diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 476529832..f84b7bc59 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ Imports:
 Suggests: 
   abind,
   callr,
+  clustermq,
   DBI,
   MASS,
   methods,
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index f3d10e88f..388c638ba 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ export(as_file)
 export(available_hash_algos)
 export(backend)
 export(bind_plans)
+export(build_clustermq)
 export(build_drake_graph)
 export(build_graph)
 export(build_times)
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index c9c690c1e..e4b0ac4d0 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Version 5.2.1.9000
 
-- Add `make(parallelism = "future_lapply_staged")`, a `future`-based staged parallelism backend (see https://github.com/ropensci/drake/pull/450).
+- Implement `make(parallelism = "clustermq_staged")`, a `clustermq`-based staged parallelism backend (see https://github.com/ropensci/drake/pull/452).
+- Implement `make(parallelism = "future_lapply_staged")`, a `future`-based staged parallelism backend (see https://github.com/ropensci/drake/pull/450).
 - Depend on `codetools` rather than `CodeDepends` for finding global variables.
 - Skip more tests on CRAN. White-list tests instead of blacklisting them in order to try to keep check time under the official 10-minute cap.
 - Disallow wildcard names to grep-match other wildcard names or any replacement values. This will prevent careless mistakes and confusion when generating `drake_plan()`s.
diff --git a/R/build.R b/R/build.R
index d3857cf18..f1eee5360 100644
--- a/R/build.R
+++ b/R/build.R
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 #' @title Build/process a single target or import.
 #' @export
-#' @description For internal use only.
-#' the only reason this function is exported
-#' is to set up parallel socket (PSOCK) clusters
-#' without much of a fuss.
+#' @description Also load the target's dependencies beforehand.
 #' @return The value of the target right after it is built.
 #' @param target name of the target
 #' @param meta list of metadata that tell which
diff --git a/R/config.R b/R/config.R
index db2f16fa8..c49cbd9bd 100644
--- a/R/config.R
+++ b/R/config.R
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ drake_config <- function(
 }
 
 add_packages_to_prework <- function(packages, prework) {
-  packages <- unique(c("methods", packages))
+  packages <- unique(c("methods", "drake", packages))
   paste0("if(!R.utils::isPackageLoaded(\"", packages, "\")) require(",
     packages, ")", sep = "") %>% c(prework)
 }
diff --git a/R/parallel_ui.R b/R/parallel_ui.R
index d54143991..36577a037 100644
--- a/R/parallel_ui.R
+++ b/R/parallel_ui.R
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ parallelism_choices <- function(distributed_only = FALSE) {
     "parLapply_staged"
   )
   distributed <- c(
+    "clustermq_staged",
     "future",
     "future_lapply",
     "future_lapply_staged",
diff --git a/R/staged.R b/R/staged.R
index c126f16d9..031400ea9 100644
--- a/R/staged.R
+++ b/R/staged.R
@@ -160,3 +160,118 @@ run_future_lapply_staged <- function(config){
   }
   invisible()
 }
+
+run_clustermq_staged <- function(config){
+  if (!requireNamespace("clustermq")){
+    # nocov start
+    drake_error(
+      "to use make(parallelism = \"clustermq_staged\"), ",
+      "you must install the clustermq package: ",
+      "https://github.com/mschubert/clustermq.",
+      config = config
+    )
+    # nocov end
+  }
+  schedule <- config$schedule
+  workers <- clustermq::workers(n_jobs = config$jobs)
+  on.exit(workers$finalize())
+  while (length(V(schedule)$name)){
+    stage <- next_stage(config = config, schedule = schedule)
+    schedule <- stage$schedule
+    if (!length(stage$targets)){
+      break
+    } else if (any(stage$targets %in% config$plan$target)){
+      set_attempt_flag(key = "_attempt", config = config)
+    }
+    prune_envir(
+      targets = stage$targets,
+      config = config,
+      jobs = config$jobs_imports
+    )
+    export <- list()
+    if (identical(config$envir, globalenv())){
+      export <- as.list(config$envir, all.names = TRUE) # nocov
+    }
+    export$config <- config
+    export$meta_list <- stage$meta_list
+    meta_list <- NULL
+    tmp <- lightly_parallelize(
+      X = stage$targets,
+      FUN = function(target){
+        announce_build(
+          target = target,
+          meta = stage$meta_list[[target]],
+          config = config
+        )
+      },
+      jobs = config$jobs_imports
+    )
+    builds <- clustermq::Q(
+      stage$targets,
+      fun = function(target){
+        # This call is actually tested in tests/testthat/test-clustermq.R.
+        # nocov start
+        drake::build_clustermq(
+          target = target,
+          meta_list = meta_list,
+          config = config
+        )
+        # nocov end
+      },
+      workers = workers,
+      export = export
+    )
+    tmp <- lightly_parallelize(
+      X = builds,
+      FUN = function(build){
+        wait_for_file(build = build, config = config)
+        conclude_build(
+          target = build$target,
+          value = build$value,
+          meta = build$meta,
+          config = config
+        )
+      },
+      jobs = config$jobs_imports
+    )
+  }
+  invisible()
+}
+
+#' @title Build a target using the clustermq backend
+#' @description For internal use only
+#' @export
+#' @keywords internal
+#' @inheritParams drake_build
+#' @param meta_list list of metadata
+build_clustermq <- function(target, meta_list, config){
+  # This function is actually tested in tests/testthat/test-clustermq.R.
+  # nocov start
+  do_prework(config = config, verbose_packages = FALSE)
+  build <- just_build(
+    target = target,
+    meta = meta_list[[target]],
+    config = config
+  )
+  if (is_file(target)){
+    build$checksum <- rehash_file(target, config = config)
+  }
+  build
+  # nocov end
+}
+
+wait_for_file <- function(build, config){
+  if (!length(build$checksum)){
+    return()
+  }
+  R.utils::withTimeout({
+      while (!file.exists(drake_unquote(build$target))){
+        Sys.sleep(mc_wait) # nocov
+      }
+      while (!identical(rehash_file(build$target, config), build$checksum)){
+        Sys.sleep(mc_wait) # nocov
+      }
+    },
+    timeout = 60
+  )
+}
diff --git a/man/build_clustermq.Rd b/man/build_clustermq.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..14e63106c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/build_clustermq.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/staged.R
+\name{build_clustermq}
+\alias{build_clustermq}
+\title{Build a target using the clustermq backend}
+\usage{
+build_clustermq(target, meta_list, config)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{target}{name of the target}
+
+\item{meta_list}{list of metadata}
+
+\item{config}{internal configuration list}
+}
+\description{
+For internal use only
+}
+\keyword{internal}
diff --git a/man/drake_build.Rd b/man/drake_build.Rd
index 11cc8c485..b515076d3 100644
--- a/man/drake_build.Rd
+++ b/man/drake_build.Rd
@@ -37,10 +37,7 @@ will not be replaced.}
 The value of the target right after it is built.
 }
 \description{
-For internal use only.
-the only reason this function is exported
-is to set up parallel socket (PSOCK) clusters
-without much of a fuss.
+Also load the target's dependencies beforehand.
 }
 \examples{
 \dontrun{
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-clustermq.R b/tests/testthat/test-clustermq.R
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2c346dda9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-clustermq.R
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+drake_context("clustermq")
+
+test_with_dir("clustermq_staged parallelism", {
+  skip_on_cran()
+  if ("package:clustermq" %in% search()){
+    detach("package:clustermq", unload = TRUE)
+  }
+  options(clustermq.scheduler = "multicore")
+  skip_if_not_installed("clustermq")
+  skip_on_os("windows")
+  scenario <- get_testing_scenario()
+  e <- eval(parse(text = scenario$envir))
+  jobs <- scenario$jobs
+  load_mtcars_example(envir = e)
+  make(
+    e$my_plan,
+    parallelism = "clustermq_staged",
+    jobs = jobs,
+    envir = e,
+    verbose = 4
+  )
+  config <- drake_config(e$my_plan, envir = e)
+  expect_equal(outdated(config), character(0))
+  make(
+    e$my_plan,
+    parallelism = "clustermq_staged",
+    jobs = jobs,
+    envir = e,
+    verbose = 4
+  )
+  expect_equal(justbuilt(config), character(0))
+})
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-future.R b/tests/testthat/test-future.R
index 95afc09a7..9b3da2467 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-future.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-future.R
@@ -26,16 +26,18 @@ test_with_dir("future package functionality", {
   }
 
   # Stuff is already up to date.
-  config <- make(
-    e$my_plan,
-    envir = e,
-    parallelism = backends[3],
-    caching = caching[3],
-    jobs = 1,
-    verbose = FALSE,
-    session_info = FALSE
-  )
-  expect_equal(justbuilt(config), character(0))
+  for (i in 1:4){
+    config <- make(
+      e$my_plan,
+      envir = e,
+      parallelism = backends[i],
+      caching = caching[i],
+      jobs = 1,
+      verbose = FALSE,
+      session_info = FALSE
+    )
+    expect_equal(justbuilt(config), character(0))
+  }
 
   # Workers can wait for dependencies.
   e$my_plan$command[2] <- "Sys.sleep(2); simulate(48)"