Astronomer

Manages Apache Airflow operations including listing, testing, running, and debugging DAGs, viewing task logs, checking connections and variables, and monitoring system health. Use when working with Airflow DAGs, pipelines, workflows, or tasks, or when the user mentions testing dags, running pipelines, debugging workflows, dag failures, task errors, dag status, pipeline status, list dags, show connections, check variables, or airflow health.

Use when the user needs human-in-the-loop workflows in Airflow (approval/reject, form input, or human-driven branching). Covers ApprovalOperator, HITLOperator, HITLBranchOperator, HITLEntryOperator. Requires Airflow 3.1+. Does not cover AI/LLM calls (see airflow-ai).

Build Airflow 3.1+ plugins that embed FastAPI apps, custom UI pages, React components, middleware, macros, and operator links directly into the Airflow UI. Use this skill whenever the user wants to create an Airflow plugin, add a custom UI page or nav entry to Airflow, build FastAPI-backed endpoints inside Airflow, serve static assets from a plugin, embed a React app in the Airflow UI, add middleware to the Airflow API server, create custom operator extra links, or call the Airflow REST API from inside a plugin. Also trigger when the user mentions AirflowPlugin, fastapi_apps, external_views, react_apps, plugin registration, or embedding a web app in Airflow 3.1+. If someone is building anything custom inside Airflow 3.1+ that involves Python and a browser-facing interface, this skill almost certainly applies.

Queries data warehouse and answers business questions about data. Handles questions requiring database/warehouse queries including "who uses X", "how many Y", "show me Z", "find customers", "what is the count", data lookups, metrics, trends, or SQL analysis.

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.

Workflow and best practices for writing Apache Airflow DAGs. Use when the user wants to create a new DAG, write pipeline code, or asks about DAG patterns and conventions. For testing and debugging DAGs, see the testing-dags skill.

Define reusable Airflow task group templates with Pydantic validation and compose DAGs from YAML. Use when creating blueprint templates, composing DAGs from YAML, validating configurations, or enabling no-code DAG authoring for non-engineers.

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.

Use when turning a dbt Core project into an Airflow DAG/TaskGroup using Astronomer Cosmos. Does not cover dbt Fusion. Before implementing, verify dbt engine, warehouse, Airflow version, execution environment, DAG vs TaskGroup, and manifest availability.

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

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.

Comprehensive DAG failure diagnosis and root cause analysis. Use for complex debugging requests requiring deep investigation like "diagnose and fix the pipeline", "full root cause analysis", "why is this failing and how to prevent it". For simple debugging ("why did dag fail", "show logs"), the airflow entrypoint skill handles it directly. This skill provides structured investigation and prevention recommendations.

Deploy Airflow DAGs and projects. Use when the user wants to deploy code, push DAGs, set up CI/CD, deploy to production, or asks about deployment strategies for Airflow.

Manage local Airflow environment with Astro CLI. Use when the user wants to start, stop, or restart Airflow, view logs, troubleshoot containers, or fix environment issues. For project setup, see setting-up-astro-project.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.