Installing Airflow Locally

Installation Methods Comparison

Method 1: pip install (Quickest Start)

# 1. Create a virtual environment
python -m venv airflow_venv
source airflow_venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .\airflow_venv\Scripts\activate

# 2. Set the Airflow home directory
export AIRFLOW_HOME=~/airflow

# 3. Install Airflow with constraints (IMPORTANT!)
AIRFLOW_VERSION=2.10.0
PYTHON_VERSION="$(python -c 'import sys; print(f"{sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor}")')"
CONSTRAINT_URL="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/constraints-${AIRFLOW_VERSION}/constraints-${PYTHON_VERSION}.txt"

pip install "apache-airflow==${AIRFLOW_VERSION}" --constraint "${CONSTRAINT_URL}"

# 4. Initialize the database
airflow db migrate

# 5. Create an admin user
airflow users create \
    --username admin \
    --firstname Admin \
    --lastname User \
    --role Admin \
    --email admin@example.com \
    --password admin

# 6. Start Airflow (in separate terminals)
airflow webserver --port 8080    # Terminal 1
airflow scheduler                 # Terminal 2

Method 2: Docker Compose (Recommended for Teams)

# 1. Create project directory
mkdir airflow-docker && cd airflow-docker

# 2. Download the official docker-compose.yaml
curl -LfO 'https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/2.10.0/docker-compose.yaml'

# 3. Create required directories
mkdir -p ./dags ./logs ./plugins ./config

# 4. Set the Airflow UID
echo -e "AIRFLOW_UID=$(id -u)" > .env

# 5. Initialize Airflow (first time only)
docker compose up airflow-init

# 6. Start all services
docker compose up -d

# 7. Access the UI
# Open http://localhost:8080
# Username: airflow
# Password: airflow

The official docker-compose.yaml includes:

Method 3: Astro CLI (Astronomer)

# 1. Install Astro CLI
curl -sSL install.astronomer.io | sudo bash

# 2. Initialize a new project
mkdir my-airflow-project && cd my-airflow-project
astro dev init

# 3. Start Airflow
astro dev start

# 4. Access the UI
# Open http://localhost:8080
# Username: admin
# Password: admin

The Astro CLI creates a clean project structure:

my-airflow-project/
├── dags/                    # Your DAG files
│   └── example_dag.py
├── include/                 # Supporting files
├── plugins/                 # Custom plugins
├── tests/                   # DAG tests
├── Dockerfile               # Custom Airflow image
├── packages.txt             # OS-level dependencies
├── requirements.txt         # Python dependencies
└── airflow_settings.yaml    # Connections & Variables

Post-Installation Verification

After installing Airflow using any method, verify your setup:

# Check Airflow version
airflow version

# Check database connection
airflow db check

# List example DAGs (should show default examples)
airflow dags list

# Test a specific DAG
airflow dags test example_bash_operator 2024-01-01

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