docs-archive/apache-airflow/2.4.0/_sources/usage-cli.rst.txt

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Using the Command Line Interface
================================

This document is meant to give an overview of all common tasks while using the CLI.

.. note::
    For more information on CLI commands, see :doc:`cli-and-env-variables-ref`

.. _cli-remote:

Set Up Bash/Zsh Completion
--------------------------

When using bash (or ``zsh``) as your shell, ``airflow`` can use
`argcomplete <https://argcomplete.readthedocs.io/>`_ for auto-completion.

For `global activation <https://github.com/kislyuk/argcomplete#activating-global-completion>`_ of all argcomplete enabled python applications run:

.. code-block:: bash

  sudo activate-global-python-argcomplete

For permanent (but not global) airflow activation, use:

.. code-block:: bash

  register-python-argcomplete airflow >> ~/.bashrc

For one-time activation of argcomplete for airflow only, use:

.. code-block:: bash

  eval "$(register-python-argcomplete airflow)"

.. image:: img/cli_completion.gif

If you're using ``zsh``, add the following to your ``.zshrc``:

.. code-block:: bash

  autoload bashcompinit
  bashcompinit
  eval "$(register-python-argcomplete airflow)"

Creating a Connection
---------------------

For information on creating connections using the CLI, see :ref:`connection/cli`

Exporting DAG structure as an image
-----------------------------------

Airflow lets you print or save your DAG structure as an image. This is useful for documenting or sharing your DAG structure. You'll need to have `Graphviz <https://graphviz.gitlab.io/download/>`_ installed.

For example, to print the ``example_complex`` DAG to the terminal:

.. code-block:: bash

  airflow dags show example_complex

This will print the rendered DAG structure (similar to :ref:`Graph <ui:graph-view>`) to the screen in DOT format.

Multiple file formats are supported. To use them, add the argument ``--save [filename].[format]``.

To save the ``example_complex`` DAG as a PNG file:

.. code-block:: bash

  airflow dags show example_complex --save example_complex.png

This will save the following image as a file:

.. figure:: img/usage_cli_export.png
    :width: 100%

    Example DAG representation

The following file formats are supported:

 * ``bmp``
 * ``canon``, ``dot``, ``gv``, ``xdot``, ``xdot1.2``, ``xdot1.4``
 * ``cgimage``
 * ``cmap``
 * ``eps``
 * ``exr``
 * ``fig``
 * ``gd``, ``gd2``
 * ``gif``
 * ``gtk``
 * ``ico``
 * ``imap``, ``cmapx``
 * ``imap_np``, ``cmapx_np``
 * ``ismap``
 * ``jp2``
 * ``jpg``, ``jpeg``, ``jpe``
 * ``json``, ``json0``, ``dot_json``, ``xdot_json``
 * ``pct``, ``pict``
 * ``pdf``
 * ``pic``
 * ``plain``, ``plain-ext``
 * ``png``
 * ``pov``
 * ``ps``
 * ``ps2``
 * ``psd``
 * ``sgi``
 * ``svg``, ``svgz``
 * ``tga``
 * ``tif``, ``tiff``
 * ``tk``
 * ``vml``, ``vmlz``
 * ``vrml``
 * ``wbmp``
 * ``webp``
 * ``xlib``
 * ``x11``

By default, Airflow looks for DAGs in the directory specified by the ``dags_folder`` option in the
``[core]`` section of the ``airflow.cfg`` file. You can select a new directory with the ``--subdir`` argument.

Display DAGs structure
----------------------

Sometimes you will work on DAGs that contain complex dependencies. It is helpful then to preview
the DAG to see if it is correct.

If you have macOS, you can use `iTerm2 <https://iterm2.com/>`__ together with
the `imgcat <https://www.iterm2.com/documentation-images.html>`__ script to display the DAG structure in the
console. You also need to have `Graphviz <https://graphviz.gitlab.io/download/>`_ installed.

Other terminals do not support the display of high-quality graphics. You can convert the image to a text
form, but its resolution will prevent you from reading it.

To do this, you should use the ``--imgcat`` switch in the ``airflow dags show`` command. For example, if you
want to display ``example_bash_operator`` DAG  then you can use the following command:

.. code-block:: bash

  airflow dags show example_bash_operator --imgcat

You will see a similar result as in the screenshot below.

.. figure:: img/usage_cli_imgcat.png

    Preview of DAG in iTerm2

Formatting commands output
--------------------------

Some Airflow commands like ``airflow dags list`` or ``airflow tasks states-for-dag-run`` support ``--output`` flag
which allow users to change the formatting of command's output. Possible options:

  - ``table`` - renders the information as a plain text table
  - ``simple`` - renders the information as simple table which can be parsed by standard linux utilities
  - ``json`` - renders the information in form of json string
  - ``yaml`` - render the information in form of valid yaml

Both ``json`` and ``yaml`` formats make it easier to manipulate the data using command line tools like
`jq <https://stedolan.github.io/jq/>`__ or `yq <https://kislyuk.github.io/yq/>`__. For example:

.. code-block:: bash

  airflow tasks states-for-dag-run example_complex 2020-11-13T00:00:00+00:00 --output json | jq ".[] | {sd: .start_date, ed: .end_date}"
  {
    "sd": "2020-11-29T14:53:46.811030+00:00",
    "ed": "2020-11-29T14:53:46.974545+00:00"
  }
  {
    "sd": "2020-11-29T14:53:56.926441+00:00",
    "ed": "2020-11-29T14:53:57.118781+00:00"
  }
  {
    "sd": "2020-11-29T14:53:56.915802+00:00",
    "ed": "2020-11-29T14:53:57.125230+00:00"
  }
  {
    "sd": "2020-11-29T14:53:56.922131+00:00",
    "ed": "2020-11-29T14:53:57.129091+00:00"
  }
  {
    "sd": "2020-11-29T14:53:56.931243+00:00",
    "ed": "2020-11-29T14:53:57.126306+00:00"
  }

.. _cli-db-clean:

Purge history from metadata database
------------------------------------

.. note::

  It's strongly recommended that you backup the metadata database before running the ``db clean`` command.

The ``db clean`` command works by deleting from each table the records older than the provided ``--clean-before-timestamp``.

You can optionally provide a list of tables to perform deletes on. If no list of tables is supplied, all tables will be included.

You can use the ``--dry-run`` option to print the row counts in the primary tables to be cleaned.

By default, ``db clean`` will archive purged rows in tables of the form ``_airflow_deleted__<table>__<timestamp>``.  If you don't want the data preserved in this way, you may supply argument ``--skip-archive``.

Beware cascading deletes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Keep in mind that some tables have foreign key relationships defined with ``ON DELETE CASCADE`` so deletes in one table may trigger deletes in others.  For example, the ``task_instance`` table keys to the ``dag_run`` table, so if a DagRun record is deleted, all of its associated task instances will also be deleted.

Special handling for DAG runs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Commonly, Airflow determines which DagRun to run next by looking up the latest DagRun.  If you delete all DAG runs, Airflow may schedule an old DAG run that was already completed, e.g. if you have set ``catchup=True``.  So the ``db clean`` command will preserve the latest non-manually-triggered DAG run to preserve continuity in scheduling.

Considerations for backfillable DAGs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Not all DAGs are designed for use with Airflow's backfill command.  But for those which are, special care is warranted.  If you delete DAG runs, and if you run backfill over a range of dates that includes the deleted DAG runs, those runs will be recreated and run again.  For this reason, if you have DAGs that fall into this category you may want to refrain from deleting DAG runs and only clean other large tables such as task instance and log etc.

.. _cli-db-upgrade:

Upgrading Airflow
-----------------

Run ``airflow db upgrade --help`` for usage details.

Running migrations manually
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If desired, you can generate the sql statements for an upgrade and apply each upgrade migration manually, one at a time.  To do so you may use either the ``--range`` (for Airflow version) or ``--revision-range`` (for Alembic revision) option with ``db upgrade``.  Do *not* skip running the Alembic revision id update commands; this is how Airflow will know where you are upgrading from the next time you need to.  See :doc:`/migrations-ref` for a mapping between revision and version.


.. _cli-db-downgrade:

Downgrading Airflow
-------------------

.. note::

    It's recommended that you backup your database before running ``db downgrade`` or any other database operation.

You can downgrade to a particular Airflow version with the ``db downgrade`` command.  Alternatively you may provide an Alembic revision id to downgrade to.

If you want to preview the commands but not execute them, use option ``--show-sql-only``.

Options ``--from-revision`` and ``--from-version`` may only be used in conjunction with the ``--show-sql-only`` option, because when actually *running* migrations we should always downgrade from current revision.

For a mapping between Airflow version and Alembic revision see :doc:`/migrations-ref`.


.. _cli-export-connections:

Exporting Connections
---------------------

You may export connections from the database using the CLI. The supported file formats are ``json``, ``yaml`` and ``env``.

You may specify the target file as the parameter:

.. code-block:: bash

    airflow connections export connections.json

Alternatively you may specify ``file-format`` parameter for overriding the file format:

.. code-block:: bash

    airflow connections export /tmp/connections --file-format yaml

You may also specify ``-`` for STDOUT:

.. code-block:: bash

    airflow connections export -

The JSON format contains an object where the key contains the connection ID and the value contains the definition of the connection. In this format, the connection is defined as a JSON object. The following is a sample JSON file.

.. code-block:: json

    {
      "airflow_db": {
        "conn_type": "mysql",
        "host": "mysql",
        "login": "root",
        "password": "plainpassword",
        "schema": "airflow",
        "port": null,
        "extra": null
      },
      "druid_broker_default": {
        "conn_type": "druid",
        "host": "druid-broker",
        "login": null,
        "password": null,
        "schema": null,
        "port": 8082,
        "extra": "{\"endpoint\": \"druid/v2/sql\"}"
      }
    }

The YAML file structure is similar to that of a JSON. The key-value pair of connection ID and the definitions of one or more connections. In this format, the connection is defined as a YAML object. The following is a sample YAML file.

.. code-block:: yaml

    airflow_db:
      conn_type: mysql
      extra: null
      host: mysql
      login: root
      password: plainpassword
      port: null
      schema: airflow
    druid_broker_default:
      conn_type: druid
      extra: '{"endpoint": "druid/v2/sql"}'
      host: druid-broker
      login: null
      password: null
      port: 8082
      schema: null

You may also export connections in ``.env`` format. The key is the connection ID, and the value is the serialized representation of the connection, using either Airflow's Connection URI format or JSON. To use JSON provide option ``--serialization-format=json`` otherwise the Airflow Connection URI format will be used. The following are sample ``.env`` files using the two formats.

URI example:

.. code-block:: text

    airflow_db=mysql://root:plainpassword@mysql/airflow
    druid_broker_default=druid://druid-broker:8082?endpoint=druid%2Fv2%2Fsql

JSON example output:

.. code-block:: text

    airflow_db={"conn_type": "mysql", "login": "root", "password": "plainpassword", "host": "mysql", "schema": "airflow"}
    druid_broker_default={"conn_type": "druid", "host": "druid-broker", "port": 8082, "extra": "{\"endpoint\": \"druid/v2/sql\"}"}