 .. Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
    or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
    distributed with this work for additional information
    regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
    to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
    "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
    with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at

 ..   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

 .. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
    software distributed under the License is distributed on an
    "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
    KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
    specific language governing permissions and limitations
    under the License.



How-to Guides
=============

Setting up the sandbox in the :doc:`/start` section was easy;
building a production-grade environment requires a bit more work!

These how-to guides will step you through common tasks in using and
configuring an airflowctl environment.


How to use airflowctl
---------------------

**Important Note**
''''''''''''''''''
airflowctl needs the Airflow API running to be able to work. Please, see the login section below before use.
Otherwise, you may get errors.

Datetime Usage
''''''''''''''
For datetime parameters, date should be timezone aware and in ISO format.
For example: ``2025-10-10T10:00:00+00:00``
Let's take example of triggering a Dag run with a logical date, run after and a note.

.. code-block:: bash

  airflowctl dagrun trigger --dag-id="example_bash_operator" --logical-date="2025-09-06T00:00:00+00:00" --run-after="2025-09-06T00:00:00+00:00" --note="Triggered from airflowctl"


Login
'''''
airflowctl needs to be able to connect to the Airflow API. You should pass API URL as a parameter to the command
``--api-url``. The URL should be in the form of ``http(s)://<host>:<port>``.
You can also set the environment variable ``AIRFLOW_CLI_TOKEN`` to the token to use for authentication.

There are two ways to authenticate with the Airflow API:

1. Using a token acquired from the Airflow API

.. code-block:: bash

  airflowctl auth login --api-url <api_url> --api-token <token> --env <env_name:production>

2. Using a username and password

.. code-block:: bash

  airflowctl auth login --api-url <api_url> --username <username> --password <password> --env <env_name:production>

If there's no keyring available, common in headless systems like docker images, you can still use the tool by setting
the environment variable ``AIRFLOW_CLI_TOKEN``.

.. code-block:: bash

  export AIRFLOW_CLI_TOKEN=<token>
  airflowctl auth login --api-url <api_url> --env <env_name:production> --skip-keyring


In both cases token is securely stored in the keyring backend. Only configuration persisted in ``~/.config/airflow`` file
is the API URL and the environment name. The token is stored in the keyring backend and is not persisted in the
configuration file. The keyring backend is used to securely store the token and is not accessible to the user.

What is authentication for ``airflowctl``?
``````````````````````````````````````````
For ``airflowctl`` to be able to communicate with the Airflow API, it needs to authenticate itself and acquire token.
This is done using either a token or a username and password.
The token can be acquired from the Airflow API or generated using a username and password.

.. image:: ../images/diagrams/airflowctl_api_network_architecture_diagram.png
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/diagrams/airflowctl_api_network_architecture_diagram.png
  :width: 100%
  :alt: airflowctl Auth Login Help

Parameter Details for airflowctl auth login
```````````````````````````````````````````

**--api-url**: This parameter is required. (e.g. ``http://localhost:8080``)
The default value is ``http://localhost:8080``. Full URL of the Airflow API. Without any ``/api/*`` suffixes.
If you are running the ``airflowctl`` in ``breeze`` container, it is optional.

**--api-token**: This parameter is optional.
If you are setting the token via the environment variable ``AIRFLOW_CLI_TOKEN``, you can skip using this parameter.

**--username**: This parameter is optional.
If you are not using ``--api-token`` or the environment variable ``AIRFLOW_CLI_TOKEN``, you must provide a username to authentication along with ``--password``.

**--password**: This parameter is optional.
If you provide a username via ``--username`` this is the required password to authenticate.

**--env**: This parameter is optional.
The name of the environment to create or update. The default value is ``production``.
This parameter is useful when you want to manage multiple Airflow environments.

**--skip-keyring**: This parameter is optional.
Useful when there's no keyring available in the system where airflowctl is running.
Set ``AIRFLOW_CLI_TOKEN`` or use the ``--api-token`` flag for next commands.

More Usage and Help Pictures
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
For more information use

.. code-block:: bash

  airflowctl auth login --help

.. image:: ../images/output_auth_login.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_auth_login.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Auth Login Help

You are ready to use airflowctl now.
Please, also see :doc:`/cli-and-env-variables-ref` for the list of available commands and options.

You can use the command ``airflowctl --help`` to see the list of available commands.

.. image:: ../images/output_main.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_main.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Help

All Available Group Command References
--------------------------------------

Below are the command reference diagrams for all available commands in airflowctl.
These visual references show the full command syntax, options, and parameters for each command.

**Assets**
''''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_assets.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_assets.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Assets Command

**Auth**
''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_auth.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_auth.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Auth Command

**Backfill**
'''''''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_backfill.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_backfill.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Backfills Command

**Config**
''''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_config.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_config.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Config Command

**Connections**
'''''''''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_connections.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_connections.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Connections Command

**Dags**
''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_dags.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_dags.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Dag Command

**Dag Runs**
''''''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_dagrun.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_dagrun.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Dag Run Command

**Jobs**
''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_jobs.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_jobs.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Jobs Command

**Pools**
'''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_pools.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_pools.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Pools Command

**Providers**
'''''''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_providers.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_providers.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Providers Command

**Variables**
'''''''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_variables.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_variables.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Variables Command

**Version**
'''''''''''
.. image:: ../images/output_version.svg
  :target: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/main/airflow-ctl/docs/images/output_version.svg
  :width: 60%
  :alt: airflowctl Version Command
