agents

Queries, manages, and troubleshoots Apache Airflow using the af CLI. Use when working with anything related to Airflow - a DAG, a DAG run, a task log, an import or parse error, a broken DAG, or any Airflow operation. Covers listing and triggering DAGs, retrying runs, reading task logs, diagnosing failures, debugging import and parse errors, checking connections, variables and pools, exploring the REST API, and monitoring health (for example "trigger a pipeline", "retry a run", "list connections", "check Airflow health", "why did my DAG fail"). This is the entrypoint that routes to sibling skills for authoring, testing, deploying, and migrating Airflow 2 to 3. Not for warehouse/SQL analytics on Airflow metadata tables (use analyzing-data); for deep root-cause reports use debugging-dags or airflow-investigation.

Manage local Airflow environment with Astro CLI (Docker and standalone modes). Use when the user wants to start, stop, or restart Airflow, view logs, query the Airflow API, troubleshoot, or fix environment issues. For project setup, see setting-up-astro-project.

Queries the data warehouse with SQL and answers business questions about data. Use when answering anything that needs warehouse data - counts, metrics, trends, aggregations, joins across tables, data lookups, or ad-hoc SQL analysis (for example "who uses X", "how many Y", "show me Z", "find customers", "what is the count").

Workflow and best practices for writing Apache Airflow DAGs. Use when creating a new DAG, write pipeline code, handling questions about DAG patterns and conventions or extending an existing DAG with a follow-up/downstream task. ANY request shaped like 'add a DAG named X', 'write a pipeline', 'add a task that runs after Y', or 'extend the DAG'. For testing and debugging DAGs, see the testing-dags skill.

Comprehensive DAG failure diagnosis and root-cause analysis with structured investigation and prevention recommendations. Use when deep failure investigation is needed, a DAG fails to import/parse or 'airflow dags list' errors on a file; a task or run is failing and must be diagnosed and fixed; requests like 'why did X fail', 'my dag keeps failing — find and fix it', or fixing a broken DAG so it loads cleanly. For simple 'why did it fail / show logs', the airflow skill handles it directly.

Complex DAG testing workflows with debugging and fixing cycles. Use for multi-step testing requests like "test this dag and fix it if it fails", "test and debug", "run the pipeline and troubleshoot issues". For simple test requests ("test dag", "run dag"), the airflow entrypoint skill handles it directly. This skill is for iterative test-debug-fix cycles.

Guide for migrating Apache Airflow 2.x projects to Airflow 3.x. Use when the user mentions Airflow 3 migration, upgrade, compatibility issues, breaking changes, or wants to modernize their Airflow codebase. If you detect Airflow 2.x code that needs migration, prompt the user and ask if they want you to help upgrade. Always load this skill as the first step for any migration-related request.

Initialize and configure Astro/Airflow projects. Use when the user wants to create a new project, set up dependencies, configure connections/variables, or understand project structure. For running the local environment, see managing-astro-local-env.

Trace upstream data lineage. Use when the user asks where data comes from, what feeds a table, upstream dependencies, data sources, or needs to understand data origins.

Deep-dive data profiling for a specific table. Use when the user asks to profile a table, wants statistics about a dataset, asks about data quality, or needs to understand a table's structure and content. Requires a table name.

Trace downstream data lineage and impact analysis. Use when the user asks what depends on this data, what breaks if something changes, downstream dependencies, or needs to assess change risk before modifying a table or DAG.

Quick data freshness check. Use when the user asks if data is up to date, when a table was last updated, if data is stale, or needs to verify data currency before using it.

Annotate Airflow tasks with data lineage using inlets and outlets. Use when the user wants to add lineage metadata to tasks, specify input/output datasets, or enable lineage tracking for operators without built-in OpenLineage extraction.

Turns a dbt Core project into an Airflow DAG/TaskGroup using Astronomer Cosmos. Use turning a dbt Core project into an Airflow DAG or TaskGroup with Astronomer Cosmos. Before implementing, verify dbt engine, warehouse, Airflow version, execution environment, DAG vs TaskGroup, and manifest availability.

Builds human-in-the-loop (HITL) Airflow workflows - approval gates, form input, and human-driven branching. Use when a DAG needs a human in the loop - an approval or reject step, sign-off before a task runs, a decision or approval UI, branching on a human choice, or collecting form input mid-run; also on mentions of ApprovalOperator, HITLOperator, HITLBranchOperator, HITLEntryOperator, or HITLTrigger. Requires Airflow 3.1+. Not for AI/LLM task calls (see migrating-ai-sdk-to-common-ai).

Create custom OpenLineage extractors for Airflow operators. Use when the user needs lineage from unsupported or third-party operators, wants column-level lineage, or needs complex extraction logic beyond what inlets/outlets provide.

Run a dbt Fusion project with Astronomer Cosmos. Use when running a dbt Fusion project with Astronomer Cosmos (Cosmos 1.11+, ExecutionMode.LOCAL on Snowflake/Databricks). Before implementing, verify dbt engine is Fusion (not Core), the warehouse is supported, and local execution is acceptable. Does not cover dbt Core.

Initialize warehouse schema discovery. Generates .astro/warehouse.md with all table metadata for instant lookups. Run once per project, refresh when schema changes. Use when user says "/astronomer-data:warehouse-init" or asks to set up data discovery.

Deploys Airflow DAGs and projects. Use when deploying Airflow or answering anything about deployment - deploying DAGs/projects, pushing code, setting up CI/CD, deploying to production or deployment strategies for Airflow.

Troubleshoot Astronomer production deployments with Astro CLI. Use when investigating deployment issues, viewing production logs, analyzing failures, or managing deployment environment variables.

Builds Airflow 3.1+ plugins that embed FastAPI apps, custom UI pages, React components, middleware, macros, and operator links directly into the Airflow UI. Use when building anything custom inside Airflow 3.1+ that involves Python and a browser-facing interface - creating an Airflow plugin, adding a custom UI page or nav entry, building FastAPI-backed endpoints inside Airflow, serving static assets from a plugin, embedding a React app, adding middleware to the API server, creating custom operator extra links, or calling the Airflow REST API from inside a plugin; also when AirflowPlugin, fastapiapps, externalviews, reactapps, or plugin registration come up.

Manage Astronomer production deployments with Astro CLI. Use when the user wants to authenticate, switch workspaces, create/update/delete deployments, or deploy code to production.

Define reusable Airflow task group templates with Pydantic validation and compose DAGs from YAML. Use when creating blueprint templates, composing DAGs from YAML, declaring shared variables or per-environment profiles, validating configurations, sharing templates as an installable package, or enabling no-code DAG authoring for non-engineers.