Airflow Human-in-the-Loop Operators

Implement human approval gates, form inputs, and human-driven branching in Airflow DAGs using the HITL operators. These deferrable operators pause workflow execution until a human responds via the Airflow UI or REST API.

Implementation Checklist

Execute steps in order. Prefer deferrable HITL operators over custom sensors/polling loops.

CRITICAL: Requires Airflow 3.1+. NOT available in Airflow 2.x.

Deferrable: All HITL operators are deferrable—they release their worker slot while waiting for human input.

UI Location: View pending actions at Browse → Required Actions in Airflow UI. Respond via the task instance page's Required Actions tab or the REST API.

Cross-reference: For AI/LLM calls, see the airflow-ai skill.

Step 1: Choose operator

Step 2: Implement operator

ApprovalOperator

from airflow.providers.standard.operators.hitl import ApprovalOperator
from airflow.sdk import dag, task, chain, Param
from pendulum import datetime

@dag(start_date=datetime(2025, 1, 1), schedule="@daily")
def approval_example():
    @task
    def prepare():
        return "Review quarterly report"

    approval = ApprovalOperator(
        task_id="approve_report",
        subject="Report Approval",
        body="{{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='prepare') }}",
        defaults="Approve",  # Optional: auto on timeout
        params={"comments": Param("", type="string")},
    )

    @task
    def after_approval(result):
        print(f"Decision: {result['chosen_options']}")

    chain(prepare(), approval)
    after_approval(approval.output)

approval_example()

HITLOperator

Required parameters: subject and options.

from airflow.providers.standard.operators.hitl import HITLOperator
from airflow.sdk import dag, task, chain, Param
from datetime import timedelta
from pendulum import datetime

@dag(start_date=datetime(2025, 1, 1), schedule="@daily")
def hitl_example():
    hitl = HITLOperator(
        task_id="select_option",
        subject="Select Payment Method",
        body="Choose how to process payment",
        options=["ACH", "Wire", "Check"],  # REQUIRED
        defaults=["ACH"],
        multiple=False,
        execution_timeout=timedelta(hours=4),
        params={"amount": Param(1000, type="number")},
    )

    @task
    def process(result):
        print(f"Selected: {result['chosen_options']}")
        print(f"Amount: {result['params_input']['amount']}")

    process(hitl.output)

hitl_example()

HITLBranchOperator

IMPORTANT: Options can either:

1. Directly match downstream task IDs - simpler approach
2. Use options_mapping - for human-friendly labels that map to task IDs

from airflow.providers.standard.operators.hitl import HITLBranchOperator
from airflow.sdk import dag, task, chain
from pendulum import datetime

DEPTS = ["marketing", "engineering", "sales"]

@dag(start_date=datetime(2025, 1, 1), schedule="@daily")
def branch_example():
    branch = HITLBranchOperator(
        task_id="select_dept",
        subject="Select Departments",
        options=[f"Fund {d}" for d in DEPTS],
        options_mapping={f"Fund {d}": d for d in DEPTS},
        multiple=True,
    )

    for dept in DEPTS:
        @task(task_id=dept)
        def handle(dept_name: str = dept):
            # Bind the loop variable at definition time to avoid late-binding bugs
            print(f"Processing {dept_name}")
        chain(branch, handle())

branch_example()

HITLEntryOperator

from airflow.providers.standard.operators.hitl import HITLEntryOperator
from airflow.sdk import dag, task, chain, Param
from pendulum import datetime

@dag(start_date=datetime(2025, 1, 1), schedule="@daily")
def entry_example():
    entry = HITLEntryOperator(
        task_id="get_input",
        subject="Enter Details",
        body="Provide response",
        params={
            "response": Param("", type="string"),
            "priority": Param("p3", type="string"),
        },
    )

    @task
    def process(result):
        print(f"Response: {result['params_input']['response']}")

    process(entry.output)

entry_example()

Step 3: Optional features

Notifiers

from airflow.sdk import BaseNotifier, Context
from airflow.providers.standard.operators.hitl import HITLOperator

class MyNotifier(BaseNotifier):
    template_fields = ("message",)
    def __init__(self, message=""): self.message = message
    def notify(self, context: Context):
        if context["ti"].state == "running":
            url = HITLOperator.generate_link_to_ui_from_context(context, base_url="https://airflow.example.com")
            self.log.info(f"Action needed: {url}")

hitl = HITLOperator(..., notifiers=[MyNotifier("{{ task.subject }}")])

Restrict respondents

Format depends on your auth manager:

Astro Users: Find Astro ID at Organization → Access Management.

hitl = HITLOperator(..., respondents=["manager@example.com"])  # FabAuthManager

Timeout behavior

• With defaults: Task succeeds, default option(s) selected
• Without defaults: Task fails on timeout

hitl = HITLOperator(
    ...,
    options=["Option A", "Option B"],
    defaults=["Option A"],  # Auto-selected on timeout
    execution_timeout=timedelta(hours=4),
)

Markdown in body

The body parameter supports markdown formatting and is Jinja templatable:

hitl = HITLOperator(
    ...,
    body="""**Total Budget:** {{ ti.xcom_pull(task_ids='get_budget') }}

| Category | Amount |
|----------|--------|
| Marketing | $1M |
""",
)

Callbacks

All HITL operators support standard Airflow callbacks:

def on_hitl_failure(context):
    print(f"HITL task failed: {context['task_instance'].task_id}")

def on_hitl_success(context):
    print(f"HITL task succeeded with: {context['task_instance'].xcom_pull()}")

hitl = HITLOperator(
    task_id="approval_required",
    subject="Review needed",
    options=["Approve", "Reject"],
    on_failure_callback=on_hitl_failure,
    on_success_callback=on_hitl_success,
)

Step 4: API integration

For external responders (Slack, custom app):

import requests, os

HOST = os.getenv("AIRFLOW_HOST")
TOKEN = os.getenv("AIRFLOW_API_TOKEN")

# Get pending actions
r = requests.get(f"{HOST}/api/v2/hitlDetails/?state=pending",
                 headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {TOKEN}"})

# Respond
requests.patch(
    f"{HOST}/api/v2/hitlDetails/{dag_id}/{run_id}/{task_id}",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {TOKEN}"},
    json={"chosen_options": ["ACH"], "params_input": {"amount": 1500}}
)

Step 5: Safety checks

Before finalizing, verify:

• Airflow 3.1+ installed
• For HITLBranchOperator: options map to downstream task IDs
• defaults values are in options list
• API token configured if using external responders

Reference

• Airflow HITL Operators: https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow-providers-standard/stable/operators/hitl.html

Related Skills

• airflow-ai: For AI/LLM task decorators and GenAI patterns
• authoring-dags: For general DAG writing best practices
• testing-dags: For testing DAGs with debugging cycles