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 or polling loops.

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

All HITL operators are deferrable and release their worker slot while waiting for input.

UI Location: Browse -> Required Actions in Airflow UI. Respond via the task instance Required Actions tab or the REST API.

Step 1: Choose operator