lunika · Oct 27, 2026 · Oct 25, 2026
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ and this project adheres to
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Removed
+
+- 🔥(backend) remove easy-thumbnails and Pillow #2909
+
 ## [v6.0.4] - 2026-10-26
 
 ### Changed

diff --git a/UPGRADE.md b/UPGRADE.md
@@ -16,6 +16,20 @@ the following command inside your docker container:
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+- The backend no longer depends on `easy-thumbnails`, nor on Pillow, which
+  came with it: nothing used them anymore. No migration drops the tables of
+  `easy-thumbnails`, they stay in the database and the backend reads none of
+  them: `easy_thumbnails_source`, `easy_thumbnails_thumbnail` and
+  `easy_thumbnails_thumbnaildimensions`. They are empty: nothing ever
+  created a thumbnail. Keep them or drop them; to drop them, along with
+  their entries in `django_migrations`:
+
+  ```sql
+  DROP TABLE easy_thumbnails_thumbnaildimensions, easy_thumbnails_thumbnail,
+    easy_thumbnails_source;
+  DELETE FROM django_migrations WHERE app = 'easy_thumbnails';
+  ```
+
 ## [v6.0.2] - 2026-10-21
 
 - ⚠️ **The collaboration server moves to `@y/hub` 0.10.1: run its schema

diff --git a/src/backend/core/management/commands/anonymize_database.py b/src/backend/core/management/commands/anonymize_database.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 (emails, names, the OIDC ``sub``), user-generated content (document titles and
 excerpts, comment bodies, thread/comment metadata) and secrets (password
 hashes), and TRUNCATEs the operational tables that embed identity (sessions,
-admin log, thumbnail cache). Structural columns that make
+admin log). Structural columns that make
 the data realistic for load testing — the tree ``path``/``depth``/``numchild``,
 ``link_reach``, roles, foreign keys, row counts, timestamps — are deliberately
 preserved, so the result pairs naturally with ``profile_volumetry`` /
@@ -129,8 +129,6 @@
 TRUNCATES = [
     "django_session",  # session_data can carry the authenticated identity
     "django_admin_log",  # object_repr / change_message leak titles and emails
-    "easy_thumbnails_source",  # thumbnail cache: media file paths
-    "easy_thumbnails_thumbnail",
 ]
 
 

diff --git a/src/backend/core/templatetags/__init__.py b/src/backend/core/templatetags/__init__.py
diff --git a/src/backend/core/templatetags/extra_tags.py b/src/backend/core/templatetags/extra_tags.py
diff --git a/src/backend/impress/settings.py b/src/backend/impress/settings.py
@@ -399,7 +399,6 @@ class Base(Configuration):
         "rest_framework",
         "parler",
         "treebeard",
-        "easy_thumbnails",
         "waffle",
         # Django
         "django.contrib.admin",
@@ -704,12 +703,6 @@ class Base(Configuration):
         "https://eu.i.posthog.com", environ_name="POSTHOG_HOST", environ_prefix=None
     )
 
-    # Easy thumbnails
-    THUMBNAIL_EXTENSION = "webp"
-    THUMBNAIL_TRANSPARENCY_EXTENSION = "webp"
-    THUMBNAIL_DEFAULT_STORAGE_ALIAS = "default"
-    THUMBNAIL_ALIASES = {}
-
     # Celery
     CELERY_BROKER_URL = values.Value("redis://redis:6379/0")
     CELERY_BROKER_TRANSPORT_OPTIONS = values.DictValue({})

diff --git a/src/backend/pyproject.toml b/src/backend/pyproject.toml
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ dependencies = [
     "django-waffle==5.0.0",
     "drf_spectacular==0.30.0",
     "dockerflow==2026.3.4",
-    "easy_thumbnails==2.10.1",
     "emoji==2.16.0",
     "factory_boy==3.3.3",
     "gunicorn==26.2.0",

diff --git a/src/backend/uv.lock b/src/backend/uv.lock
diff --git a/src/mail/mjml/template.mjml b/src/mail/mjml/template.mjml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
       We load django tags here so they appear in the body of the HTML output.
       This ensures html-to-text also includes them in the plain text template.
     -->
-    <mj-raw>{% load i18n static extra_tags %}</mj-raw>
+    <mj-raw>{% load i18n static %}</mj-raw>
     <mj-wrapper css-class="wrapper" padding="5px 25px 0px 25px">
       <mj-section css-class="wrapper-logo">
         <mj-column>