Migrate Airflow Kestra

Migrate Airflow DAG to Kestra

Migrate an Apache Airflow DAG file to a production-ready Kestra flow with proper namespace files, correct task ordering, and schema-validated YAML.

When to use

Use this skill when the request involves migrating from Apache Airflow to Kestra, including:

• Migrating an Airflow DAG (.py) to a Kestra flow YAML
• Translating @task-decorated functions or operators into Kestra tasks
• Converting Airflow DAG dependencies into Kestra's sequential/parallel task structure

Required inputs

• Path to the Airflow DAG .py file ($ARGUMENTS)
• Output directory for generated files (defaults to kestra-migrate/ next to the DAG)
• Target Kestra namespace (ask if not provided; default to company.team)

Workflow

Step 1 — Read and analyse the Airflow DAG

Read the DAG file in full. Extract:

1. DAG metadata: dag_id, schedule, default_args, tags
2. Tasks: for each @task-decorated function or operator, note:
   • Task ID (function name or task_id)
   • Python imports and dependencies (pip packages used)
   • Whether it contains important business logic (pandas transforms, ML, data processing, API calls, multi-step computation) — these become namespace files
   • Whether it is a trivial one-liner — these can be inlined
3. Dependencies: map >> operators, set_upstream/set_downstream calls, and direct task invocations into an ordered dependency graph
4. Parallelism: identify tasks that share the same upstream and have no dependency on each other — these must be wrapped in io.kestra.plugin.core.flow.Parallel
5. Data passing: identify XCom pushes/pulls or return values passed between tasks — these become outputFiles → inputFiles in Kestra

Step 2 — Fetch and validate the Kestra schema

curl -s https://api.kestra.io/v1/plugins/schemas/flow -o /tmp/kestra_schema.json

Extract the definitions needed for this flow:

python3 -c "
needed = [
    'io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands',
    'io.kestra.plugin.core.flow.Parallel',
    'io.kestra.plugin.core.flow.WorkingDirectory',
    'io.kestra.plugin.core.trigger.Schedule',
]
content = open('/tmp/kestra_schema.json').read()
for t in needed:
    idx = content.find(f'\"{ t }\"')
    if idx >= 0:
        print(f'=== {t} ===')
        print(content[idx:idx+3000])
"

Do not generate any YAML until schema definitions have been read and validated.

Step 3 — Create namespace files

For every task that contains important business logic (see rule below), extract the Python function body into a standalone script under <output-dir>/scripts/.

Namespace file rules:

• One file per Airflow task, named after the task: <task_id>.py
• The script must be self-contained: read inputs from local files (e.g. products.json), write outputs to local files (e.g. category_stats.json)
• Remove all Airflow imports (from airflow …, from pendulum …) — they have no equivalent
• Replace XCom ti.xcom_push / return values with json.dump(result, open("output.json", "w"))
• Replace XCom ti.xcom_pull with json.load(open("input.json"))
• Keep all business logic, pandas transforms, API calls, and helper functions intact

When to use a namespace file vs inline:

Step 4 — Generate the Kestra flow YAML

Apply all rules below. Write the flow to <output-dir>/flow.yaml.

Generation rules

Task structure — the YAML list marker (-) MUST be on the id line, type MUST be the very next line

This is the single most important formatting rule. Every task block in tasks: (including nested tasks inside Parallel) must follow this exact pattern:

1. The YAML sequence dash (-) goes on the id: line — never on type: or any other property.
2. type: is always the second line, indented to align with id: (no dash).
3. All remaining properties (containerImage, namespaceFiles, commands, etc.) follow after type:, at the same indentation level as type:.

# ✅ CORRECT — dash on id, type immediately after, then everything else
- id: fetch_products
  type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands
  containerImage: python:3.11
  namespaceFiles:
    enabled: true
    include:
      - scripts/fetch_products.py
  commands:
    - python scripts/fetch_products.py

# ❌ WRONG — dash on type instead of id
- type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands
  id: fetch_products

# ❌ WRONG — dash on containerImage
- containerImage: python:3.11
  id: fetch_products
  type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands

# ❌ WRONG — dash on namespaceFiles
- namespaceFiles:
    enabled: true
  id: fetch_products
  type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands

# ❌ WRONG — dash on commands
- commands:
    - python scripts/fetch_products.py
  id: fetch_products
  type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands

# ❌ WRONG — dash on dependencies
- dependencies:
    - pandas
  id: fetch_products
  type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands

# ❌ WRONG — type is not the second property
- id: fetch_products
  containerImage: python:3.11
  type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands

# ❌ WRONG — extra blank line between id and type
- id: fetch_products

  type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands

This rule applies everywhere a task appears: top-level tasks:, inside Parallel.tasks:, inside WorkingDirectory.tasks:, and in triggers: blocks. No exceptions.

Container image — always python:3.11

Every Python task (io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands) must specify:

containerImage: python:3.11

Never omit this property. Never use python:3.13-slim or any other image.

Namespace files — always use for important Python logic

For tasks backed by a namespace file, always declare:

namespaceFiles:
  enabled: true
  include:
    - scripts/<task_id>.py

Reference the script in commands:

commands:
  - python scripts/<task_id>.py

Data passing between tasks

Use outputFiles to capture JSON written by a script and store it in Kestra internal storage:

outputFiles:
  - result.json

Inject that output into a downstream task via inputFiles:

inputFiles:
  result.json: "{{ outputs.<upstream_task_id>.outputFiles['result.json'] }}"

Parallelism — mirror the Airflow fan-out/fan-in

Tasks with a shared upstream and no mutual dependency must be wrapped in io.kestra.plugin.core.flow.Parallel:

- id: compute_analytics
  type: io.kestra.plugin.core.flow.Parallel
  tasks:
    - id: compute_category_stats
      type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands
      containerImage: python:3.11
      ...
    - id: compute_brand_stats
      type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands
      containerImage: python:3.11
      ...

Tasks that are independent at the fetch/ingest stage should also run in parallel.

Schedule trigger

Map Airflow schedule to a Kestra Schedule trigger:

triggers:
  - id: daily
    type: io.kestra.plugin.core.trigger.Schedule
    cron: "@daily"

DAG metadata mapping

Schema compliance

• Use only task types and properties explicitly defined in the fetched schema
• Never invent property names
• Property keys must be unique within each task block

Secrets and credentials

• Never hardcode tokens, passwords, or API keys
• Use {{ secret('SECRET_NAME') }} Pebble expressions

Output structure

<output-dir>/
├── flow.yaml                        # Kestra flow
└── scripts/
    ├── <task_id>.py                 # One file per task with business logic
    └── ...

flow.yaml skeleton

id: <dag_id>
namespace: <namespace>
description: <dag description>

tasks:
  # Stage 1 — parallel fetch
  - id: fetch_data
    type: io.kestra.plugin.core.flow.Parallel
    tasks:
      - id: <task_id>
        type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands
        containerImage: python:3.11
        namespaceFiles:
          enabled: true
          include:
            - scripts/<task_id>.py
        dependencies:
          - <pip-package>
        commands:
          - python scripts/<task_id>.py
        outputFiles:
          - <output>.json

  # Stage 2 — parallel transforms
  - id: compute_analytics
    type: io.kestra.plugin.core.flow.Parallel
    tasks:
      - id: <task_id>
        type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands
        containerImage: python:3.11
        namespaceFiles:
          enabled: true
          include:
            - scripts/<task_id>.py
        inputFiles:
          <input>.json: "{{ outputs.<upstream_id>.outputFiles['<input>.json'] }}"
        dependencies:
          - <pip-package>
        commands:
          - python scripts/<task_id>.py
        outputFiles:
          - <output>.json

  # Stage 3 — sequential summary
  - id: <final_task_id>
    type: io.kestra.plugin.scripts.python.Commands
    containerImage: python:3.11
    namespaceFiles:
      enabled: true
      include:
        - scripts/<final_task_id>.py
    inputFiles:
      <a>.json: "{{ outputs.<task_a>.outputFiles['<a>.json'] }}"
      <b>.json: "{{ outputs.<task_b>.outputFiles['<b>.json'] }}"
    dependencies:
      - <pip-package>
    commands:
      - python scripts/<final_task_id>.py
    outputFiles:
      - <output>.json

triggers:
  - id: schedule
    type: io.kestra.plugin.core.trigger.Schedule
    cron: "<mapped-cron>"

Deploying with kestra-ops

After generating the files, if the user wants to deploy, use the kestra-ops skill. Key note on namespace file uploads: always upload files individually to avoid path nesting issues:

for f in <output-dir>/scripts/*.py; do
  name=$(basename "$f")
  kestractl nsfiles upload <namespace> "$f" "scripts/$name" --override
done

Do not use directory upload (kestractl nsfiles upload <ns> ./scripts scripts) — it nests the directory name, producing scripts/scripts/<file> instead of scripts/<file>.

Example prompts

• "Migrate dags/ingest_pipeline.py from Airflow to Kestra, output to kestra/"
• "Convert this Airflow DAG to a Kestra flow in the analytics.products namespace"
• "Migrate the Airflow DAG at dags/etl.py and deploy it using kestra-ops"