diff --git a/conf/kore.conf.example b/conf/kore.conf.example
index 1adcf07..9f8ce14 100644
--- a/conf/kore.conf.example
+++ b/conf/kore.conf.example
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ workers		4
 #websocket_maxframe	16384
 #websocket_timeout	120
 
+# Configure the number of available threads for background tasks.
+#task_threads		2
+
 # Load modules (you can load multiple at the same time).
 # An additional parameter can be specified as the "onload" function
 # which Kore will call when the module is loaded/reloaded.
diff --git a/examples/tasks/conf/tasks.conf b/examples/tasks/conf/tasks.conf
index 70d97a4..944dfbc 100644
--- a/examples/tasks/conf/tasks.conf
+++ b/examples/tasks/conf/tasks.conf
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ load		./tasks.so
 
 tls_dhparam	dh2048.pem
 
+task_threads			4
+worker_max_connections		1000
+http_keepalive_time		0
+
 validator	v_user		regex		^[a-z]*$
 
 domain 127.0.0.1 {
diff --git a/includes/tasks.h b/includes/tasks.h
index cb3bede..134623c 100644
--- a/includes/tasks.h
+++ b/includes/tasks.h
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 #define KORE_TASK_STATE_FINISHED	3
 #define KORE_TASK_STATE_ABORT		4
 
+#define KORE_TASK_THREADS		2
+
 #if defined(__cplusplus)
 extern "C" {
 #endif
@@ -76,7 +78,9 @@ void		kore_task_set_result(struct kore_task *, int);
 
 int		kore_task_state(struct kore_task *);
 int		kore_task_result(struct kore_task *);
-	
+
+extern u_int16_t	kore_task_threads;
+
 #if defined(__cplusplus)
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/src/config.c b/src/config.c
index 1569885..e264730 100644
--- a/src/config.c
+++ b/src/config.c
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@
 #include "pgsql.h"
 #endif
 
+#if defined(KORE_USE_TASKS)
+#include "tasks.h"
+#endif
+
 /* XXX - This is becoming a clusterfuck. Fix it. */
 
 static int		configure_include(char **);
@@ -72,6 +76,10 @@ static int		configure_socket_backlog(char **);
 static int		configure_pgsql_conn_max(char **);
 #endif
 
+#if defined(KORE_USE_TASKS)
+static int		configure_task_threads(char **);
+#endif
+
 static void		domain_sslstart(void);
 static void		kore_parse_config_file(char *);
 
@@ -119,6 +127,9 @@ static struct {
 	{ "socket_backlog",		configure_socket_backlog },
 #if defined(KORE_USE_PGSQL)
 	{ "pgsql_conn_max",		configure_pgsql_conn_max },
+#endif
+#if defined(KORE_USE_TASKS)
+	{ "task_threads",		configure_task_threads },
 #endif
 	{ NULL,				NULL },
 };
@@ -1031,7 +1042,6 @@ domain_sslstart(void)
 }
 
 #if defined(KORE_USE_PGSQL)
-
 static int
 configure_pgsql_conn_max(char **argv)
 {
@@ -1050,5 +1060,25 @@ configure_pgsql_conn_max(char **argv)
 
 	return (KORE_RESULT_OK);
 }
-
+#endif
+
+#if defined(KORE_USE_TASKS)
+static int
+configure_task_threads(char **argv)
+{
+	int		err;
+
+	if (argv[1] == NULL) {
+		printf("missing parameter for task_threads\n");
+		return (KORE_RESULT_ERROR);
+	}
+
+	kore_task_threads = kore_strtonum(argv[1], 10, 0, UCHAR_MAX, &err);
+	if (err != KORE_RESULT_OK) {
+		printf("bad value for task_threads: %s\n", argv[1]);
+		return (KORE_RESULT_ERROR);
+	}
+
+	return (KORE_RESULT_OK);
+}
 #endif
diff --git a/src/tasks.c b/src/tasks.c
index 349d766..01442d8 100644
--- a/src/tasks.c
+++ b/src/tasks.c
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@
 #include "tasks.h"
 
 static u_int8_t				threads;
-static pthread_mutex_t			task_thread_lock;
-
 static TAILQ_HEAD(, kore_task_thread)	task_threads;
 
+u_int16_t	kore_task_threads = KORE_TASK_THREADS;
+
 static void	*task_thread(void *);
 static void	task_channel_read(int, void *, u_int32_t);
 static void	task_channel_write(int, void *, u_int32_t);
@@ -48,13 +48,8 @@ static void	task_thread_spawn(struct kore_task_thread **);
 void
 kore_task_init(void)
 {
-	int		r;
-
 	threads = 0;
-
 	TAILQ_INIT(&task_threads);
-	if ((r = pthread_mutex_init(&task_thread_lock, NULL)) != 0)
-		fatal("kore_task_init: pthread_mutex_init: %d", r);
 }
 
 void
@@ -76,15 +71,17 @@ kore_task_run(struct kore_task *t)
 	struct kore_task_thread		*tt;
 
 	kore_platform_schedule_read(t->fds[0], t);
-
-	pthread_mutex_lock(&task_thread_lock);
-	if (TAILQ_EMPTY(&task_threads))
+	if (threads < kore_task_threads) {
+		/* task_thread_spawn() will lock tt->lock for us. */
 		task_thread_spawn(&tt);
-	else
-		tt = TAILQ_FIRST(&task_threads);
-
-	pthread_mutex_unlock(&task_thread_lock);
-	pthread_mutex_lock(&(tt->lock));
+	} else {
+		/* Cycle task around. */
+		if ((tt = TAILQ_FIRST(&task_threads)) == NULL)
+			fatal("no available tasks threads?");
+		pthread_mutex_lock(&(tt->lock));
+		TAILQ_REMOVE(&task_threads, tt, list);
+		TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&task_threads, tt, list);
+	}
 
 	t->thread = tt;
 	TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&(tt->tasks), t, list);
@@ -293,6 +290,8 @@ task_thread_spawn(struct kore_task_thread **out)
 	TAILQ_INIT(&(tt->tasks));
 	pthread_cond_init(&(tt->cond), NULL);
 	pthread_mutex_init(&(tt->lock), NULL);
+	pthread_mutex_lock(&(tt->lock));
+	TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&task_threads, tt, list);
 
 	if (pthread_create(&(tt->tid), NULL, task_thread, tt) != 0)
 		fatal("pthread_create: %s", errno_s);
@@ -310,10 +309,6 @@ task_thread(void *arg)
 
 	pthread_mutex_lock(&(tt->lock));
 
-	pthread_mutex_lock(&task_thread_lock);
-	TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&task_threads, tt, list);
-	pthread_mutex_unlock(&task_thread_lock);
-
 	for (;;) {
 		if (TAILQ_EMPTY(&(tt->tasks)))
 			pthread_cond_wait(&(tt->cond), &(tt->lock));
@@ -324,20 +319,12 @@ task_thread(void *arg)
 		TAILQ_REMOVE(&(tt->tasks), t, list);
 		pthread_mutex_unlock(&(tt->lock));
 
-		pthread_mutex_lock(&task_thread_lock);
-		TAILQ_REMOVE(&task_threads, tt, list);
-		pthread_mutex_unlock(&task_thread_lock);
-
 		kore_debug("task_thread#%d: executing %p", tt->idx, t);
 
 		kore_task_set_state(t, KORE_TASK_STATE_RUNNING);
 		kore_task_set_result(t, t->entry(t));
 		kore_task_finish(t);
 
-		pthread_mutex_lock(&task_thread_lock);
-		TAILQ_INSERT_HEAD(&task_threads, tt, list);
-		pthread_mutex_unlock(&task_thread_lock);
-
 		pthread_mutex_lock(&(tt->lock));
 	}