diff --git a/.github/workflows/black.yml b/.github/workflows/black.yml
index 95a0ebfb0..4e7be4af3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/black.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/black.yml
@@ -13,3 +13,5 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
       - uses: psf/black@22.12.0
+        with:
+          version: 22.12.0
diff --git a/bookwyrm/connectors/abstract_connector.py b/bookwyrm/connectors/abstract_connector.py
index 6dd8a3081..0e04ffaf2 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/connectors/abstract_connector.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/connectors/abstract_connector.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 """ functionality outline for a book data connector """
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+from urllib.parse import quote_plus
 import imghdr
 import logging
 import re
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ class AbstractMinimalConnector(ABC):
             return f"{self.isbn_search_url}{normalized_query}"
         # NOTE: previously, we tried searching isbn and if that produces no results,
         # searched as free text. This, instead, only searches isbn if it's isbn-y
-        return f"{self.search_url}{query}"
+        return f"{self.search_url}{quote_plus(query)}"
 
     def process_search_response(self, query, data, min_confidence):
         """Format the search results based on the formt of the query"""
diff --git a/bookwyrm/templates/settings/celery.html b/bookwyrm/templates/settings/celery.html
index 7ce6553fb..6a3ee6574 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/templates/settings/celery.html
+++ b/bookwyrm/templates/settings/celery.html
@@ -9,6 +9,14 @@
 
 {% block panel %}
 
+<div class="notification">
+    <p>
+    {% trans "You can set up monitoring to check if Celery is running by querying:" %}
+    {% url "settings-celery-ping" as url %}
+    <a href="{{ url }}" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">{{ url }}</a>
+    </p>
+</div>
+
 {% if queues %}
 <section class="block content">
     <h2>{% trans "Queues" %}</h2>
diff --git a/bookwyrm/urls.py b/bookwyrm/urls.py
index 5050e029a..3fbf7dda1 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/urls.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/urls.py
@@ -334,6 +334,9 @@ urlpatterns = [
     re_path(
         r"^settings/celery/?$", views.CeleryStatus.as_view(), name="settings-celery"
     ),
+    re_path(
+        r"^settings/celery/ping/?$", views.celery_ping, name="settings-celery-ping"
+    ),
     re_path(
         r"^settings/email-config/?$",
         views.EmailConfig.as_view(),
diff --git a/bookwyrm/views/__init__.py b/bookwyrm/views/__init__.py
index b1ab977a7..808113099 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/views/__init__.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/views/__init__.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from .admin.announcements import Announcements, Announcement
 from .admin.announcements import EditAnnouncement, delete_announcement
 from .admin.automod import AutoMod, automod_delete, run_automod
 from .admin.automod import schedule_automod_task, unschedule_automod_task
-from .admin.celery_status import CeleryStatus
+from .admin.celery_status import CeleryStatus, celery_ping
 from .admin.dashboard import Dashboard
 from .admin.federation import Federation, FederatedServer
 from .admin.federation import AddFederatedServer, ImportServerBlocklist
diff --git a/bookwyrm/views/admin/celery_status.py b/bookwyrm/views/admin/celery_status.py
index 0e88f55f1..8c6b9f5a3 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/views/admin/celery_status.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/views/admin/celery_status.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 """ celery status """
 from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required, permission_required
+from django.http import HttpResponse
 from django.template.response import TemplateResponse
 from django.utils.decorators import method_decorator
 from django.views import View
+from django.views.decorators.http import require_GET
 import redis
 
 from celerywyrm import settings
@@ -50,3 +52,18 @@ class CeleryStatus(View):
             "errors": errors,
         }
         return TemplateResponse(request, "settings/celery.html", data)
+
+
+@require_GET
+# pylint: disable=unused-argument
+def celery_ping(request):
+    """Just tells you if Celery is on or not"""
+    try:
+        ping = celery.control.inspect().ping()
+        if ping:
+            return HttpResponse()
+    # pylint: disable=broad-except
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+
+    return HttpResponse(status=500)
diff --git a/dev-tools/requirements.txt b/dev-tools/requirements.txt
index a84bf64b2..a69d319ab 100644
--- a/dev-tools/requirements.txt
+++ b/dev-tools/requirements.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-black==22.3.0
+black==22.12.0
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index e71fb52c8..ab45e08a4 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ aiohttp==3.8.3
 bleach==5.0.1
 celery==5.2.7
 colorthief==0.2.1
-Django==3.2.16
+Django==3.2.17
 django-celery-beat==2.4.0
 django-compressor==4.3.1
 django-imagekit==4.1.0