mcp-server-apache-airflow

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for Apache Airflow, enabling seamless integration with MCP clients. This project provides a standardized way to interact with Apache Airflow through the Model Context Protocol.

About

This project implements a Model Context Protocol server that wraps Apache Airflow's REST API, allowing MCP clients to interact with Airflow in a standardized way. It uses the official Apache Airflow client library to ensure compatibility and maintainability.

Feature Implementation Status

Setup

Dependencies

This project depends on the official Apache Airflow client library (`apache-airflow-client`). It will be automatically installed when you install this package.

Environment Variables

Set the following environment variables:

AIRFLOW_HOST=        # Optional, defaults to http://localhost:8080
AIRFLOW_API_VERSION=v1                  # Optional, defaults to v1
READ_ONLY=true                          # Optional, enables read-only mode (true/false, defaults to false)

Authentication

Choose one of the following authentication methods:

Basic Authentication (default):

AIRFLOW_USERNAME=
AIRFLOW_PASSWORD=

JWT Token Authentication:

AIRFLOW_JWT_TOKEN=

To obtain a JWT token, you can use Airflow's authentication endpoint:

ENDPOINT_URL="http://localhost:8080"  # Replace with your Airflow endpoint
curl -X 'POST' \
  "${ENDPOINT_URL}/auth/token" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{ "username": "", "password": "" }'

> Note: If both JWT token and basic authentication credentials are provided, JWT token takes precedence.

Usage with Claude Desktop

Add to your `claude_desktop_config.json`:

Basic Authentication:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-apache-airflow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-apache-airflow"],
      "env": {
        "AIRFLOW_HOST": "https://your-airflow-host",
        "AIRFLOW_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "AIRFLOW_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

JWT Token Authentication:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-apache-airflow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-apache-airflow"],
      "env": {
        "AIRFLOW_HOST": "https://your-airflow-host",
        "AIRFLOW_JWT_TOKEN": "your-jwt-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

For read-only mode (recommended for safety):

Basic Authentication:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-apache-airflow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-apache-airflow"],
      "env": {
        "AIRFLOW_HOST": "https://your-airflow-host",
        "AIRFLOW_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "AIRFLOW_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "READ_ONLY": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

JWT Token Authentication:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-apache-airflow": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-apache-airflow", "--read-only"],
      "env": {
        "AIRFLOW_HOST": "https://your-airflow-host",
        "AIRFLOW_JWT_TOKEN": "your-jwt-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Alternative configuration using `uv`:

Basic Authentication:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-apache-airflow": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/mcp-server-apache-airflow",
        "run",
        "mcp-server-apache-airflow"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AIRFLOW_HOST": "https://your-airflow-host",
        "AIRFLOW_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "AIRFLOW_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

JWT Token Authentication:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-apache-airflow": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path/to/mcp-server-apache-airflow",
        "run",
        "mcp-server-apache-airflow"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AIRFLOW_HOST": "https://your-airflow-host",
        "AIRFLOW_JWT_TOKEN": "your-jwt-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace `/path/to/mcp-server-apache-airflow` with the actual path where you've cloned the repository.

Selecting the API groups

You can select the API groups you want to use by setting the `--apis` flag.

uv run mcp-server-apache-airflow --apis dag --apis dagrun

The default is to use all APIs.

Allowed values are:

• config
• connections
• dag
• dagrun
• dagstats
• dataset
• eventlog
• importerror
• monitoring
• plugin
• pool
• provider
• taskinstance
• variable
• xcom

Read-Only Mode

You can run the server in read-only mode by using the `--read-only` flag or by setting the `READ_ONLY=true` environment variable. This will only expose tools that perform read operations (GET requests) and exclude any tools that create, update, or delete resources.

Using the command-line flag:

uv run mcp-server-apache-airflow --read-only

Using the environment variable:

READ_ONLY=true uv run mcp-server-apache-airflow

In read-only mode, the server will only expose tools like:

• Listing DAGs, DAG runs, tasks, variables, connections, etc.
• Getting details of specific resources
• Reading configurations and monitoring information
• Testing connections (non-destructive)

Write operations like creating, updating, deleting DAGs, variables, connections, triggering DAG runs, etc. will not be available in read-only mode.

You can combine read-only mode with API group selection:

uv run mcp-server-apache-airflow --read-only --apis dag --apis variable

Manual Execution

You can also run the server manually:

make run

`make run` accepts following options:

Options:

• `--port`: Port to listen on for SSE (default: 8000)
• `--transport`: Transport type (stdio/sse/http, default: stdio)

Or, you could run the sse server directly, which accepts same parameters:

make run-sse

Also, you could start service directly using `uv` like in the following command:

uv run src --transport http --port 8080

Installing via Smithery

To install Apache Airflow MCP Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @yangkyeongmo/mcp-server-apache-airflow --client claude

Development

Setting up Development Environment

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yangkyeongmo/mcp-server-apache-airflow.git
cd mcp-server-apache-airflow

2. Install development dependencies:

uv sync --dev

3. Create a `.env` file for environment variables (optional for development):

touch .env

> Note: No environment variables are required for running tests. The `AIRFLOW_HOST` defaults to `http://localhost:8080` for development and testing purposes.

Running Tests

The project uses pytest for testing with the following commands available:

# Run all tests
make test

Code Quality

# Run linting
make lint

# Run code formatting
make format

Continuous Integration

The project includes a GitHub Actions workflow (`.github/workflows/test.yml`) that automatically:

• Runs tests on Python 3.10, 3.11, and 3.12
• Executes linting checks using ruff
• Runs on every push and pull request to `main` branch

The CI pipeline ensures code quality and compatibility across supported Python versions before any changes are merged.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

The package is deployed automatically to PyPI when project.version is updated in `pyproject.toml`.

Follow semver for versioning.

Please include version update in the PR in order to apply the changes to core logic.

License

MIT License