (
@@ -43,6 +44,8 @@
 )
 from django.db.models.sql.compiler import SQLCompiler
 
+from ._async_unsafe import _unwrap_async_unsafe
+
 
 def replace_date_trunc_in_sql(sql):
     """Replace django_date_trunc and django_datetime_trunc function calls with SQLite equivalents."""
@@ -478,6 +481,16 @@ class CFDatabaseWrapper(SQLiteDatabaseWrapper):
 
     transaction_modes = frozenset([])
 
+    connect = _unwrap_async_unsafe(BaseDatabaseWrapper.connect)
+    ensure_connection = _unwrap_async_unsafe(BaseDatabaseWrapper.ensure_connection)
+    cursor = _unwrap_async_unsafe(BaseDatabaseWrapper.cursor)
+    commit = _unwrap_async_unsafe(BaseDatabaseWrapper.commit)
+    rollback = _unwrap_async_unsafe(BaseDatabaseWrapper.rollback)
+    savepoint = _unwrap_async_unsafe(BaseDatabaseWrapper.savepoint)
+    savepoint_rollback = _unwrap_async_unsafe(BaseDatabaseWrapper.savepoint_rollback)
+    savepoint_commit = _unwrap_async_unsafe(BaseDatabaseWrapper.savepoint_commit)
+    clean_savepoints = _unwrap_async_unsafe(BaseDatabaseWrapper.clean_savepoints)
+
     def get_compiler(self, default_using=None, using=None, **kwargs):
         if using is None:
             using = default_using
diff --git a/packages/django-cf/tests/in_worker/worker/src/test_base_engine.py b/packages/django-cf/tests/in_worker/worker/src/test_base_engine.py
index cb01bbbb..a9fc0566 100644
--- a/packages/django-cf/tests/in_worker/worker/src/test_base_engine.py
+++ b/packages/django-cf/tests/in_worker/worker/src/test_base_engine.py
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 import pytest
+from django.db.backends.base.base import BaseDatabaseWrapper
+from django.utils.asyncio import async_unsafe
+
+from django_cf.db.base_engine import CFDatabaseWrapper, _unwrap_async_unsafe
 
 
 class TestCFResult:
@@ -547,7 +551,42 @@ def test_bulk_insert_enabled(self):
         assert features.can_return_columns_from_insert is True
 
 
+class TestUnwrapAsyncUnsafe:
+    def test_removes_async_unsafe_guard(self):
+        def target():
+            return "called"
+
+        guarded = async_unsafe(target)
+
+        assert _unwrap_async_unsafe(guarded) is target
+
+    def test_returns_undecorated_method_unchanged(self):
+        def target():
+            return "called"
+
+        assert _unwrap_async_unsafe(target) is target
+
+
 class TestCFDatabaseWrapper:
+    def test_connection_lifecycle_is_not_guarded_by_async_unsafe(self):
+        method_names = (
+            "connect",
+            "ensure_connection",
+            "cursor",
+            "commit",
+            "rollback",
+            "savepoint",
+            "savepoint_rollback",
+            "savepoint_commit",
+            "clean_savepoints",
+        )
+
+        for method_name in method_names:
+            guarded_method = getattr(BaseDatabaseWrapper, method_name)
+            assert getattr(CFDatabaseWrapper, method_name) is _unwrap_async_unsafe(
+                guarded_method
+            )
+
     def test_get_database_version(self):
         from django_cf.db.base_engine import CFDatabaseWrapper
 
diff --git a/packages/django-cf/tests/in_worker/worker/src/worker.py b/packages/django-cf/tests/in_worker/worker/src/worker.py
index 2b163358..6bb0f4e1 100644
--- a/packages/django-cf/tests/in_worker/worker/src/worker.py
+++ b/packages/django-cf/tests/in_worker/worker/src/worker.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 # pyright: reportMissingImports=false
 
-import os
 from pathlib import Path
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
@@ -14,7 +13,6 @@
 from worker_durable_object import TestDurableObject  # noqa: F401
 
 BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).parent
-os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_ALLOW_ASYNC_UNSAFE", "true")
 
 
 if not django.conf.settings.configured: