Testing airflow dags locally. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Testing airflow dags locally These scripts, called directed acyclic graphs or DAGs, tell the Airflow engine a list of tasks to execute, the order in which to execute the tasks, and a schedule of how often each should run. ⚠ Warning: Do not import resources from the dags directory in DAGs definition files ⚠. For more information about these two commands, see Introducing New Astro CLI Commands to Make DAG Testing Easier. test() method which allows us to run all tasks in a DAG within a single serialized Python process without running the Airflow scheduler. test() method, which allows you to run all tasks in a DAG within a single serialized Python process without Dec 15, 2021 · This article will cover more details about our approaches to the development and testing of Apache Airflow DAGs. Jan 18, 2023 · A Step-by-Step Guide to Create and Automate Tests for Airflow Workflows. Apr 2, 2024 · DAG parse tests: The easiest way to include DAG parse tests is using The Astronomer Astro CLI. It allows you to run tasks within a DAG for a specified execution date without the overhead of the scheduler or executor. Apr 24, 2018 · Thanks Taylor for taking out time and providing the answer. test, add these two lines to the bottom of Jun 2, 2022 · DAG Testing in Airflow Today. Configuring Airflow for local development. Can we use other Python test frameworks for Airflow unit and integration testing? Also which one should be taken for implementation? Any links to related articles will help me Local Airflow environment: You can run DAGs on your local machine using the Astro CLI. Use Airflow's testing tools to simulate DAG runs and inspect the results. Learn about testing Airflow DAGs and gain insight into Nov 28, 2019 · Testing in Airflow Part 1 — DAG Validation Tests, DAG Definition Tests and Unit Tests. Until recently, Airflow’s local development experience has been hindered by the need to spin up a scheduler and webserver. The steps presented below are for anyone looking to get started with Airflow for the first time or for the people who are working with Airflow provides mechanisms for testing DAGs and tasks to verify their correctness before deployment. See the Airflow's Best Practices guide to help you write DAGs. As an example, if you have dags/dag_a. To use Airflow, several packages need to be imported first. test, add these two lines to the bottom of Aug 5, 2021 · Import packages; Airflow is Python-based, the pipelines are defined in Python. py and want to use a helper function in both DAG definition files, define the helper function in the utils directory such as: utils Feb 24, 2025 · Testing Your DAG Locally. Unit Tests: To test the logic of custom Operators, custom Sensor Dec 29, 2022 · For testing, you can check the dags files parsing performance, and if there is a problem in this parsing (check this answer), you can test the operator by preparing the task context and calling the method execute (here is some examples), for integration tests you can use mocks (check these tests used to test Airflow official operators), and if To debug DAGs in an IDE, you can set up the dag. This allows you to locally test your DAG before Composer Local Development CLI tool streamlines Apache Airflow DAG development for Cloud Composer 2 by running an Airflow environment locally. At the end of the tutorial, you'll have all of the files and components you need to develop and test Airflow DAGs locally. Running an Airflow DAG on your local machine is often not possible due to dependencies on external systems. Apr 15, 2022 · composer-dev create LOCAL_ENV_NAME \ --from-source-environment CLOUD_ENV_NAME \ --location CLOUD_ENV_REGION \ --project GCP_PROJECT_ID \ --port 8081 \ --dags-path LOCAL_DAGS_DIRECTORY Start the local environment; composer-dev start LOCAL_ENV_NAME Run Airflow commands to trigger dag runs, e. # command layout: command subcommand dag_id task_id date # testing print_date airflow test tutorial print_date 2015-06-01 # testing sleep airflow test tutorial sleep 2015-06-01 So just include the date as shown above and the DAG task should run as expected. No Executor Required: Unlike the deprecated DebugExecutor, dag. Aug 7, 2017 · Airflow seems to be skipping the dags I added to /usr/local/airflow/dags. This test checks that: All Airflow tasks have required arguments. assert_has_valid_dag (module) Jan 31, 2022 · /usr/local/airflow/ Here, you will find the files from the folder you initialized on your local machine. Please note: MWAA/AWS/DAG/Plugin issues should be raised through AWS Support or the Airflow Slack #airflow-aws channel. The CLI builds a Docker container image locally that’s similar to an Amazon MWAA production image. While not strictly testing, monitoring and logging are crucial for maintaining healthy Airflow DAGs. These are Python scripts that define your workflows. Sometimes, you don't want to run the full DAG, but just some tasks. g. Jun 9, 2024. For the dag owner, testing Airflow DAGs can be complicated and tedious. txt # For Python packages May 5, 2010 · In case of a failure and after merging the solution to the problem, clear the logs for the failing task to allow the DAG to run again. test()” functionality introduced in Airflow 2. I have to test a dag with dependencies inside the unit test. test() function speeds up iterative development by running tasks in a single, serialized Python process that does not require running Airflow. Running Airflow Locally allows Developers to test and create scalable applications using Python scripts. Running Airflow locally in our CI pipeline where we are testing the 2015-01-01 # run a backfill over 2 days airflow dags backfill example_bash Sep 27, 2024 · I'm not sure what the best way is to set up a local testing environment for this. test command in your dag file and run through your DAG in a single serialized python process. You can develop and test your DAGs using this local Airflow environment, and then transfer the DAGs to your testing Nov 12, 2024 · Running Airflow Locally helps Developers create workflows, schedule and maintain the tasks. 5. Using t To debug DAGs in an IDE, you can set up the dag. In this article, you will learn about the need for using Airflow and the steps for Running Airflow Locally. A guide on how to set up Airflow locally and test Airflow DAGs is available here. Deploy code to Astro. With pytest, you can test custom Python code and operators locally without having to start a local Airflow environment. To have the cloud in your computer! Or at least a local environment in which you could check that everything is ok with Python/Airflow syntax so the only thing you need to do on the shared environment is to test you code behavior. " "It’s hard to test my DAGs. The Dockerfile inside the airflow/ directory is used to build your custom Airflow Docker image. 0. This “Live with Astronomer” session covers how to use the new dag. A test file example could contain the following: import glob import Aug 3, 2024 · One of the amazing aspects of Apache Airflow is how easily it enables testing of DAGs. Feb 20, 2023 · Once completed, you can then start your local Apache Airflow environment. Amazon Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow (MWAA) is a managed service for Apache Airflow that makes […] Mar 28, 2025 · Test DAGs; Test, synchronize, and deploy your DAGs from GitHub; Debug task scheduling issues; Debug out of memory and out of storage DAG issues; Group tasks inside DAGs; Trigger DAGs in other environments and projects; Trigger DAGs with Cloud Functions; Trigger DAGs with Cloud Functions and Pub/Sub Messages Nov 8, 2023 · LocalExecutor: Runs tasks on the same machine as the Airflow scheduler and web server, making it a great option for local development and testing. Feb 14, 2019 · This guide will cover how to install Airflow locally for the purposes of testing Airflow code with a focus on users of Google Cloud Platform. from. This development method is most useful if you need to quickly iterate and test changes, such as when fixing a bug, or you're just getting started with Airflow. Aug 20, 2020 · I see from here that running a DAG is not so simple as calling dag. . Let’s take a look at some of them. py:168} INFO - Filling up the DagBag from /usr/local/airflow/dags ----- DAGS ----- example_bash_operator example_branch_dop_operator_v3 example_branch_operator example_http_operator example_passing_params_via_test_command example_python def test_dag_with_variables (set_variables): # Importing the module verifies that there are no syntax errors. I am the developer of the Airflow VSCode extension, which developers use to build and test Airflow DAGs locally within VSCode. 1. To test a single DAG, most Apache Airflow® users first have to manually install an Airflow environment on their local machine – complete with a locally running executor as well as the Airflow scheduler, webserver, triggerer, and metadata database. Testing in Python; Testing in Airflow DAG integrity test; Unit testing in Airflow 101; Unit testing with Oct 10, 2021 · This Amazon Local MWAA docker image allows you to run a local Apache Airflow environment to develop and test DAGs, custom plugins, and dependencies before deploying to MWAA. test()¶ To debug DAGs in an IDE, you can set up the dag. Jun 30, 2023 · Introduction Data scientists and engineers have made Apache Airflow a leading open-source tool to create data pipelines due to its active open-source community, familiar Python development as Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) workflows, and an extensive library of pre-built integrations. astro/test_dag_integrity_default. Update the DAG. I prefer a virtual environment or conda environment. I’m sure I have missed something in this code, or there could be some tweaks to make it faster or more Develop Airflow DAGs locally with PyCharm. Project template containing configuration files useful for local container development and testing of Airflow DAGs - sadmozer/airflow-project-template Nov 29, 2020 · airflow test command run only one task. Use case/motivation. The Astro CLI is an open-source interface you can use to: Test Airflow DAGs locally. Running DAGs. To test updates to your DAGs in your test environment: Copy the deployed DAG that you want to update to data/test. For Windows 10/11, consider using the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). run - I should instantiate a local_client and call trigger_dag on that. Feb 21, 2019 · Only after can they verify their Airflow code. Users type either airflow dag test (Airflow CLI) or astro run (Astro CLI) to call the new Airflow library, which automatically picks up, parses, and runs the DAG they pass as a command-line parameter. Nov 25, 2024 · python your-dag-file. Start a local Airflow environment To begin running your project in a local Airflow environment, run: Dec 9, 2022 · Both the Airflow CLI and the Astro CLI now use Imberman’s local library to run and test DAGs. What we hear from Airflow Users: "I cannot develop my DAGs locally. For Airflow to running locally in Docker, we need to install Docker Desktop, it comes with Docker Community Edition and Docker Compose which are two prerequisites to run Airflow with Docker. from airflow import DAG from airflow. This allows you to run a local Apache Airflow environment to develop and test DAGs, custom plugins, and dependencies before deploying to Amazon MWAA. Benefits Over DebugExecutor. Jun 9, 2024 · This article presents a simple strategy for testing Airflow DAGs locally using LocalStack for mocking AWS cloud services. Issues here should be focused on this local-runner repository. Dec 29, 2022 · I am new to Apache airflow and have been assigned a task to determine frameworks which can be used to unit and integration testing of Airflow DAGs. This is even clearer in Airflow 2. When you develop Apache Airflow DAGs locally with the Astro CLI, testing with local data is the easiest way to get started. Unit Tests: To test the logic of custom Operators, custom Sensor, etc. Create a new file in the dags folder called `test. To learn more about unit testing for your DAGs or testing project dependencies when changing Python or Astro Runtime versions, see Test your project locally. Should I mirror the remote setup locally in Docker, or is there a simpler way to test DAGs without needing to replicate the entire environment? Here’s some context: Airflow is already set up on a remote server (inside Docker). Solution: The dag. Feb 18, 2024 · DAG validation is essential to confirm the integrity and configuration of your DAGs. Tips for Windows Users. Published in. Position your DAGs within the repository’s dag You can use this local Airflow environment for testing and development purposes, such as to test new DAG code, PyPI packages, or Airflow configuration options. Enable and trigger DAGs from the UI for testing. Check for syntax errors. how to test a PostgresOperator? 6 days ago · Updating and testing a deployed DAG. test() function allows you to te Feb 1, 2021 · What is the easiest way to set up environment for dryrun/unittest of tasks or even a complete dag, without setting up a full airflow environment with database running? Preferably from an IDE, pycha Nov 19, 2019 · Use which airflow to the local airflow environment - which in my case is just a pipenv; Add a new run configuration in PyCharm; Set the python "Script path" to said airflow script; Set Parameters to test a task: test dag_x task_y 2019-11-19; This have only been validated with the SequentialExecutor, which might be important. pytest test_dags_integrity. If you use the airflow It can be quite complicate to test an Airflow DAG in local. Automate key actions as part of a CI/CD process. Does airflow test uses DebugExecutor under the hood? No. Task Testing: Use airflow tasks test to run task instances locally without dependencies or database communication. Testing Airflow DAGs. In Airflow 2. Contribute to astronomer/airflow-testing-guide development by creating an account on GitHub. Testing locally is free and open source. To set up dag. We show how the new dag. If you use DebugExecutor then you need to run full scheduler. The example is based on the Airflow DAG debug documentation. The orchestrator should feel like a productivity tool. " This suggests to me you are attempting to re-create your hosted Airflow instance for testing purposes. The Airflow CLI offers two commands related to local testing: airflow dags test: Given a DAG ID and execution date, this command writes the results of a single DAG run to the metadata database. Use the Astro CLI for local development When writing DAGs intended for Astro Deployments, use the Astro CLI for containerized local development. When I run. If too many runs of your DAG are being scheduled after you unpause it, you most likely need to set catchup=False in your DAG's parameters. Below we will test a DAG using Pytest including how to stubbing out remote calls and other connections. This example shows how to set up VS Code for local development with Airflow and the Astro CLI. There are multiple open source options for testing your DAGs. Therefore I do not wish to store on the file/ let the dag display on the GUI as it is a test dag. 0 introduced the dag. Airflow uses constraint files to enable reproducible installation, so using pip and constraint files is recommended. You can develop and test your DAGs using this local Airflow environment, and then transfer the DAGs to your testing Testing DAGs. Aug 24, 2023 · Implementing effective testing of your DAGs, both during local development and during deployment using CICD, is always worth the effort. For whatever reason, some DAGs (=the first task) remain forever on "scheduled", while others work perfectly fine. This is a painfully long process and as with any other software, people would like to write, test, and debug their Airflow code locally. Apache Airflow provides several ways to test and debug DAGs before running them in production. Jun 11, 2020 · In this guide I will show you how I run airflow locally. Kubectl cp Jul 31, 2023 · The dags/ directory inside the airflow/ directory is where you store your Airflow DAGs. Until now I have seen examples of pytest and Python unittest frameworks. You can find common issues and resolutions in the troubleshoot a local environment section. For more complex data pipelines, you might need to test DAGs locally with data that's stored in your organization's cloud, such as secret values in a secrets backend service. Airflow Testing. You can use Airflow's built-in command to validate the structure: airflow dags list --report Beyond Testing: Monitoring and Logging. At Etsy, we’ve simplified testing dags for the dag owner with This “Live with Astronomer” session covers two easy ways to test and debug your Airflow connections. With the Airflow CLI, run airflow dags test <dag_id>. Validate the DAG Syntax Oct 5, 2021 · Many developers and data engineers use Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow (Amazon MWAA), a managed service for open source Apache Airflow, to programmatically author, schedule, and monitor workflows. Turn off the DAG in your test environment. Jun 9, 2024 · Testing the DAG locally. Starting our local Apache Airflow environment. All just so they can sanity-check their DAG code. Set Airflow Home (optional): Airflow requires a home directory, and uses ~/airflow by default, but you can set a different location if you prefer. dummy_operators import DummyOperator All Cloud Composer code samples; Cross Project environment monitoring; DAG unit testing; Example DAG test (Airflow 1) List Composer Image Versions; AI and ML Sep 16, 2023 · (10) Save your workflow, make some changes to your DAGs and push the local changes to the GitHub repository. Kubectl cp your dag from local to pod, exec into the pod, and run a command? Install breeze? Why pull the Airflow image and start up the webserver / scheduler / triggerer if all we want is to test the addition of a new task? It doesn’t have to be this hard. Aug 1, 2024 · Now you are ready to start coding, running and testing your dags locally with airflow. In your Docker Compose file, you would map this directory to /usr/local/airflow/dags in your Airflow containers. import unit_testing_variables as module # The assert_has_valid_dag verifies that the module contains an Airflow DAG # and that the DAG contains no cycles. There should be unit tests to cover the behaviour of how the Airflow DAG works under different use cases. txt # For OS-level packages └── requirements. Write unit tests for your DAGs and tasks. Create a Conda Environment This repository provides a command line interface (CLI) utility that replicates an Amazon Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow (MWAA) environment locally. Follow this quickstart to build an Airflow project from the Learning Airflow template and run it in a local Airflow environment with just a few commands. If no DAGs are running, check the state of your scheduler using astro dev logs -s. CeleryExecutor: Uses the Celery distributed task queue to run tasks on remote worker nodes, ideal for running tasks in a production environment. Found a bug? Edit this page on GitHub. However, the resultant code constructs its own DagBag, and does not accept any parameter that allows me to pass in my manually-constructed DAG - so I cannot see how to run this DAG with local_client. test() function to quickly test and debug your Airflow DAGs directly in your IDE. Using the dag. For example, you could add a monkey DAG Validation Tests: To test the validity of the DAG, checking typos and cyclicity. Open localhost:8080 in your browser to access the Airflow UI. This approach can be used with any supported database (including a local SQLite database) and will fail fast as all tasks run in a single process. To set up Airflow for local development, you’re going to need to have Airflow installed on your machine. Airflow is a powerful tool for managing and scheduling data pipelines, but testing and validating DAGs (Directed Acyclic Oct 18, 2023 · Presented by Victor Chiapaikeo & Aldo Orozco Gomez at Airflow Summit 2023. The below code builds a container based on the puckel image mentioned earlier, copies all our local development dags and tests into the Sep 10, 2022 · Configuring Airflow for local development; Launching a DAG from VSCode; Let’s get started setting up Airflow for local development. This command is useful for testing DAGs by creating manual DAG runs from the command line. py and dags/dag_b. DAG IDs are unique across the Astro project. We will delve In this talk I’ll go over various ways to assure your code works as intended - both on a task and a DAG level. Debugging Airflow DAGs¶ Testing DAGs with dag. We have separate commands: airflow dags test - starts one DAG Run with DebugExecutor. py` and begin importing airflow packages. Additionally, monitoring the execution of workflows is essential for identifying and resolving issues promptly. Check for task-specific errors. Cloud Composer does not support using locally deployed Cloud Composer images for production purposes. To run the CLI, see the aws-mwaa-local-runner on GitHub. DAG Loader Test¶ Apr 17, 2019 · The Airflow Web UI Local Automated Airflow Testing. We do not recommend using LocalExecutor for Production environment unless you have a handful of DAGs and want to run/test in a temporary Production environment. You can write a wide variety of tests for a DAG. airflow tasks test - starts one tasks. Testing a DAG¶ Airflow users should treat DAGs as production level code, and DAGs should have various associated tests to ensure that they produce expected results. python `airflow dags backfill` does not have proper REST API support Trigger dag functionality in REST API requires that a dag exists on some instance Trigger dag also must run the dag from E2E (can’t test single or subset of tasks) Users shy away from Airflow because of the difficulty in testing / developing Sep 5, 2022 · I am new to Apache Airflow and I am trying to figure out how to unit/integration test my dags/tasks Here is my directory structure /airflow /dags /tests/dags I created a simple DAG which has a Jan 24, 2024 · The path of DAG’s should be bind both in you Runner and in Airflow Container if it’s not running local. Debugging and Observability 5 days ago · You can use this local Airflow environment for testing and development purposes, such as to test new DAG code, PyPI packages, or Airflow configuration options. " Aug 14, 2020 · Apache Airflow is an open source software that allows developers to build data pipelines by writing Python scripts. Airflow 2. In the second half of this year, we’re looking to expand testing capabilities to the individual DAG or task. Setting up a local development environment allows you to iterate more quickly when developing DAGs by taking advantage of IDE features like code autocompletion, identifying deprecated or unused imports, and With the Astro CLI, you can run Airflow on your local machine. Place your DAG files in the dags folder within the AIRFLOW_HOME directory. " "I detect way too many errors in staging and production. py. Towards Data Engineering. Currently, before running a DAG for testing, the source code must be deployed to the Airflow server. The AIRFLOW_HOME environment variable is used to inform Airflow of the desired Our belief: Data practitioners deserve a complete engineering life cycle with fast development cycles and end-to-end testing. Warning: Use local Airflow environments only for testing and development purposes. test, add these two lines to the bottom of Mar 17, 2022 · The third way is to catch DAGs errors locally using pytest so that you can run tests with:. With your local MWAA environment and AWS configuration in place, you can now begin creating and testing your DAGs. py; pytest-docker-tools plugin; The Airflow source code; Agenda. Test the DAG. Testing is an integral part of any software system to build confidence and increase the reliability of the Nov 7, 2023 · Step 6 — DAG Development. test() runs tasks sequentially without needing an . Oct 24, 2022 · I'm using Docker to run/test airflow DAGs locally, before I release changes to production. /dags:/usr/local Sep 22, 2022 · An example pytest that checks for import errors. For the dag owner, testing Airflow DAGs can be complicated and tedious. Dec 22, 2021 · The latest versions of Airflow uses the package name apache-airflow "I'm attempting to test a DAG locally, and have setup Airflow locally in Docker. DAG Testing: airflow dags test performs a full DAG run locally, considering task dependencies but without database state tracking. test()` function to quickly test and debug your Airflow DAGs directly in your IDE. py 2) Testing Airflow DAGs: Unit Test. Before you start Before trying this example, make sure you have: PyCharm Setup Google Cloud connection in Airflow UI; Test run single task from the DAG in Airflow CLI; Full run the DAG in Airflow UI; Install Docker Desktop. As much as we love airflow, local development has been a bit of a white whale through much of its history. I want to load the entire dag within the unit test and trigger from there. Make sure the DAG runs successfully. Make sure to install whatever version of Airflow you trying to recreate. Sep 15, 2020 · Nizhny Novgorod - Photo by c7dys The dream. This would make it easier for others to maintain Test the DAG using astro dev dags test <dag_id>. 5+, you can use the dag. test() command in Apache Airflow is a powerful tool for debugging DAGs. The tests directory in your Astro project includes an example DAG test called test_dag_example. airflow list_dags The output shows [2017-08-06 17:03:47,220] {models. Before starting the local Apache Airflow environment, it is important to understand a couple of key directories that will be mounted into this environment and which you will use as part of your local development. To get the most out of the Astro CLI: Aug 29, 2024 · In this guide, we’ll walk through setting up Apache Airflow on a local machine using Conda to manage the Python environment. To debug DAGs in an IDE, you can set up the dag. WARNING: Use local Airflow environments only for testing and development purposes. A DAG We have written work support for s3, FTP, local disk and database. You could monitor and troubleshoot the runs by visiting your GitHub repository See our Test Airflow DAGs guide. Aug 28, 2024 · It is good to have an API to upload source code files to the Airflow server to make deployments. Develop Airflow DAGs locally with VS Code. Unit testing is a method of Software Testing in which small chunks of source code are tested individually to ensure they work as expected. internal_unit_testing. Go to the Airflow UI > DAGs Mar 14, 2023 · This “Live with Astronomer” session covers how to use the new `dag. This local Airflow environment uses an image of a specific Cloud Composer 2 version. Aug 18, 2018 · DAG/Pipeline Definition Tests: To test the total number of tasks in the DAG, upstream and downstream dependencies of each task etc. This allows advanced users to customize add new in . DAG/Pipeline Definition Tests: To test the total number of tasks in the DAG, upstream and downstream dependencies of each task, etc. In this talk, we will explore the latest innovation in Airflow local development, namely the “dag. Oct 30, 2023 · To answer your question Astro CLI uses Local Executor which is recommended for testing Airflow DAGs locally or in a dev or test environment. Webinar links: GitHub Repo for this webinar; Presentation; Pytest fixture scope; Pytest builtin fixtures; Pytest autouse; Pytest conftest. operators. DAGs. The goal is to isolate testable logic within small, well-named functions, such as: def test_function_returns_5(): assert my_function(input) == 5 Mar 21, 2025 · Composer Local Development CLI tool streamlines Apache Airflow DAG development for Cloud Composer 2 by running an Airflow environment locally. This example shows how to set up PyCharm for local development with Airflow and the Astro CLI. DAGs have no cycles. yaml # For your Airflow connections, variables and pools (local only) ├── packages. Setting up a local development environment allows you to iterate more quickly when developing DAGs by taking advantage of IDE features. With Amazon MWAA, you can focus on business logic and build workflows without worrying about the management responsibilities such as setup, patching, upgrades, security, scaling, and so […] ├── tests # For any DAG unit test files to be run with pytest │ └── test_dag_example. You can learn about how to debug Airflow DAGs locally to identify any compatibility issues while upgrading Cloudera Data Engineering. py # Test that checks for basic errors in your DAGs ├── airflow_settings. In this talk I cover: How to test and debug tasks locally; How to test with and without task instance context; How to test against external systems, e. composer-dev run-airflow-cmd LOCAL_ENV_NAME dags Mar 7, 2022 · The same goes for writing an Airflow DAG. Before deploying your DAG, it’s crucial to test it locally to ensure that all tasks execute correctly and dependencies are properly configured. The basic tests to check your DAGs for import errors are already included in your Airflow project initialized with Astro CLI. lvmr xwzo kutq qxg hflvbu dfih vbsad jnjeqs mwhx kyiwv ohkdd ktfk hcmqjr zqyu ticveg