Installing Airflow locally - Try It Yourself

Installing Airflow locally

📖 Scenario: You want to run Apache Airflow on your own computer to practice scheduling and managing workflows. This project will guide you step-by-step to install Airflow locally using the recommended commands.

🎯 Goal: By the end, you will have Apache Airflow installed and ready to use on your local machine.

📋 What You'll Learn

Have Python 3.7 or higher installed

Have pip installed

Use a terminal or command prompt

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Developers and data engineers often install Airflow locally to test and develop workflow automation before deploying to production.

💼 Career

Knowing how to install and run Airflow is a key skill for roles involving data pipeline management and workflow orchestration.

1

Create a new directory for Airflow

Open your terminal and create a new directory called airflow_home using the command mkdir airflow_home. Then change into this directory using cd airflow_home.

Apache Airflow

# Use mkdir airflow_home and cd airflow_home commands here

Need a hint?

Think of this like making a new folder on your computer and then opening it.

2

Set the Airflow home environment variable

Set the environment variable AIRFLOW_HOME to the current directory by running export AIRFLOW_HOME=$(pwd) on Linux/macOS or set AIRFLOW_HOME=%cd% on Windows.

Apache Airflow

mkdir airflow_home
cd airflow_home
# Set AIRFLOW_HOME environment variable here

Need a hint?

This tells Airflow where to store its files, like setting a workspace.

3

Install Apache Airflow using pip

Run the command pip install apache-airflow==2.7.1 --constraint https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/constraints-2.7.1/constraints-3.7.txt to install Airflow version 2.7.1 with the correct dependencies.

Apache Airflow

mkdir airflow_home
cd airflow_home
export AIRFLOW_HOME=$(pwd)
# Install Apache Airflow with pip here

Need a hint?

This command installs Airflow and ensures all needed packages match the version.

4

Initialize the Airflow database and start the webserver

Run airflow db init to initialize the Airflow database. Then start the Airflow webserver by running airflow webserver --port 8080. This will start the Airflow interface on your local machine.

Apache Airflow

mkdir airflow_home
cd airflow_home
export AIRFLOW_HOME=$(pwd)
pip install apache-airflow==2.7.1 --constraint https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/constraints-2.7.1/constraints-3.7.txt
# Initialize Airflow DB and start webserver here

Need a hint?

Initializing the database sets up Airflow's internal storage. Starting the webserver lets you see Airflow in your browser.