# airflow-hitl

A skill for building human-in-the-loop Airflow workflows: approval gates, form input, and branching on a person's choice. Useful when a DAG has to wait for a response.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 952 installs · ★ 456
- Author: astronomer
- License: Apache-2.0 · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/astronomer/agents/tree/HEAD/skills/airflow-hitl/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-14
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/airflow-hitl

## What it does

The skill walks you through writing DAGs that pause until someone responds in the Airflow UI or over the REST API. The operators are deferrable, so the worker slot is released while the task waits.

It starts with a decision table: `ApprovalOperator` for approve/reject, `HITLOperator` to present options, `HITLBranchOperator` to branch downstream, `HITLEntryOperator` to collect a form, `HITLTrigger` for custom operators. Class names are hardcoded in that one table only. Before writing code the skill has you pull live constructor signatures with `af registry parameters standard`, because the provider adds and renames params between releases.

Airflow 3.1 or newer is required, checked with `af config version`. Responses land under Browse → Required Actions, and for Slack bots or scripts the skill shows how to discover the endpoint via `af api ls --filter hitl` and answer with a PATCH request. Restricting who can respond depends on the active auth manager, so the kwarg name and identifier format have to come from the registry rather than memory.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add astronomer/agents --skill airflow-hitl -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/airflow-hitl/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/airflow-hitl/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add astronomer/agents --skill airflow-hitl -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/airflow-hitl/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add astronomer/agents --skill airflow-hitl -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/airflow-hitl/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install astronomer/agents airflow-hitl
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/airflow-hitl/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add astronomer/agents --skill airflow-hitl -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/astronomer/agents --path skills/airflow-hitl
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/airflow-hitl/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add astronomer/agents --skill airflow-hitl -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/astronomer/agents/tree/HEAD/skills/airflow-hitl/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- add an approval step before a task runs
- collect form input mid-run
- branch a DAG on a human decision
- free the worker slot while waiting for a response
- respond to pending HITL tasks from an external service

## Example prompts
- build a DAG with ApprovalOperator to sign off on the report
- I need branching on a human choice — show a HITLBranchOperator example
- how do I answer a pending HITL task over the REST API?

## Source text · SKILL.md · Apache-2.0

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 74c37286b730076b.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 74c37286b730076b
````text
---
name: airflow-hitl
description: 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).
---

# Airflow Human-in-the-Loop Operators

Pause a DAG until a human responds via the Airflow UI or REST API. HITL operators are deferrable — they release their worker slot while waiting.

> **Requires Airflow 3.1+** (`af config version`).
>
> **UI location**: Browse → Required Actions. Respond from the task instance page's Required Actions tab.
>
> **Cross-references**: `migrating-ai-sdk-to-common-ai` for AI/LLM task decorators; `airflow` for registry and API discovery commands used below.

---

## Step 1 — Pick the capability you need

| Capability | Class (verify in Step 2) |
|---|---|
| Approve or reject; downstream skips on reject | `ApprovalOperator` |
| Present N options and return which were chosen | `HITLOperator` |
| Branch to one or more downstream tasks based on a choice | `HITLBranchOperator` |
| Collect a form (no approve/select step) | `HITLEntryOperator` |
| Use the HITL trigger directly (advanced / custom operators) | `HITLTrigger` |

This is the only place class names are hardcoded. The provider adds, renames, and removes params across releases — do not copy parameter lists from memory. Fetch the current signature before writing code.

---

## Step 2 — Discover the current signatures from the Airflow Registry

Before writing HITL code, run these to see the live roster and constructor params (see the `airflow` skill for the full `af registry` reference):

```bash
# Every HITL-related module in the standard provider
af registry modules standard \
  | jq '.modules[] | select(.import_path | test("\\.hitl\\.")) | {name, type, import_path, short_description, docs_url}'

# Constructor signatures: name, type, default, required, description
af registry parameters standard \
  | jq '.classes | to_entries[] | select(.key | test("\\.hitl\\.")) | {fqn: .key, parameters: .value.parameters}'

# Pin to the exact installed provider version
af config providers \
  | jq '.providers[] | select(.package_name == "apache-airflow-providers-standard") | .version'
# then: af registry parameters standard --version <VERSION>
```

If the registry shows a param that this skill does not mention, prefer the registry. If the registry shows a class that is not in Step 1, treat it as additive — the decision table above may be stale.

---
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 74c37286b730076b

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---
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