diff --git a/spiffworkflow-backend/pyproject.toml b/spiffworkflow-backend/pyproject.toml
index d3d152fe6..1dc1b4a42 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-backend/pyproject.toml
+++ b/spiffworkflow-backend/pyproject.toml
@@ -170,6 +170,12 @@ implicit_reexport = true
 namespace_packages = true
 explicit_package_bases = false
 
+[tool.ruff]
+line-length = 130
+
+[tool.ruff.per-file-ignores]
+"migrations/versions/*.py" = ["E501"]
+
 [build-system]
 requires = ["poetry-core>=1.0.0"]
 build-backend = "poetry.core.masonry.api"
diff --git a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/load_database_models.py b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/load_database_models.py
index 8b9a63225..06d4c3653 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/load_database_models.py
+++ b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/load_database_models.py
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ some models need to be loaded before others for relationships and to
 avoid circular imports
 """
 
+# unused imports are needed for SQLAlchemy to load the models
+# ruff: noqa: F401
 
 from spiffworkflow_backend.models.db import add_listeners
 
diff --git a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/scripts/get_encoded_file_data.py b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/scripts/get_encoded_file_data.py
index 9cc442b3f..106510a06 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/scripts/get_encoded_file_data.py
+++ b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/scripts/get_encoded_file_data.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class GetEncodedFileData(Script):
     ) -> Any:
         """Run."""
         # example input:
-        #  "data:some/mimetype;name=testing.txt;base64,spifffiledatadigest+7a2051ffefd1eaf475dbef9fda019cb3d4a10eb8aea4c2c2a84a50a797a541bf"
+        #  "data:some/mimetype;name=testing.txt;base64,spifffiledatadigest+7a2051ffefd1eaf475dbef9fda019cb3d4a10eb8aea4c2c2a84a50a797a541bf"  # noqa: B950,E501
         digest_reference = args[0]
         digest = digest_reference[-64:]
         process_instance_id = script_attributes_context.process_instance_id
diff --git a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/scripts/markdown_file_download_link.py b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/scripts/markdown_file_download_link.py
index a7a9d3b09..f5bd276f6 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/scripts/markdown_file_download_link.py
+++ b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/scripts/markdown_file_download_link.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ class GetMarkdownFileDownloadLink(Script):
     ) -> Any:
         """Run."""
         # example input:
-        #  "data:some/mimetype;name=testing.txt;base64,spifffiledatadigest+7a2051ffefd1eaf475dbef9fda019cb3d4a10eb8aea4c2c2a84a50a797a541bf"
+        #  "data:some/mimetype;name=testing.txt;base64,spifffiledatadigest+7a2051ffefd1eaf475dbef9fda019cb3d4a10eb8aea4c2c2a84a50a797a541bf"  # noqa: B950,E501
         digest_reference = args[0]
         parts = digest_reference.split(";")
         digest = parts[2].split(",")[1][-64:]
diff --git a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/services/logging_service.py b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/services/logging_service.py
index 82b858beb..a5fa98575 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/services/logging_service.py
+++ b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/services/logging_service.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from flask.app import Flask
 # %(message)s—The log message.
 
 # full message list:
-# {'name': 'gunicorn.error', 'msg': 'GET /admin/token', 'args': (), 'levelname': 'DEBUG', 'levelno': 10, 'pathname': '~/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/spiffworkflow-backend-R_hdWfN1-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/gunicorn/glogging.py', 'filename': 'glogging.py', 'module': 'glogging', 'exc_info': None, 'exc_text': None, 'stack_info': None, 'lineno': 267, 'funcName': 'debug', 'created': 1657307111.4513023, 'msecs': 451.30228996276855, 'relativeCreated': 1730.785846710205, 'thread': 139945864087360, 'threadName': 'MainThread', 'processName': 'MainProcess', 'process': 2109561, 'message': 'GET /admin/token', 'asctime': '2022-07-08T15:05:11.451Z'}
+# {'name': 'gunicorn.error', 'msg': 'GET /admin/token', 'args': (), 'levelname': 'DEBUG', 'levelno': 10, 'pathname': '~/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/spiffworkflow-backend-R_hdWfN1-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/gunicorn/glogging.py', 'filename': 'glogging.py', 'module': 'glogging', 'exc_info': None, 'exc_text': None, 'stack_info': None, 'lineno': 267, 'funcName': 'debug', 'created': 1657307111.4513023, 'msecs': 451.30228996276855, 'relativeCreated': 1730.785846710205, 'thread': 139945864087360, 'threadName': 'MainThread', 'processName': 'MainProcess', 'process': 2109561, 'message': 'GET /admin/token', 'asctime': '2022-07-08T15:05:11.451Z'}  # noqa: E501
 
 
 class InvalidLogLevelError(Exception):
diff --git a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/services/process_instance_processor.py b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/services/process_instance_processor.py
index d713af7d2..d9cfa0ee7 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/services/process_instance_processor.py
+++ b/spiffworkflow-backend/src/spiffworkflow_backend/services/process_instance_processor.py
@@ -1689,8 +1689,10 @@ class ProcessInstanceProcessor:
         )
         task_service.update_all_tasks_from_spiff_tasks(spiff_tasks, deleted_tasks, start_time)
 
-        # we may want to move this to task_service.update_all_tasks_from_spiff_tasks but not sure it's always good to it.
-        # for cancelled tasks, spiff only returns tasks that were cancelled, not the ones that were deleted so we have to find them
+        # we may want to move this to task_service.update_all_tasks_from_spiff_tasks,
+        # but not sure it's always good to it.
+        # for cancelled tasks, spiff only returns tasks that were cancelled,
+        # not the ones that were deleted so we have to find them
         spiff_task_guids = [str(st.id) for st in spiff_tasks]
         tasks_no_longer_in_spiff = TaskModel.query.filter(
             and_(
diff --git a/spiffworkflow-backend/tests/spiffworkflow_backend/unit/test_process_instance_service.py b/spiffworkflow-backend/tests/spiffworkflow_backend/unit/test_process_instance_service.py
index 274245e59..a566f1c4f 100644
--- a/spiffworkflow-backend/tests/spiffworkflow_backend/unit/test_process_instance_service.py
+++ b/spiffworkflow-backend/tests/spiffworkflow_backend/unit/test_process_instance_service.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class TestProcessInstanceService(BaseTest):
     """TestProcessInstanceService."""
 
     SAMPLE_FILE_DATA = "data:some/mimetype;name=testing.txt;base64,dGVzdGluZwo="
-    SAMPLE_DIGEST_REFERENCE = f"data:some/mimetype;name=testing.txt;base64,{ProcessInstanceService.FILE_DATA_DIGEST_PREFIX}12a61f4e173fb3a11c05d6471f74728f76231b4a5fcd9667cef3af87a3ae4dc2"  # noqa: B950
+    SAMPLE_DIGEST_REFERENCE = f"data:some/mimetype;name=testing.txt;base64,{ProcessInstanceService.FILE_DATA_DIGEST_PREFIX}12a61f4e173fb3a11c05d6471f74728f76231b4a5fcd9667cef3af87a3ae4dc2"  # noqa: B950,E501
 
     def _check_sample_file_data_model(
         self,